Eddy Portnoy, a contributing editor for Tablet Magazine, is the Academic Advisor and Exhibitions Curator at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He is also the author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press.
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Visual Art & Design

Typing in Yiddish

A 1929 practical method for typing in Yiddish, on display at YIVO, is a keyhole into a little-known world of printing machines, and the pipe dreams behind their invention

By Eddy Portnoy · May 3, 2019
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The Scroll

Sensationalism! Sex! Jews Behaving Badly!

Yiddish Newspapers of the 1920s and 1930s would have had a field day with our current political reality.

By Eddy Portnoy · March 19, 2018
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The Scroll

P is for Palestine, But B is for Bund

Adorable children dressed in a ideological garb are nothing new

By Eddy Portnoy · January 30, 2018
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Death of a Yiddish Giant

Remembering I.L. Peretz, who died 100 years ago this week

By Eddy Portnoy · April 2, 2015
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Sports

Mr. Israel

Rafael Halperin—who died last month—was an ordained rabbi, an ambitious businessman, and a middling politician. He was also a professional wrestler.

By Eddy Portnoy · September 1, 2011
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Observance

Paschal Lampoon

Forget Purim. Passover has a rich comedic tradition all its own, with parodies of the haggadah mocking everything from rabbis and the rich to Mussolini and Hitler.

By Eddy Portnoy · April 14, 2011
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Observance

Print War

How the relationship between a reporter and his editor shook the Yiddish press

By Eddy Portnoy · September 16, 2010
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Notebook

Sore

When immigrant Lower East Side moms rioted over tonsillectomies

By Eddy Portnoy · August 19, 2010
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Notebook

Silent Minority

How Jewish tradition marginalized the deaf

By Eddy Portnoy · July 15, 2010
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Notebook

Death Toll

Back when the Yiddish press relished covering suicides

By Eddy Portnoy · June 17, 2010
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Notebook

Nosing Around

A look at a pseudoscience that hinged on the shnozz

By Eddy Portnoy · May 21, 2010
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Observance

Enforcers

In early-20th-century Warsaw, making sure people observed the Sabbath was serious business

By Eddy Portnoy · April 15, 2010
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Observance

Politics and Poesy

In early 20th-century Poland, poet Shmuel Nadler took off his yarmulke and took up with the Communists

By Eddy Portnoy · March 18, 2010
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Family

Divorce Court

Long before Jerry Springer, divorcing couples fought it out before Warsaw’s rabbinical court

By Eddy Portnoy · February 18, 2010
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Family

Fine Young Criminal

The story of a yeshiva boy who turned to the gang life and lived to write about it

By Eddy Portnoy · January 21, 2010
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Sports

Big Man

The Coney Island attraction who made wrestling history

By Eddy Portnoy · December 17, 2009
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Notebook

Manhood, Interrupted

The grisly aftermath of a broken engagement

By Eddy Portnoy · November 19, 2009
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Sports

Flexing Some Muscle

The boxers and strongmen who turned the image of the Jewish nebbish on its head

By Eddy Portnoy · October 20, 2009
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Observance

The Futurist

You might not have heard of Naftali Imber, but you’ve heard his most famous work

By Eddy Portnoy · October 15, 2009
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Observance

The Festive Meal

When Yom Kippur was a time to eat, drink, and be merry

By Eddy Portnoy · September 24, 2009
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Notebook

Jewish Abortion Technician

After a young woman’s 1871 death, the press took aim at an immigrant from Plotsk

By Eddy Portnoy · August 20, 2009
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Observance

Grudge Match

When bris attendees turn into brawlers

By Eddy Portnoy · July 16, 2009
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Notebook

In the Palm of His Hand

A look at Abraham Hochman, 19th-century Lower East Side clairvoyant

By Eddy Portnoy · June 18, 2009
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