Judah Leib Cahan (
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
: יהודה לייב כהן
) (1881 in
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...
, Lithuania – 1937 in New York City), more commonly known as Y.L. Cahan, was a Yiddish folklorist.
Biography
Born in Vilna, Cahan moved as a youth to Warsaw, where he frequently attended Saturday night folksong recitals at the home of writer
I. L. Peretz
Isaac Leib Peretz ( pl, Icchok Lejbusz Perec, yi, יצחק־לייבוש פרץ) (May 18, 1852 – April 3, 1915), also sometimes written Yitskhok Leybush Peretz was a Polish Jewish writer and playwright writing in Yiddish. Payson R. Stevens, Cha ...
.
After a brief stint in London,
he moved to New York in 1904, and continued collecting folklore among the Yiddish-speaking Jews of New York.
In 1925, Cahan helped organize the American branch of the
YIVO, and was selected to lead its Folklore Committee.
He was instrumental in expanding the folklore collection efforts of YIVO, and in 1930 returned to Vilna to train young scholars.
After his death, YIVO planned to publish all of his works (collections of folk songs and folktales, and theoretical works), but only the folktales volume was published before the remaining material was destroyed during World War II.
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]
References
External links
*
Free song lyrics in Yiddish and sheet music of selected Yudishe Folkslieder collected by Yehudah Leib Cahan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahan, Judah Leib
1881 births
1937 deaths
People from Vilnius
19th-century Lithuanian Jews
Jewish folklorists
History of YIVO
Yiddish culture
Yiddish-language writers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States