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Ruth Seymour, public radio pioneer devoted to Jewish culture, dies at 88
(JTA) — Ruth Seymour, who as general manager of the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW produced a landmark series on Yiddish short stories, died Friday after a long illness. She was 88.
Her daughter, Celia Hirschman, confirmed her death.
“She was a determined person, not always the easiest to work with, but she had seykhl, a kind of remarkable common sense and judgment about her,” said Aaron Lansky, the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center.
The Yiddish Book Center and KCRW co-produced the 1995 radio series “Jewish Short Stories From Eastern Europe and Beyond.” The 13-part series was directed by Joan Micklin Silver and consisted of readings by A-list Hollywood actors, among them Lauren Bacall, Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman, Jerry Stiller, Elliott Gould, Julie Kavner and Walter Matthau. Original music was composed by the Klezmer Conservatory Band, led by Boston’s Hankus Netsky.
“Every single actor we approached agreed immediately to read for us,” Lansky recalled. “They were all quite excited about it.”
Lansky, who was introduced to Seymour by the film critic Kenneth Turan, credits her with providing the title for his 2004 memoir, “Outwitting History,” about his efforts to rescue Yiddish books destined for the dumpster. Seymour, who studied at the City College of New York with Max Weinreich, said she asked the renowned Yiddish linguist how he could keep teaching with just three students in his class. “It’s not a problem,” Weinrich reportedly responded. “Yiddish is magic. It will outwit history.”
KCRW produced a second Jewish short story series in 1998, “Jewish Stories from the Old World to the New,” which was repackaged as an audiobook.
“KCRW sold more of those collections than anything else in our history,” Jennifer Ferro, the station’s current manager, wrote in an appreciation of Seymour published on KCRW’s web site.
For 28 years Seymour hosted KCRW’s “Philosophers, Fiddlers and Fools,” a three-hour special that aired on a Friday afternoon during Hanukkah. She played music she referred to as the Second Avenue hit parade, read short stories by Jewish writers and included a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Some of the shows were done in Yiddish with Seymour providing an English translation. She called it “an homage to a culture and its people — my people — to their indomitable spirit, their irrepressible humor and inventiveness, their capacity for wonder, endurance and faith.”
Ruth Epstein grew up in the Bronx. From the age of seven she attended one of the Sholom Aleichem Yiddish folk schools.
Her grandfather, an observant Jewish furrier on the Lower East Side, was broken-hearted that the younger generation of his family did not keep the Sabbath. Her parents met at the progressive New School for Social Research, which offered college-level courses to new immigrants. She described her father as an atheist and a socialist.
At the age of 16 she enrolled at City College where a mutual friend, the writer Judith Rossner, introduced her to a poet named Jack Hirschman. Epstein and Hirschman married and started a family, living in New Hampshire when Hirschman taught at Dartmouth, then moving to Southern California where Hirschman accepted a faculty position at UCLA in the summer of 1961.
Seymour’s radio career began that year at KPFK, the left-leaning Pacifica station in Los Angeles, where she served as drama and literature director. The family moved to Europe in 1964, where she filed stories for KPFK. During their time abroad the Hirschmans lived on the Greek Island of Hydra, where the singer Leonard Cohen became a friend. In a 1987 interview with the L.A. Times, Seymour said the island had “about 30 highly charged, demented people running around stark naked.”
After returning to the U.S. in 1968, she worked as a social worker for the state of California before becoming KPFK’s program director in 1971. Over the course of her tenure there she put the Firesign Theater comedy troupe on the air and decided to broadcast live a 1974 raid by the FBI and LAPD on the radio station, which had received a “communique” from the Symbionese Liberation Army. The militant leftist group claimed credit for the abduction of the heiress Patricia Hearst.
Seymour and station manager Will Lewis were ousted in 1976 during one of the periodic Pacifica staff reshuffles insiders described as “coups.” She came to KCRW in 1977, helping build the station in Santa Monica with its first fund drives and extending its signal across Los Angeles.
In 1973 she divorced her husband; some 20 years later she decided to drop his surname and replace it with Seymour, anglicizing the first name of her paternal great-grandfather, a Polish rabbi known as Reb Simcha of Pultysk. In a July 1993 article in KCRW’s newsletter, Seymour wrote that Reb Simcha was so revered that congregants “were convinced he conversed with the Almighty.” The article noted that two towns reportedly fought over the right to bury the rabbi.
Seymour will also be remembered as a trailblazer in public radio’s embrace of digital platforms and an important player in campaigns to raise funds for NPR’s news operation.
Under Seymour’s stewardship KCRW’s signature music show “Morning Becomes Eclectic” became a huge influence in the world of popular music. The KCRW audience was chock full of showbiz movers and shakers: writers, directors, actors and musicians who frequently called the station to find out what music was being played.
Seymour’s voice, with its unmistakable Bronx accent, was familiar to KCRW listeners who heard her not only during the Hanukkah specials but also during pledge drives and when she did daily readings of the New York Times in her early years at the station when there was little in the way of locally produced public affairs programming.
“She sounded like your mother or aunty who was scolding you,” said Sarah Spitz, who served as the station’s publicity director and worked with Seymour for 27 years. “Ruth could be mercurial and she could be difficult but without a doubt she was a complete visionary. We will not see her likes again.”
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Brooklyn Nets Select Israeli Basketball Players Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf in NBA Draft
The opening tip between the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
In a landmark night for Israeli basketball, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time two Israeli players have been drafted in the same year.
Saraf, a 19-year-old guard known for his explosive athleticism and creative playmaking, was taken with the 26th pick. A standout with Maccabi Rishon LeZion and a rising star on Israel’s youth national teams, Saraf gained international attention with his electrifying scoring and commanding court presence.
With the 27th pick, the Nets selected 7-foot center Danny Wolf out of the University of Michigan. Wolf, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship and represented Israel at the U-20 level, brings a versatile skill set, including sharp passing, perimeter shooting, and a strong feel for the game. After his name was called, Wolf grew emotional in an on-air interview, crediting his family for helping him reach the moment.
“I have the two greatest brothers in the world; I have an unbelievable sister who I love,” Wolf said. “They all helped me get to where I am today, and they’re going to help me get to where I am going to go in this league.”
The historic double-pick adds to the growing wave of Israeli presence on the NBA stage, led by Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, who just completed a breakout 2024–25 season. After being traded to Portland last summer, Avdija thrived as a starter, averaging 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. In March alone, he posted 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game, including two triple-doubles.
“I don’t think I’ve played like this before … I knew I had it in me. But I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just playing. I’m just free,” Avdija told reporters in March
With Saraf and Wolf joining Avdija, Israel’s basketball pipeline has reached unprecedented visibility. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the moment “a national celebration for sports and youth,” and Israeli sports commentators widely hailed the night as “historic.”
Both Saraf and Wolf are expected to suit up for the Nets’ Summer League team in July. As the two rookies begin their NBA journey, they join a growing generation of Israeli athletes proving that their game belongs on basketball’s biggest stage.
The post Brooklyn Nets Select Israeli Basketball Players Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf in NBA Draft first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Denies Any Meeting With US Next Week, Foreign Minister Says
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week.
The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran was assessing whether talks with the US were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the US attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The US and Israel said the strikes were meant to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear program is solely geared toward civilian use.
Araqchi said the damages to nuclear sites “were not little” and that relevant authorities were figuring out the new realities of Iran’s nuclear program, which he said would inform Iran’s future diplomatic stance.
The post Iran Denies Any Meeting With US Next Week, Foreign Minister Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Ireland Becomes First European Nation to Advance Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Ireland has become the first European nation to push forward legislation banning trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — an effort officials say is meant “to address the horrifying situation” in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris announced that the legislation has already been approved by the government and will now move to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny.
“Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza,” Harris said during a press conference.
The Irish diplomat also told reporters he hopes the “real benefit” of the legislation will be to encourage other countries to follow suit, “because it is important that every country uses every lever at its disposal.”
Today Ireland becomes the first country in Europe to bring forward legislation to ban trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza.
Every country must pull every lever at its disposal. pic.twitter.com/Z4RTjqntEY— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) June 24, 2025
Joining a growing number of EU member states aiming to curb Israel’s defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Ireland’s decision comes after a 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
The ICJ ruled that third countries must avoid trade or investment that supports “the illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Once implemented, the law will criminalize the importation of goods from Israeli settlements into Ireland, empowering customs officials to inspect, seize, and confiscate any such shipments.
“The situation in Palestine remains a matter of deep public concern,” Harris said. “I have made it consistently clear that this government will use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”
“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and threaten the viability of the two-state solution,” the Irish diplomat continued. “This is the longstanding position of the European Union and our international partners. Furthermore, this is the clear position under international law.”
Harris also urged the EU to comply with the ICJ’s ruling by taking a more decisive and “adequate response” regarding imports from Israeli settlements.
“This is an issue that I will continue to press at EU level, and I reiterated my call for concrete proposals from the European Commission at the Foreign Affairs Council this week,” he said.
Last week, Ireland and eight other EU member states — Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — called on the European Commission to draft proposals for how EU countries can halt trade and imports with Israeli settlements, in line with obligations set out by the ICJ.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the latest move by European countries, calling it “shameful” and a misguided attempt to undermine Israel while it faces “existential” threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas.
“It is regrettable that even when Israel is fighting an existential threat which is in Europe’s vital interest — there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession,” the top Israeli diplomat said in a post on X.
It is regrettable that even when Israel fighting an existential threat which is in Europe vital interest – there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession.
Shameful! https://t.co/lxm9qm8sM1— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 19, 2025
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