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A Tale Of Woody Guthrie And A Tulsa Tallis

JL;DR SUMMARY Will Kaufman's exploration of the archives at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa unearthed a surprising connection between the iconic American folk singer and Yiddishkeit. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CultureJewish HistoryYiddishkeitAliza GreenblattWoody GuthrieFred C. TrumpTulsa TallisMarjorie Greenblatt MaziaPeekskill RiotsWoody Guthrie Center

Places mentioned

Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
"I spent a glorious few weeks researching in the archives in the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma."
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
"I was also amazed to learn of Marjorie Guthries own part in the establishment of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, now the countrys leading repository of Yiddish-language texts."
New York, United States
"Woody Guthries Happy Joyous Hanukkah and the Grammy-winning Wonder Wheel. But I discovered so much more in the archives, such as Guthries conscious associations between the Jewish refugees from the Third Reich and the Dust Bowl Refugees whom he championed."
Peekskill, New York, United States
"I read of his vision forged in the immediate wake of the anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-communist Peekskill Riots against Paul Robeson in 1949, which he had personally witnessed."
United Kingdom
"Will Kaufman is Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and the author of Woody Guthrie, American Radical, (2011) Woody Guthries Modern World Blues (2017) and Mapping Woody Guthrie."

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Retrieved 2026-03-24 05:31:11 UTC
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