Mar 7, 2022 By: yunews
By Zvi Erenyi
Collection Development and Reference Librarian
Mendel Gottesman Library
On March 1, 2022, Yeshiva University Libraries presented on Zoom a book lecture featuring Peninnah Schram, famed Jewish storyteller and Professor Emerita of Speech and Drama at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. Her successor, Reuven Russell, professor of speech and drama and director of the dramatic societies at Yeshiva College and Stern College, served as moderator for the evening’s program, which revolved around a recently published biography of Prof. Schram by Caren Schnur Neile, entitled Peninnah’s World: A Jewish life in Stories (Hamilton Books, 2021).
Prof. Russell remarked that stories such as those of Talmudic origin (Ein Ya’akov) can convey deep levels of meaning, differing from the strictly legalistic portions of the Talmud. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Ba’al ha-Tanya, urged his followers to devote time between Minchah and Ma’ariv (afternoon and evening prayers) to the study of Aggadah, because “most of the secrets of Torah are concealed within it.”
Prof. Russell added, “As a storyteller, you must be able ‘to see’ the story in your mind’s eye in order to enable your hearers to do the same.” In response, Prof. Schram described her background and the circumstances which led to her coming to Stern College.
Peninnah Schram obtained her B.A. at the University of Connecticut and her M.A. at Columbia University. She described how from early childhood she loved to listen to stories told by her parents. Most of these were didactic in nature, designed to instill life lessons.
For example, her mother told her the following story to teach her the importance of restraining anger. A Jewish young man, drafted into the Czar’s army, had to leave behind his wife, who was pregnant with their first child. Returning home after many years, he found the door to his house open and heard the voice of his wife and that of another man. Overcome with anger, he burst in with his pistol drawn ready to shoot the man, when, at the last moment, he heard the man utter the word “Mommy” and realized that the latter was the son he had never met. Prof. Schram noted that after later finding the same story in outline in the 13th century Sefer Hasidim, she understood that stories can be repeated and adapted down the generations to fit the needs of each era.
After the traumatic loss of her husband, which left her to care alone for her two young children, the new widow had little inclination for social engagements. However, an inner voice she identified with her late father’s urged her to attend a wedding to which she had been invited. It was there that she was introduced to Prof. Abraham Tauber, founder and chairman of the Speech and Drama Department at Yeshiva University. He later called to offer her a position at Yeshiva College, the men’s undergraduate division. She felt unready to accept it at that early point in her career, but a year later he again called. This time he offered her a position at Stern College, the women’s undergraduate division, to which she felt she was well suited and which became her second home.
Prof. Schram’s development as a storyteller continued with her volunteer work at the Jewish Braille Institute, where she recorded entire books for the vision impaired. One of these was a collection of children’s stories by famed Yiddish author Isaac Bashevis Singer. She then realized that she wanted to tell such stories to a wider audience, and she proposed a program to the 92nd Street Y. Following the success of this venture, she became Jewish Storyteller in Residence at the Jewish Museum, where she presented monthly shows, each based on an object in the museum’s collections.
Author of 13 books and a CD, and recipient of numerous awards, Prof. Schram merited to meet with numerous celebrities and Nobel Prize winners. She considers famed humanitarian and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel z"l to have been one of her mentors, whose lectures and presentations she carefully observed.
Prof. Schram concluded by quoting the last line of the Storyteller’s Prayer by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Apter Rav: “Dear G-d, give me good listeners.” In our world, she said, we need good listeners, those with compassionate and understanding hearts, and those who will retell and write stories and life experiences for us and for the future.
On March 1, 2022, Yeshiva University Libraries presented on Zoom a book lecture featuring Peninnah Schram, famed Jewish storyteller and Professor Emerita of Speech and Drama at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women. Her successor, Reuven Russell, professor of speech and drama and director of the dramatic societies at Yeshiva College and Stern College, served as moderator for the evening’s program, which revolved around a recently published biography of Prof. Schram by Caren Schnur Neile, entitled Peninnah’s World: A Jewish life in Stories (Hamilton Books, 2021).
Prof. Russell remarked that stories such as those of Talmudic origin (Ein Ya’akov) can convey deep levels of meaning, differing from the strictly legalistic portions of the Talmud. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Ba’al ha-Tanya, urged his followers to devote time between Minchah and Ma’ariv (afternoon and evening prayers) to the study of Aggadah, because “most of the secrets of Torah are concealed within it.”
Prof. Russell added, “As a storyteller, you must be able ‘to see’ the story in your mind’s eye in order to enable your hearers to do the same.” In response, Prof. Schram described her background and the circumstances which led to her coming to Stern College.
Peninnah Schram obtained her B.A. at the University of Connecticut and her M.A. at Columbia University. She described how from early childhood she loved to listen to stories told by her parents. Most of these were didactic in nature, designed to instill life lessons.
For example, her mother told her the following story to teach her the importance of restraining anger. A Jewish young man, drafted into the Czar’s army, had to leave behind his wife, who was pregnant with their first child. Returning home after many years, he found the door to his house open and heard the voice of his wife and that of another man. Overcome with anger, he burst in with his pistol drawn ready to shoot the man, when, at the last moment, he heard the man utter the word “Mommy” and realized that the latter was the son he had never met. Prof. Schram noted that after later finding the same story in outline in the 13th century Sefer Hasidim, she understood that stories can be repeated and adapted down the generations to fit the needs of each era.
After the traumatic loss of her husband, which left her to care alone for her two young children, the new widow had little inclination for social engagements. However, an inner voice she identified with her late father’s urged her to attend a wedding to which she had been invited. It was there that she was introduced to Prof. Abraham Tauber, founder and chairman of the Speech and Drama Department at Yeshiva University. He later called to offer her a position at Yeshiva College, the men’s undergraduate division. She felt unready to accept it at that early point in her career, but a year later he again called. This time he offered her a position at Stern College, the women’s undergraduate division, to which she felt she was well suited and which became her second home.
Prof. Schram’s development as a storyteller continued with her volunteer work at the Jewish Braille Institute, where she recorded entire books for the vision impaired. One of these was a collection of children’s stories by famed Yiddish author Isaac Bashevis Singer. She then realized that she wanted to tell such stories to a wider audience, and she proposed a program to the 92nd Street Y. Following the success of this venture, she became Jewish Storyteller in Residence at the Jewish Museum, where she presented monthly shows, each based on an object in the museum’s collections.
Author of 13 books and a CD, and recipient of numerous awards, Prof. Schram merited to meet with numerous celebrities and Nobel Prize winners. She considers famed humanitarian and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel z"l to have been one of her mentors, whose lectures and presentations she carefully observed.
Prof. Schram concluded by quoting the last line of the Storyteller’s Prayer by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Apter Rav: “Dear G-d, give me good listeners.” In our world, she said, we need good listeners, those with compassionate and understanding hearts, and those who will retell and write stories and life experiences for us and for the future.
