TOPLPUNKT: FERTLYOR-SHRIFT FAR LITERATUR, KUNST UN GEZELSCHAFTLEKHE FRAGES

TOPLPUNKT: FERTLYOR-SHRIFT FAR LITERATUR, KUNST UN GEZELSCHAFTLEKHE FRAGES (Yid. "Colon: Quarterly of Literature, Art and Social Questions"), Yiddish literary journal published since 2000 in Tel Aviv by Der Natsyonaler Instants far Yidisher Kultur ("The National Instance for Yiddish Culture"). Nos. 1–5 were edited by Yankev Beser and co-edited by Yisroel Rudnitski, the latter becoming editor with no. 6 (Winter 2003). The closing down of the journal *Di Goldene Keyt in 1995 created a vacuum in international Yiddish literary culture. Many of the participants in Toplpunkt would have been – or would have aspired to become – contributors to Di Goldene Keyt. Toplpunkt partly fills a void left by that prestigious journal's surcease and can also lay claim to a character of its own – a greater emphasis on graphic design and on a fruitful exchange between older and younger Yiddish writers. Toplpunkt is a serious magazine that radiates a certain vitality: two-thirds of its material is original Yiddish work, while the other third comprises translations from Hebrew and major European languages. Of the 60–70 Yiddish-writing participants, almost a third are relatively young (mainly late-wave immigrants from former Soviet lands). The folio-size journal is visually attractive, each number featuring work by a particular artist. Those represented in issues 1–9 are among Israel's major artists: Yosl Bergner, Menashe Kadishman, Yossef Zaritsky, Arye Arokh, Tsiona Tagger, Mula Ben-Khayim, Mordecai Ardon, Reuven Rubin, Moshe Rozentalis (in that order). Each issue contains more than 100 pages of a lively variety of genres. Some readers may sense a "last Mohican" strain in this 21^st-century subsidized international Yiddish literary periodical.

[Leonard Prager (2^nd ed.)]