Past Events

2024

Postponed

Two Revolutionary Jews: Leon Trotsky and Chaim Zhitlowsky

Tony Michels analyzes left-wing Jewish politics since the 19th century, focusing on the seminal Jewish Russian revolutionaries Leon Trotsky and Chaim Zhitlowsky and their radically different answers to the predicament of modern Jewry.

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Sunday
Sep 29
1:00pm

Nusakh Vilne Memorial

For 2024’s commemoration of the Jewish community of Vilna, Bret Werb discusses Shmerke Kaczerginski’s work collecting songs of the Holocaust. The lecture will be followed by musical settings of Kaczerginski’s poetry performed by Temma Schaechter and Binyumen Schaechter.

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Thursday
Sep 26
1:00pm

New Perspectives on European Jewish History

Nancy Sinkoff, Jonathan Karp, James Loeffler, and Howard Lupovitch delve into their new volume, A Jew in the Street: New Perspectives on European Jewish History, about how early modern and modern Jews navigated schisms between Jewish community and European society.

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Tuesday
Sep 24
7:30pm

Jewish Musicians in 18th-Century London with the Raritan Players

Eighteenth-century London was a cosmopolitan and tolerant city, attracting Jewish musicians from across Europe—from Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Italian, and Eastern descent—though conditions would soon change as antisemitism increased. Join the Raritan Players for a concert exploring the music of Jews amidst this cultural shift.

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Monday
Sep 23
7:00pm

Darius Milhaud’s Opera 'Esther de Carpentras'

Esther de Carpentras is an opera-bouffe composed by Darius Milhaud and based on a text by Armand Lunel. Premiered in 1938, the opera references the literary and theatrical interpretations of the Purim story and integrates the Jewish heritage of Milhaud and Lunel with that of papal domains of southern France.

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Class starts Sep 23 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner I Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Sep 22 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Continuing Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class is for students who already have some experience speaking in Yiddish, can hold a basic conversation, and want to take their self-expression to the next level.

read more
Class starts Sep 22 4:00pm-5:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class covers grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for students with some basic familiarity with spoken Yiddish.

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Sunday
Sep 22
3:00pm

Music in Our Time 2024 - A Bouquet of Jewish Choral Music

Join us for a concert of Jewish choral music performed by the acclaimed New York Virtuoso Singers, under the direction of its award-winning conductor Harold Rosenbaum. The concert includes music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers, as well as new and exciting Jewish composers.

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Sunday
Sep 22
12:00pm

Remembering Fishl Kutner

Commemorate the life and achievements of Yiddish culture advocate Philip (Fishl) Kutner through a virtual tribute program complete with lectures, theater performances, Yiddish conversation, and resources for learning Yiddish.

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Thursday
Sep 19
7:30pm

Yiddish on the Move: Yiddish Writing and Publishing after the Holocaust

Rachelle Grossman, Matt Johnson, Harriet Murav, and Christin Zühlke, in a panel discussion moderated by Erin McGlothlin, delve into the elaborate dynamics of Yiddish writing and publishing across transnational literary networks after the Holocaust.

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Wednesday
Sep 18
6:30pm

Family Treasures Lost & Found

In Family Treasures Lost & Found, journalist Karen A. Frenkel investigates her parents’ unspoken WWII stories. Join the American Jewish Historical Society and YIVO for a film screening of this documentary, followed by a talkback with filmmakers Frenkel and Marcia Rock.

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Class starts Sep 17 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2024] Getting From Oy To Vey: Yiddish as an Expression of Traditional Jewish Life and Learning

Michael Wex leads an in-depth analysis of Yiddish, revealing how Jewish texts and non-Jewish concepts have been incorporated into the language.

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Class starts Sep 17 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2024] Beginner IV Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 17 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner I Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Sep 17 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner IV Yiddish

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 16 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner III Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Trip starts Sep 16

2024 Study Tour of Northern Italy

Join YIVO on a fascinating journey of discovery across northern Italy from Torino, Genova via Firenze, Parma, Modena, Ferrara, Padua to Trieste and Venezia, discovering the fabled Jewish history, unfamiliar to most of us.

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Class starts Sep 15 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Advanced I Yiddish (Sunday Evening)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 15 12:30pm-2:00pm

[FALL2024] Mothers, Revolutionaries, and Workers: Women during the Great Transformation of Eastern European Jewish Society

Explore women’s experiences at the turn of the twentieth century, a transformative period in modern Eastern European Jewish history that included industrialization, mass migrations, and the rise of nationalisms.

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Class starts Sep 15 12:00pm-1:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner I Yiddish (Sunday Afternoon)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Sep 15 10:30am-12:00pm

[FALL2024] Beginner I Yiddish (Sunday Morning)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Sep 15 10:00am-11:30am

[FALL2024] Intermediate I Yiddish

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Sep 15 9:00am-10:00pm and Sep 16 10:00am-1:30pm

After Orthodoxy: Cultural Creativity and the Break with Tradition

Join YIVO for the first conference and festival organized by and featuring formerly Orthodox Jewish scholars, activists, performers, and artists, as we explore the cultural achievements that emerged from this break with tradition.

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Class starts Sep 11 9:30am-11:00am

[FALL2024] Readings in Yiddish Prose

Read, listen to, and talk about short stories, essays, journalistic writing, folklore, and more from a literary and linguistic point of view.

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Tuesday
Sep 10
7:00pm

My Life as a Jew

Join YIVO for a discussion with Michael Gawenda about his new autobiography, My Life as a Jew, led by editor at large of the New York Jewish Week Andrew Silow-Carroll.

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Class starts Sep 10 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner III Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 10 3:00-4:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate II Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 10 1:00pm-2:50pm

[FALL2024] Beginner Reading Yiddish

This weekly reading class covers grammar and how to read Yiddish texts with the help of a dictionary. It is for students new to Yiddish, especially those interested in obtaining reading proficiency for academic or archival research.

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Class starts Sep 9 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2024] Beginner II Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 9 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2024] Advanced II Yiddish

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Advanced I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 9 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 9 4:00pm-5:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 9 3:00pm-4:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate III Yiddish (Monday Afternoon)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 9 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate III Yiddish (Monday Morning)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 9 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate IV Yiddish

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 8 4:00pm-5:30pm

[FALL2024] Intermediate II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 8 2:00pm-3:30pm

[FALL2024] Advanced I Yiddish (Sunday Afternoon)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 8 12:00pm-1:30pm

[FALL2024] Beginner III Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 8 12:00pm-1:30pm

[FALL2024] Advanced Topics in Yiddish Literature & Grammar: What is Modern about the Yiddish Classics?

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Advanced I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Sep 8 11:00am-12:00pm

[FALL2024] The Shtetl: Jewish Community in Transition

This mini-course will explore four major arenas where changes occurred in the shtetl—spirituality, politics, gender, and culture—dispelling the myth of the shtetl as a stagnant and isolated Jewish community.

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Class starts Sep 8 10:00am-11:30am

[FALL2024] Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Sep 5 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2024] Advanced Topics in Yiddish Literature & Grammar: Autobiographical Writing in Yiddish

This twice-weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Advanced II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Wednesday
Sep 4
7:30pm

Singing with Ghosts: Hauntology and Musical-Culinary Remembrance in Iraqi Jewish Biographical Songs

This program explores the secretive practices of biographical Arabic song-making among Iraqi Jews living in Israel. Liliana Carrizo considers how these musical-culinary remembrances relate to theories of ghosting and hauntology, and brings them into a conversation with the burgeoning field of gastromusicology.

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Wednesday
Sep 4
7:00pm

The Bashevis Singers

Join YIVO for the first US performance by The Bashevis Singers, a band with songs that span centuries of Yiddish and have brought to life classic 20th century folksongs and new compositions based on mystical poetry written by legends of Jewish culture.

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Thursday
Jul 25
2:00pm

Ethnographers between Yiddish and Polish: a Study in Intellectual History

Karolina Szymaniak presents the roles Chaim Chajes and Daniel Fajnsztejn played in shaping modern ethnography, and what could have become a new field of study if not for the outbreak of World War II and the Holocaust. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Tuesday
Jul 23
2:00pm

Musical Pripetshik: Lyrics and Melodies of Traditional Yiddish Folksongs

Michael Lukin explores little-known Eastern Yiddish musical folklore, which was an integral part of Jewish culture and evolved in meaning and function over time. Delivered in English.

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Thursday
Jul 18
2:00pm

Libes briv (18th C.): Isaac Wetzlar’s Call for Reform of Jewish Society and Education

Marion Aptroot explores Isaac Wetzlar's ideas for reforming Jewish education in Ashkenaz in the mid-18th century. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Thursday
Jul 11
2:00pm

Testimonies in Responsa and What They Tell Us about the Development of Spoken Yiddish

Moshe Taube explores the syntax, morphology, and the lexicon of testimonies written in "Loshn Ashkenaz" (Yiddish and German) to learn about the the development of spoken and written Yiddish. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Tuesday
Jul 9
6:30pm

Desires by Celia Dropkin

Join YIVO for a discussion about Anita Norich’s new translation of Celia Dropkin's Desires, with Norich in conversation with Yiddish Book Center’s Director of Publishing and Public Programs, Lisa Newman.

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Tuesday
Jul 9
2:00pm

Instilling Yiddishkayt into Zionism

Dina Porat discusses WWII partisan, poet, and intellectual Abba Kovner's attempts to preserve East European Jewish culture by creating a new kind of community at Kibbutz Ein HaHoresh.

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Trip starts July 1

2024 Study Tour of Imperial Cities in Central Europe

Come and see Vienna, Prague, and Budapest: cities of Habsburg glory and Jewish memory. This tour will visit beautiful synagogues, unrivaled museums, and landmarks of Jewish religious life and secular genius.

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Thursday
Jun 27
2:00pm

Jewish Resistance during the Pogroms in Ukraine in 1918-1921

Elissa Bemporad explores the different forms of Jewish resistance to the wave of unprecedented violence that devastated the Jewish communities of Ukraine in 1918-1921. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Wednesday
Jun 26
1:00pm

Memories of Morris Katz

Join YIVO to celebrate the legacy of the prolific painter Morris Katz by sharing your Morris Katz story.

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Tuesday
Jun 25
2:00pm

Leo Rosten and the Translation of Yiddish Joy

Sunny Yudkoff examines the frequently mentioned but little read The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten to explore Rosten's vision of Yiddish joy. Delivered in English.

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Monday
Jun 24
1:00pm

Homes of the Past

Jeffrey Shandler, in conversation with Deborah Dash Moore, explores the Museum of the Homes of the Past, an abandoned YIVO project that intended to document the European Jewish lives, places, and ways of living that were destroyed during the Holocaust.

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Monday
Jun 17
7:00pm

Runaway Husbands, Desperate Families: The Story of the National Desertion Bureau

Co-presented by YIVO and The Jewish Board, join us for the opening of this new exhibition which traces the history of the National Desertion Bureau and includes never before seen records, documents, and photographs from the organization’s voluminous archives.

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Trip starts June 17

2024 Study Tour of Lithuania & Poland

Join YIVO for an enlightening journey to Lithuania and Poland. Examine the life that was lived as you reconnect with your own heritage. Discover the remarkable treasures of old Warsaw, Kraków, Vilnius, and Białowieża.

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Thursday
Jun 6
1:00pm

Psychoanalysis and Jewish Languages

Naomi Seidman, in conversation with Ken Frieden, explores the academic interest in aiming to detect Jewish influences on Sigmund Freud, his own feelings about being Jewish, and suppressed traces of Jewishness in his thought.

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Wednesday
Jun 5
1:00pm

Celia Dropkin as a Translingual Writer

In this talk, Jakub Zygmunt will present a linguistic biography of Celia Dropkin, discuss selected translingual practices found in her work, and demonstrate what the translingual framework can tell us new about Dropkin’s work in particular and Yiddish literature in general.

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Thursday
May 30
1:00pm

Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism

Spencer Sunshine discusses a new wave of aspiring neo-Nazi terrorists and the inspiration they draw from James Mason’s Siege, which praises terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manson.

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Tuesday
May 28
1:00pm

Passing in Print: (Non)Jewish News in the Mainstream Press during the Holocaust

Nathan Lucky traces the strategic decisions made by key figures in the Jewish journalistic world during a time of crisis that fundamentally reshaped how news was categorized, gathered, circulated, and consumed.

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Wednesday
May 22
7:00pm

Gebirtig's Notebooks

Join Lorin Sklamberg for his first-ever concert of the ballads of the beloved legendary Yiddish bard of Krakow, Mordkhe Gebirtig, focusing on the lyrics contained in Gebiritg's hand-written notebooks housed in the YIVO Archives.

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Monday
May 20
1:00pm

Self-Government between the Shtetl and the Village: Rural Leaders and Jewish-Polish Relations in the Lublin Countryside before World War II

Considering an array of sources, including prewar memoirs, religious and secular self-government records, and court files, Miranda Brethour will describe how rural leadership was an important site of interaction between Jews and Christians in the Lublin countryside leading up to German occupation.

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Thursday
May 16
7:00pm

The Instant Art of Morris Katz

Join YIVO to celebrate the launch of our newest exhibition, The Instant Art of Morris Katz, with a reception catered by The Challah Fairy and exhibit tours offered by YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions, Eddy Portnoy.

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Tuesday
May 14
1:00pm

Jewish Songs and Dances for Piano: Jacob Weinberg’s "Ten Jewish Songs" (1933)

Join YIVO for a performance of Jacob Weinberg’s Ten Jewish Songs (1933), a collection of Jewish folksongs, holiday songs, dances, and Hasidic nigunim, performed by Thomas Kotcheff. Famous for writing the first Hebrew language opera, The Pioneers (Hechalutz), Weinberg was a prolific composer with many songs, choral works, chamber compositions, and oratorios to his name.

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Wednesday
May 8
1:00pm

Jewish Self-Defense in the Russian Empire 1903-1905

Netta Ehrlich explores the history of Jewish resistance to pogroms in the Russian Empire before and during the failed 1905 revolution.

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Tuesday
May 7
7:00pm

Yiddish and Hebrew Song in the Weimar Republic

Join YIVO for a concert exploring Yiddish and Hebrew songs of the Weimar Republic.

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Monday
May 6
1:00pm

Der oytser formen baym moler: Ryback's Formal Approach to Jewish Art

Noa Tsaushu analyzes the works of Jewish Ukrainian artist Issachar Ber Ryback (1897-1935).

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Thursday
May 2
1:00pm

How to Do Research at YIVO: Reading a Finding Aid

This workshop, led by YIVO’s Reference and Outreach Archivist Ruby Landau-Pincus, will cover what information researchers can expect to discover in a finding aid and will provide an overview of a range of finding aid formats, from digital finding aids to legacy finding aids and other resources available for navigating collections in the YIVO Archives.

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Friday
Apr 19
2:00pm

Commemoration of the 81st Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at Der Shteyn

The Congress for Jewish Culture, Friends of the Bund, the Jewish Labor Committee, Workers Circle, and YIVO join together to commemorate and remember the bravery of the partisans of the Warsaw Ghetto. This event takes place in Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Plaza in Riverside Park, NYC.

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Thursday
Apr 18
7:00pm

Miryeml

Tea Arciszewska's Miryeml was heralded as a powerful memorial to the million children murdered in the Holocaust. This nearly-forgotten modernist masterpiece is now available in English translation for the first time.

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Wednesday
Apr 17
7:30pm

Opera and Democracy: Songs from Exile | Music by Geiger-Kullmann, Aron, Toch

This concert introduces two German-Jewish composers in American exile: Paul Aron and Rosy Geiger-Kullmann. Part of the series “Opera and Democracy: Listening to Exile.”

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Tuesday
Apr 16
1:00pm

Responses To October 7th

Historian Jeffrey Herf will lead a panel featuring scholars Meir Litvak, Norman Goda, Karin Stögner, and David Hirsh exploring responses to Hamas’ October 7th massacres and to the state of Israel’s subsequent military response.

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Monday
Apr 15
7:30pm

String Trio, Los Angeles 1946

Join us for a 150-year celebration of Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), one of the 20th century’s most important and influential composers.

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Wednesday
Apr 10
7:00pm

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Court: The Bern Trial (1933-1935) and the "Antisemitic International"

In this lecture, Michael Hagemeister uses the Bern trial as a case study of Jewish legal self-defense in order to shed light on both the widely disseminated antisemitic publication, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and the concerted efforts against the “Antisemitic International” in the 1930s, which have received little attention from historians.

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Thursday
Apr 4
7:30pm

“Juden, Baptized and Unbaptized”: Jewishness and Ferdinand Hiller’s 'Israel’s Siegesgesang'

Amanda Ruppenthal-Stein examines performances of Ferdinand Hiller's Israel’s Siegesgesang, showing how Hiller clearly recognized his Jewish heritage and was acknowledged as a member of the broader Jewish community, regardless of his baptismal status.

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Thursday
Apr 4
1:00pm

The Lodz Ghetto and the Kriminalpolizei: Jews, Neighbors, and Perpetrators in the Holocaust

In this talk, Winson Chu focuses on how police records in Poland and survivor sources at YIVO enable a better understanding of prewar connections with wartime perpetrators.

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Monday
Apr 1
7:00pm

Drew Friedman: Vermeer of the Borscht Belt

Join YIVO for a screening of a documentary about comics artist Drew Friedman's evolution from underground comics to the cover of The New Yorker, complete with interviews with his friends and colleagues.

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Thursday
Mar 28
7:00pm

in a dark blue night

Join YIVO for the album launch concert of in a dark blue night, a new album by Pulitzer Prize nominated composer Alex Weiser, comprising two song cycles that explore Jewish immigrant New York City.

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Wednesday
Mar 27
1:00pm

Yiddish and Hebrew Little Magazines in the Weimar Republic

Barbara Mann explores the publishing history of Yiddish and Hebrew little magazines, their content, physical features, and readership.

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Monday
Mar 25
1:00pm

Colonialism, Racism, and the Arab Israeli War of 1948

Historians Benny Morris and Jeffrey Herf discuss the international politics surrounding Israel’s establishment, the causes and nature of the war of 1948, and the controversies of how this history is understood in contemporary discourse.

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Thursday
Mar 21
7:00pm

Is Anything Okay? The History of Jews and Comedy in America

Celebrate the launch of our newest online course about Jewish comedy, which delves into the history of Jewish comedy and its development in the United States.

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Wednesday
Mar 20
7:30pm

An Original Klezmer Purimspiel

Join us in celebrating Purim this year with a dramatic and festive telling of the story of Esther, Mordechai, Haman, and King Ahasuerus, punctuated by thrilling performances of klezmer music.

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Tuesday
Mar 19
1:00pm

Reimagining the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Join YIVO for a discussion with Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Jordanian foreign minister and deputy prime minister, about Muasher's views on “the day after” in Gaza.

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Monday
Mar 18
1:00pm

Jewish Songs and Dances for Piano: Joel Engel’s “Five Piano Pieces” Op. 19 (1923)

Join YIVO for a performance of Joel Engel’s Five Piano Pieces (1923): a collection of Jewish folksongs, dances, and Hasidic nigunim in virtuosic piano arrangements, performed by pianist Thomas Kotcheff.

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Class starts Mar 15 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate II Yiddish (Friday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Thursday
Mar 14
7:00pm

Wild Burning Rage and Song: Replies to Scottsboro

Join us for a concert-lecture exploring the Yiddish intelligentsia's response to the Scottsboro Trials, one of the most renowned miscarriages of justice in the history of American jurisprudence.

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Wednesday
Mar 13
7:00pm

Hasidism in Poland on the Eve of the Holocaust

Glenn Dynner examines the Hasidic revival in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust, disproving notions of late Hasidic decadence and decline and transforming our understanding of Polish Jewry during its final hour. A performance of Hasidic niggunim by Lorin Sklamberg will follow the presentation.

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Class starts Mar 13 9:30am-11:00am

[SPR2024] Advanced Readings in Yiddish Prose

In this class students will read, listen to, and discuss 20th century Yiddish short stories in a variety of forms and styles. It is appropriate for students at the higher intermediate and advanced levels.

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Monday
Mar 11
1:00pm

Jewish Reading Habits in the Russian Empire

In a discussion led by Eddy Portnoy, Nathan Cohen explores Jewish reading practices alongside the rise of Yiddish by delving into publishing policies of Yiddish books and newspapers, popular literary genres of the time, the development of Jewish public libraries, as well as personal reflections of reading experiences.

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Class starts Mar 7 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] Beginner IV Yiddish (Thursday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Wednesday
Mar 6
7:00pm

Music, Gender, and Jewish Orthodoxy in North America

Join YIVO for a conversation with Jeremiah Lockwood and Jessica Roda in celebration of their new books that offer insights into the masculine and feminine art worlds of Hasidic and Litvish-Yeshivish Jews today. The program will conclude with performances from Cantor Yoel Kohn and actress Malky Goldman.

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Class starts Mar 6 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Continuing Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class is for students who already have some experience speaking in Yiddish, can hold a basic conversation, and want to take their self-expression to the next level.

read more
Class starts Mar 6 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Continuing Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class is for students who already have some experience speaking in Yiddish, can hold a basic conversation, and want to take their self-expression to the next level.

read more
Class starts Mar 6 4:00pm-5:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class covers grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for students with some basic familiarity with spoken Yiddish.

read more
Class starts Mar 5 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] The Jewish Lower East Side

Through the prism of New York’s Lower East Side, Elissa Sampson examines the historical interactions seen in Jewish urban immigration, United States industrialization, and processes of social and geographical mobility.

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Class starts Mar 5 5:30pm-7:00pm

[SPR2024] Globetrotting Yiddish Writers: Exploring the Work of Perets Hirshbeyn and H.-D. Nomberg

Abraham Lichtenbaum explores the work of Yiddish writers Perets Hirshbeyn and H.-D. Nomberg, who sought to capture their era and a picture of life across the Americas and Israel in their writing.

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Class starts Mar 5 5:30pm-7:00pm

[SPR2024] Globetrotting Yiddish Writers: Exploring the Work of Perets Hirshbeyn and H.-D. Nomberg

Abraham Lichtenbaum explores the work of Yiddish writers Perets Hirshbeyn and H.-D. Nomberg, who sought to capture their era and a picture of life across the Americas and Israel in their writing.

read more
Class starts Mar 4 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner III Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Mar 3 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Intensive Intermediate I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Beginner III&IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Mar 3 1:00pm-2:30pm

[SPR2024] New York Jewish Radicalism: Political and Artistic Experiments

M. Syd Rosen explores what it means to be a Jewish radical and whether Jewish culture radicalized New York — or if it was New York that radicalized Jewish culture.

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Class starts Mar 3 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2024] 'Erets-Yisroel' as a Region of “Yiddishland”: Travels of Yiddish Writers to Palestine 1907-1937

Yaad Biran examines key Yiddish writers who visited Palestine to understand their ideological points of view, appreciate the literary aspects of their writings, and attempt to recreate their vision of “Yidishland.”

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Class starts Mar 3 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2024] Psychics and the Occult in Modern Jewish Culture

Samuel Glauber examines Jewish engagement with modern occultism, with a focus on eastern European Jewry and its diaspora.

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Thursday
Feb 29
1:00pm

Firebird

Alissa Valles, in conversation with Jonathan Brent, discusses her translations of rediscovered Polish writer Zuzanna Ginczanka’s sole published book and uncollected poems.

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Wednesday
Feb 28
1:00pm

East European Jewish Women in Their Quest for a Dowry in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Aleksandra Jakubczak illuminates the link between the changing economy and Jewish courtship and marriage in Eastern Europe.

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Class starts Feb 27 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] Beginner III Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 27 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner II Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 26 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] Advanced I Yiddish

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Monday
Feb 26
1:00pm

Hamas and the Origins of Islamic Antisemitism

Historians Matthias Küntzel and Jeffrey Herf discuss the origins of Hamas, the history of Islamic antisemitism, and Islamic antisemitism's causal significance in the war of 1947-1948.

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Class starts Feb 26 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate IV Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 26 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate III Yiddish

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 25 4:00pm-5:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 25 2:00pm-3:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate IV Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 25 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Sunday
Feb 25
11:00am

2024 Summer Program Information Session - Advanced Levels

Are you thinking of returning to the Summer Program to continue your advanced studies? Join Summer Program faculty and staff for a brief information session about YIVO’s advanced levels.

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Class starts Feb 25 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2024] Beginner I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Feb 25 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2024] Beginner IV Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 25 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2024] Intermediate II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 22 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] Beginner I Yiddish (Thursday)

This weekly standard class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Feb 22 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Intensive Beginner I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for students who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Feb 22 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Intensive Intermediate III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Intermediate I&II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 22 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2024] Intensive Advanced III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Advanced I&II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 22 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2024] Intensive Beginner III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Beginner I&II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 21 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2024] Beginner I Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly standard class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Feb 21 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner II Yiddish (Wednesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Wednesday
Feb 21
1:00pm

The Reality of Myth for Yiddish Writers in Weimar Germany

Marc Caplan examines the historical significance and legendary allure of Weimar culture by considering three of its most significant Yiddish writers: Moyshe Kulbak, Dovid Bergelson, and Der Nister.

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Class starts Feb 21 9:00am-10:30am

[SPR2024] Intensive Advanced V&VI Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Advanced III&IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 20 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2024] Advanced Topics in Yiddish Literature & Grammar: Autobiographical Writing in Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Advanced V&VI Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 20 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate I Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 20 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2024] Beginner III Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 19 4:30pm-6:00pm

[SPR2024] Intermediate I Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Thursday
Feb 15
7:30pm

A Scrolls-Based Reading of Jewish Text, Voice and Exile

Ilana Webster-Kogen will consider ethnographic material from across North African ritual, proposing a reading of exile that centers mystical and postcolonial thought, Jewish-Muslim intimacies, and the power of giving voice to text.

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Class starts Feb 14 1:00pm-2:50pm

[SPR2024] Beginner I Reading Yiddish

This weekly reading class covers grammar and how to read Yiddish texts with the help of a dictionary. It is for students new to Yiddish, especially those interested in obtaining reading proficiency for academic or archival research.

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Monday
Feb 12
1:00pm

Horizons Blossom, Borders Vanish: Anarchism and Yiddish Literature

Anna Elena Torres, in conversation with Amelia Glaser, discusses her newly published book examining Yiddish poetry to offer an original literary study of the Jewish anarchist movement.

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Sunday
Feb 11
12:00pm

Community Read: "Ven ikh bin Roytshild"

Join YIVO and the International Association of Yiddish Clubs for a "community read" of Sholem Aleichem's “Ven ikh bin Roytshild,” led by Dr. Raphael (Refoyl) Finkel.

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Friday
Feb 2
10:00am

2024 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at YIVO’s Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of YIVO's Summer Program for a brief information session.

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Wednesday
Jan 31
1:00pm

2024 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at YIVO’s Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of YIVO's Summer Program for a brief information session.

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Monday
Jan 29
7:00pm

What Do We Know? Exploring the Human Experience through Jewish Texts and Music

Join us for a concert centered on exploring the human experience through Jewish texts and music.

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Wednesday
Jan 24
7:00pm

Shotns/Shadows: A New Album from the Fortunoff Archive

Join YIVO for a performance of the Yale Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies' newest album, Shotns/Shadows, based on poems and songs from interviews with Holocaust survivors recorded by the Fortunoff Archive.

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Tuesday
Jan 23
6:00pm

2024 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at YIVO’s Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of YIVO's Summer Program for a brief information session.

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Thursday
Jan 18
7:30pm

“Thousands of Stories to Tell”: Broadway Musicals, New York City, and the Making of Jewish Americans

Incorporating showtunes, lesser-known songs, storytelling, and scholarship, this cabaret invites audience members to consider the historical narratives of musicals in addition to enjoying the pleasure they provide.

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Class starts Jan 16 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2024] Shmerke Kaczerginski: Partisan Poet and Collector of Holocaust Songs

Malena Chinski examines Shmerke Kaczerginski’s postwar life and work, from Vilna through Lodz and Paris to Buenos Aires, and his research and song collecting activities throughout this period.

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Sunday
Jan 14
10:00am

A Medium for the Masses: The Yiddish Press and the Shaping of American Jewish Culture

Look back on more than 150 years of the Yiddish press in the United States, examining its role as a vehicle of acculturation, a forum for political and ideological debates, and a seedbed for the growth of a mass culture among Jews worldwide.

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Class starts Jan 10 2:00pm-3:30pm

[WY2024] The Classicists as Intellectuals, Critics, and Ideologues of their Times

Abraham Lichtenbaum explores the modernizing project of classical Yiddish writers Mendel Moykher-Sforim, I.L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem.

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Class starts Jan 10 12:30pm-2:00pm

[WY2024] The New Yiddish Cinema: A Renaissance

Dr. Eric Goldman explores why Yiddish has resurfaced on the screen in Europe, North America, and Israel, what has drawn creative artists to making Yiddish-language work, and the themes that they have chosen for their works.

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Class starts Jan 10 12:00pm-1:15pm

[WP2024] Conquering the Space: Symbolic Topography of the Former Warsaw Ghetto

The former Warsaw Ghetto site is both a symbol and a place of history. Elżbieta Janicka outlines the history of the site, examines the narratives conveyed by its design, and considers how it relates to 21st century politics of Poland.

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Class starts Jan 10 10:45am-12:00pm

[WP2024] Two Visions: Stalingrad and the Human World

Through readings of Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad and the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski, Jonathan Brent explores two different visions of victory over the anti-human Nazi ideology and violence.

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Class starts Jan 9 8:00pm-9:15pm

[WP2024] American Hasidism

Using books, Hasidic websites, social media, newspapers, and pashkeviln (“broadsides”), Nathaniel Deutsch examines the history of Hasidism in America, dating back to the massive waves of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

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Class starts Jan 9 6:30pm-8:00pm

[WP2024] The Final Draft – A Creative Writing Workshop

Irena Klepfisz focuses on creating a final draft – the process of completing a poem and understanding when we should stop working on it.

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Class starts Jan 9 4:00pm-5:15pm

[WP2024] Yiddish Culture in the Ghettos and Camps

Samuel Kassow explores Jewish reactions to Nazi persecution in poetry, song, and writing from the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna ghettos.

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Class starts Jan 9 2:30pm-3:45pm

[WP2024] The Jews of Argentina

Ilan Stavans explores the history and culture of the Jews of Argentina, from the immigration to the agricultural colonies at the end of the 19th century, to the terrorist attack against the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina), and beyond.

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Class starts Jan 9 1:00pm-2:15pm

[WP2024] Jews and American Radicalism in the 20th Century

Tony Michels explores the long history of Jews and the American left from the late 19th century through the era of the New Left and beyond.

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Class starts Jan 9 12:00pm-1:15pm

[WP2024] Jews in Pop and Rock Music

Jonathan Karp examines the extraordinary role Jews played in the development of American popular music, particularly the Rock ‘n’ Roll and classic Rock eras of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

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Class starts Jan 9 10:45am-12:00pm

[WP2024] The Food Culture of Ashkenaz: On Two Sides of the Atlantic

Hasia Diner explores how foodways, including ingredients, dishes, and ideas about eating, functioned both before migration to the United States and afterwards.

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Class starts Jan 9 9:00am-10:15am

[WP2024] Masters of Yiddish Prose

Curt Leviant examines the works of seven major early 19th to mid-20th century Yiddish writers to illuminate the life and culture of Jews in Eastern Europe.

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Monday
Jan 8
1:00pm

Holocaust Distortion in Poland and Beyond

For the 2024 Winter Program Keynote Lecture, Jan Grabowski sheds light on the origins of the current political situation in Poland as well as its impact on Holocaust memory and Holocaust education in Poland, Europe, and beyond.

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Class starts Jan 7 12:30pm-2:00pm

[WY2024] “A Tale of a Bear with no Tail”: An Introduction to Children's Literature in Yiddish

Vicky Ash-Shifriss examines the world of Yiddish children's literature through the motif of bears and bear cubs.

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Thursday
Jan 4
7:00pm

Challenging the Theater of Memory: Yiddish Song beyond Kitsch and Stereotype

Yiddish musicians and researchers Isabel Frey and Benjy Fox-Rosen present a thought-provoking concert-lecture on Holocaust memory and cultural expectations. Followed by a Q&A with the performers, moderated by Samantha Cooper and Gordon Dale.

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Class starts Jan 3 4:00pm-5:30pm

[WY2024] The Recipe: A Yiddish Literary Genre

Eve Jochnowitz follows the development of the Yiddish recipe in written form with special attention to the tastes and culinary practices of the Yiddish world.

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Class starts Jan 3 10:30am-12:00pm

[WY2024] The Art of Yiddish Translation

Rose Waldman explores the task of a translator, how they make stylistic and connotative decisions, and the particular challenges of translating from Yiddish to English.

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