YIVO-Bard Summer Program
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Intensive Beginner III&IV Yiddish

Class starts Sep 2 9:00am-10:30am

Tuition: $800
YIVO members: $640**
Students: $400 (Must register with valid university email address)

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This is a live, online course held twice weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, assignments, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted mostly in Yiddish, with some English used when necessary.

Instructor: Vera Szabó

Who should take this course? This course is for students who have previously taken two semesters of Yiddish. It is appropriate for those enrolled in Alef in the 2021 YIVO Summer Program. It is also appropriate for those who completed Beginner II Yiddish in spring 2021 with YIVO.

What topics will this class cover?
Students in this course will continue to develop their listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills in Yiddish. Topics covered will include food, physical appearance, the home, places and activities, vacations, expressions of time, animals, clothing, the weather, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Hanukkah. We will read folk tales, songs, poems, and learn the past and future tense, modal verbs, prefixed and periphrastic verbs, pronouns, direct and indirect objects, word order, sentence structure, and more.

Is knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet required?
Yes, knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.

Course Materials:

Questions? Read our 2021 Fall Classes FAQ.


Vera Szabó was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. She holds an M.A. in Yiddish Studies from Columbia University as well as an M.A. in English and German Studies from ELTE University, Budapest.

She has taught Yiddish language, literature and folklore at various universities in the US (University of Michigan, Stanford, the University of Washington) and in Israel (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) as well as in various intensive summer programs (NYU/YIVO, Vilna, and Tel Aviv University.) She currently teaches the advanced Yiddish course at Tel Aviv University and various levels at Beth Shalom Aleichem.

Vera also translates literary and non-literary texts from Yiddish and Hungarian into English. Her research interest is Yiddish folklore. A certified yoga teacher, Vera has been teaching yoga in Yiddish for the past five years in Jerusalem, where she resides. More information on her website: www.verele.com


**Become a member today, starting at $54 for one year, and pay the member price for classes! You’ll save $106 right now, and more on future classes and public programs tickets.