Past Events

Join us for a special concert featuring NEA National Heritage Fellow Michael Alpert and special guests. A native Yiddish speaker, Alpert is a celebrated innovator in Yiddish song, whose original compositions have expanded the canon.

An evening of singing, stories, and reminiscences by renowned vocalist and scholar Ruth Rubin's family, friends, colleagues, and students who continue to be inspired by her work, and a celebration of YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Legacy online exhibition.

In Queer Expectations, Zohar Weiman-Kelman shows how Jewish women writers turned to poetry to write new histories, developing “queer expectancy” as a conceptual tool for understanding how literary texts can both invoke and resist what came before.

Shir hashirim, “The Song of Songs,” has been a source of inspiration for generation after generation of Hebrew love poems, and has inspired musical settings in a variety of languages, and from a variety of Jewish and non-Jewish perspectives. This concert features a selection of songs that set to music excerpts of “The Song of Songs” or texts inspired by it.

I.L. Peretz’s “Monish” is a tale in verse, a story about the seductive allure of alien cultures and the power of music. The Big Galute(e) Jewish Music Ensemble brings the tale to life in a dramatic, sexy, and moving translation.

Harriet Jackson discusses the relief, rescue, and resistance activities of Rabbi Zalman Schneerson and the Association des Israélites pratiquants (AIP) in Vichy France, 1940-1944.

This lecture will examine the way 19th and 20th century authors remembered the Sabbatian movement, the great heretical explosion in the Jewish world of the 17th and 18th centuries.

This program in the “In Dialogue: Polish-Jewish Relations” series focuses on Polish and Jewish society and culture, contested questions about Polish-Jewish relations of the interwar period, the ideological transformations in the aftermath of World War I, and the eve of World War II. This event is located in Fordham University Lincoln Center.

The YIVO Institute’s 2018 Gala Award Dinner honors Irene Pletka for her exemplary leadership, inspiring generosity, and outstanding commitment to the preservation of Jewish history and culture.

This course will present to students the latest research findings on the history of Hasidism, from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The course will involve reading of primary sources but will also be based on the newly published Hasidism: A New History.

Leonard Bernstein’s eldest daughter, Jamie Bernstein, shares a rare and intimate look at her father on the centennial of his birth in her new memoir, Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein.

New York City has an exclusive opportunity never to forget one such story—as told by Eva Schloss, stepsister of Anne Frank. Eva Schloss will be traveling from London to share her story of triumph and survival with the Lower Manhattan community. This event takes place at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

Dariusz Stola, the director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews,  examines the communist government of Poland’s 1968 that slandered,  harassed, and persecuted half of Poland’s Jews into exile. He discusses how it is explored in a current POLIN exhibit, the controversies surrounding the  campaign, and how it continues to impact Polish society.

From the late 1890s a vibrant Yiddish music hall developed in the East-End of London. This talk will analyze songs which engage with the changing roles of men and women, sex in and out of marriage, and the community's 'dirty linen', uncovering previously untold histories.

Based on our lecturers’ forthcoming book on primary sources on women and gender in modern Jewish history, Gender and Jewish Women in Central and Eastern Europe, this lecture will examine the dynamics of Jewish women’s entry into politics in modern Eastern Europe.

Historical Atlas of Hasidism is the very first cartographic reference book on one of the modern era's most vibrant and important mystical movements. The event will feature a presentation by Marcin Wodziński showcasing the book and many of its maps, and a conversation with Wondziński and David Biale about this new path-breaking work.

This program in the “In Dialogue: Polish-Jewish Relations” series focuses on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the period of the partitions. This event is located in Fordham University Lincoln Center.

Join YIVO for the release of a new collection of Yiddish tales—In the Land of Happy Tears: Yiddish Tales for Modern Times—edited by writer, translator, and literary scholar David Stromberg. The evening—hosted by Debra Caplan, a scholar of Yiddish theater and one of the collection's translators—will feature readings from the tales and a discussion of the collection's genesis and translation process.

Join us for our annual event commemorating the Jewish community of Vilna through poetry, music, and presentation.

Polish-Jewish relations have once again become an important topic. In this talk, historian Adam Michnik will offer his interpretation of the history of antisemitism—and efforts to resist it—in twentieth-century Poland.

Book of J (Jewlia Eisenberg and Jeremiah Lockwood) are artists-in-residence at YIVO in July working with Celia Dropkin’s archive, setting to music material they uncover at YIVO. Join us for a work-in-progress concert presentation of the music created during their residency.

Join us for a filmed interview with writer and painter Yonia Fain conducted by Sheva Zucker, entirely in Yiddish with accurate and complete English subtitles, enhanced by photos and music.

“The Essence” is a theatrical introduction to Yiddish language and Yiddish theater. This performance features anecdotal and historical material in English, along with music and scenes from the best of Yiddish theater (with supertitle translation).

On July 11, 2018, YIVO celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Summer Program and honored Chava Lapin for her inspiring teaching and her devotion to the perpetuation of the Yiddish language.

When Ilan Ramon boarded the Space Shuttle Columbia, he made history as the first Israeli astronaut and a member of the most diverse crew in shuttle history.

The 19th century saw a growing demand for secular literature and the development of new institutions, such as lending libraries, reading rooms and so-called modern, secular or public libraries. This presentation will provide an overview of the development of Jewish public libraries in Poland in the years 1918-1939.

YIVO hosted an enlightening journey to Lithuania and Poland in June of 2018. Participants examined the life that was lived and lost as they reconnected with their own heritage, and discovered the fascinating treasures of old Warsaw, Krakow, Vilnius, and the magical Białowieża Forest.

Discover the anarchist labor movement’s ability to mobilize people around the world to achieve something large and noble in the field of human rights.

Join us at YIVO for the launch of this new book, the first comprehensive history of the pietistic movement that shaped modern Judaism, including a presentation from authors David Biale and Samuel Heilman.

Performances by Julian Schwartz and Marika Bournaki will feature a variety of chamber music by Joachim Stutschewsky and composers of his coterie both in Russian and in Israel, as well as a new composition by Ofer Ben-Amots commissioned by YIVO for this concert. Neil W. Levin will deliver the pre-concert lecture on Joachim Stutschewsky’s life and work and his artistic milieu. 

Join Joseph Berger, a former New York Times reporter, as he shares stories and photos from his fascinating journey and offers tips for successful family searches abroad.

Debora Vogel (1900-1942) was a Polish-Jewish writer, philosopher, art critic, and translator. This talk will examine her contributions to the Yiddish press in New York and Galicia.

YIVO hosted an enlightening journey to Jewish Galicia in May of 2018. Participants experienced the landscapes, environment, and culture that influenced such writers as Shai Agnon, I.L. Peretz, Isaac Babel, and Bruno Schulz.

Join us for the presentation of “One of Those,” a play from the heyday of Yiddish theater in a newly-commissioned English translation.

Szmerke Kaczerginski’s several transitions across the globe throughout the last decade of his life (1944-1954) eloquently show how Kaczerginski became an itinerant survivor and cultural entrepreneur.

What’s it like to spin a dreidel in zero gravity? Find out from astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, followed by an overview of the history of Jewish astronauts with Dr. Valerie Neal, curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Come before the crowds. CJH will open one hour early for families to come and view this stellar exhibition! There will be arts and crafts for children, curator tours for adults, and space themed fun for all. People of all ages and ability levels welcome!

Join us for a party celebrating the launch of our newest online class, Oh Mama, I’m in Love! The Story of the Yiddish Stage. Your ticket includes free signature drinks, theater snacks, live music, and an exhibition featuring original archival objects from the Yiddish theater.

Ina Lancman, daughter of Naftali Herts Kon, well-known Yiddish poet and writer, will give a presentation together with Polish attorney Tomasz T. Koncewicz.

The Congress for Jewish Culture, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Workmen’s 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.

Rudolf Klein, professor of modern architectural history at Szent István University, Budapest, gives a talk on his new book, Synagogues in Hungary, 1867–1918. This is the first comprehensive study that systematically covers all synagogues in Hungary from the Edict of Tolerance by Joseph II to the end of World War I.

Join us for a dynamic discussion led by Edna Nahshon about her recent book, co-edited with Michael Shapiro, which examines the ever-expanding body of Jewish responses to Shakespeare's most Jewishly relevant play.

CJH will open one hour early for families to come and view this fun exhibition! There will be arts and crafts for children, curator tours for adults, and space-themed fun for all!

Delve into the contentious history of the adoption of the Genocide Convention by the U.S.; the shifting role of the Holocaust in public and political discourse, including the question of the Holocaust’s uniqueness, and; what the past has failed to teach us about the possibilities of prevention and intervention in acts of genocide.

Join us for a Purim-themed Children’s festival! Activities will take place from 11:00am until 1:00pm throughout the Center for Jewish History.

Follow the Jewish anarchists as they emerged in Russia under the czars, and then as they emigrated to other parts of the world and especially to the United States, where they contributed significantly and constructively to American Jewish life and the labor movement.

Explore the Jewish quest to understand the heavens from 18th century rabbinical texts to the origins of popular science fiction, to Jewish astronauts celebrating Shabbat in orbit. Reserve your spot today for an opening night of curator tours, space themed fun, and a first look at this stellar exhibition.

Discover the lesser known consciously incorporated musical reflections of Kurt Weill’s pride in Jewish heritage, his Jewish persona, his early exposure to cantorial and other synagogue melos, his related inner conflicts, and his ultimate dedication to Jewish causes.

An evening with Jan Gross, Emeritus Professor of History at Princeton University; interviewed by Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, on Europe, the Holocaust, and the rise of the right.

Join us at YIVO for the launch of The Essential Fictions of Isaac Babel with readings by translator Val Vinokur and discussion with Isaac Babel expert, YIVO’s Executive Director Jonathan Brent.  

The family is quintessential to the American Jewish drama. Examine how the family unit—a site of intimacy and distance, unity and disjunction—ties characters to the past and informs individual identity, allowing the tension between generations, between religion and modernity, and between tradition and Americanization to play out. 

Through intensive, close reading of the works of An-sky, Kafka, and Kantor, discover how their artistic visions developed a powerful current in modern Jewish literary sensibility and became a key element in European literary modernism before WWII and in its half-life in post-War Europe and America.

What is Jewish music? What will its future be in the 21st century and beyond? Featuring live performances by John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, and special guests, explore and reflect upon the origins, development, present, and future of Radical Jewish Music.

Join us for an evening celebrating Ashkenazi culinary traditions, with a discussion of Jewish food by best-selling author Michael Wex, and a live cooking demonstration led by Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria.

The Bund was the first modern Jewish political party in Eastern Europe, and, arguably, the strongest Jewish party in Poland on the eve of World War II. Examine the Bund’s history, the development of its program, and the reasons which underlie both its rise and decline.

The New York City premiere of this documentary film brings us to the filmmaker’s discovery of her grandparents’ confiscated pre-World War II estate and her own German Jewish heritage, and records the work of a Cornell University architecture team to design creative new uses for the site.

Using census records, articles, oral histories, and a visit to the Tenement Museum, trace how immigration law impacted the European immigrants housed in downtown Manhattan during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived.

Jews' engagement with politics is continuous in Jewish history, despite the difficulties and vulnerabilities produced by statelessness—and despite the fact that political activity was valued far less than intellectual activity in Jewish tradition. Delve into the attitudes, practice, and theory of Jewish politics.

Why were heroic intellectuals willing to risk everything for the sake of books and papers, first under the Nazis and then again under Stalin? Utilizing primary resources such as diaries from the Vilna Ghetto, explore the dramatic rescue of Jewish cultural treasures in Vilna.

I.B. Singer's early writings reveal an edgier, darker side of his Yiddish work. Gain new perspectives on this major 20th century Jewish writer though readings of his early writings published before his arrival in New York in May 1935.