YIVO-Bard Summer Program
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Past Events

2023

Thursday
Dec 21
7:00pm

A Very Jewish Christmas: When Jesus Spoke Yiddish

Have yourself a very Jewish Christmas with YIVO and learn about Yiddish translations of the New Testament with Naomi Seidman. A kosher Chinese food dinner will follow the presentation.

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Monday
Dec 11
7:00pm

Shir Hashirim — An Operetta by Rumshinsky and Shor

Join YIVO for a performance of Shir Hashirim, a musical comedy featuring several interlocking love triangles that include an aging composer along with his children and their lovers and friends.

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Sunday
Dec 10
7:30pm

Hanukkah Concert 2023: Jazzukkah for Hanukkah

Always a popular event, the Annual Hanukkah Concert celebrates this joyous holiday with music, story, and song. Join us for another memorable experience.

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Sunday
Dec 10
3:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club with Dylan Seders Hoffman

Join YIVO for Yiddish Club with actor, singer, filmmaker, and founder and artistic director of Chava Productions, Dylan Seders Hoffman.

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Monday
Dec 4
7:00pm

Celebrating Yiddish Voices: YIVO’s New Translation Series

Celebrate the launch of Yiddish Voices, a new series curated by Alyssa Quint and Elissa Bemporad to showcase first-time translations of enduring Yiddish texts. The program will feature performances of scenes from plays translated in the first volume of the series.

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Wednesday
Nov 29
7:00pm

Sholem Asch: Underworld Trilogy

This discussion of Sholem Asch: Underworld Trilogy, complete with performances of scenes from the book’s new translations, focuses on three successful plays produced on the Yiddish stages of America and Europe, and their continued influence on the world’s theater today.

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Monday
Nov 27
7:00pm

Remembering Vilna: The Fortunoff Archive's New Podcast

Meet the people behind the latest season of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies’ podcast, which is produced in partnership with YIVO. This season brings to life the story of the destruction of Vilna’s vibrant Jewish community through recorded survivor testimonies and Herman Kruk’s diaries.

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Sunday
Nov 19
2:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club with Lorin Sklamberg

Join YIVO for Yiddish Club with multi-instrumentalist, YIVO Sound Archivist, and founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Yiddish-American roots band, the Klezmatics, Lorin Sklamberg.

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Wednesday
Nov 15
1:00pm

The Legacy of Chaim Grade

Ruth Wisse, Ofer Dynes, and Curt Leviant, in a panel discussion led by scholar and translator Justin Cammy, discuss Yiddish author Chaim Grade’s legacy.

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Monday
Nov 6
7:00pm

Labzik: Tales of a Clever Pup

Enjoy a screening of a short film adapted from Labzik: Tales of a Clever Pup, about the (mis)adventures of a clever mutt named Labzik and the working-class Jewish family that adopts him.

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Thursday
Oct 26
1:00pm

Mixed-Sex Dancing and Jewish Modernity

Sonia Gollance, in conversation with Josh Lambert, explores the significance of dance in 19th and 20th-century Jewish culture, its role in acculturation debates, and its metaphorical representation of community transitions.

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Tuesday
Oct 24
1:00pm

How to Do Research at YIVO: Pursuing Research Projects

YIVO Reference & Outreach Archivist Ruby Landau-Pincus leads a workshop about how to pursue a research project using the YIVO Archives.

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Sunday
Oct 22
11:00am

Open House New York: YIVO Institute

View curated artifacts in YIVO's Media and Learning Center, and take guided, behind-the-scenes tours of the archive and library stacks as part of this year’s Open House New York Weekend.

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Class starts Oct 22 10:00am-12:00pm

[FALL2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner II students.

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Thursday
Oct 19
1:00pm

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies

In a panel discussion led by Tina Frühauf, contributors Eléonore Biezunski, Jessica Roda, and Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad discuss a new handbook of Jewish music that addresses the diverse range of sounds, texts, archives, traditions, histories, geographic and political contexts, and critical discourses in the field.

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Class starts Oct 16 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2023] A Master of the Genre: Kadya Molodowsky and Poetry for Children

Anna Fishman Gonshor delves into the beloved Yiddish children's poetry by Kadya Molodowsky and other poets.

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Class starts Oct 15 4:00pm-6:00pm

[FALL2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner III students.

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Class starts Oct 15 2:00pm-4:00pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate III Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intermediate II students.

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Sunday
Oct 15
2:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club with Shane Baker

Join YIVO for Yiddish Club with actor, translator, and YIVO Yiddish Club host, Shane Baker, and featuring special guest host, playwright and Tablet Magazine columnist, Rokhl Kafrissen.

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Class starts Oct 15 12:30pm-2:30pm

[FALL2023] 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 Oct 15 12:00pm-1:30pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate III Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Afternoon)

This weekly conversational class develops grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for spring Intermediate II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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

[FALL2023] The Making of the Modern Jewish Family in Eastern Europe

Aleksandra Jakubczak examines the impact of industrialization, Hasidism, Zionism, and more on the Jewish family in Eastern Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.

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Class starts Oct 15 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner III Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class introduces new grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for spring Beginner II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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Class starts Oct 15 10:00am-12:00pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner IV students.

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

[FALL2023] Intermediate III Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Morning)

This weekly conversational class develops grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for spring Intermediate II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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Trip starts Oct 10

2023 Study Tour of Northern Italy

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

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Monday
Oct 9
7:00pm

Semer Ensemble

Enjoy a concert by the Semer Ensemble, a group dedicated to performing music recorded by Jewish artists during the Nazi period on a little-known record label that was destroyed by Nazis in 1938.

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Class starts Oct 2 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate III Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intermediate II students.

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Thursday
Sep 28
6:30pm

Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York

Author Deborah Dash Moore and historian Robert W. Snyder explore the world and photography of working-class Jewish street photographers in midcentury New York.

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Wednesday
Sep 27
6:30pm

Nusakh Vilne Memorial: The Secrets of the Great Synagogue of Vilna

For 2023’s commemoration of the Jewish community of Vilna, join YIVO for a screening of The Secrets of the Great Synagogue of Vilna. The screening will be followed by musical performances by Rita Glassman, Maria Krupoves, and Zalmen Mlotek.

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

[FALL2023] Beginner I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class covers grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for students who are new to the Yiddish language or have some exposure to Yiddish and would like a review.

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Class starts Sep 27 2:00pm-3:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class introduces new grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for spring Beginner I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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Class starts Sep 27 9:00am-10:30am

[FALL2023] Intensive Advanced III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring advanced intensive course students.

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Class starts Sep 26 3:00pm-4:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner III students.

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Class starts Sep 22 3:00pm-4:30pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate I Yiddish (Friday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner IV students.

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

[FALL2023] Magic in Jewish History and Culture

Explore the rich traditions and practices of Jewish magic from biblical times to the present with Elly Moseson, examining its cultural significance, integration, and the role of practitioners.

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

[FALL2023] Sholem Aleichem and Jewish Modernity

Adi Mahalel dives into Sholem Aleichem's classic work Motl peyse dem khazns, exploring both the adapted and original versions, along with literary and language analysis.

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Wednesday
Sep 20
1:00pm

Heidegger in Ruins

Richard Wolin explores our understanding of Martin Heidegger, arguably the most important philosopher of the twentieth century, and of his ideas—and why his legacy remains radically compromised.

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Class starts Sep 19 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2023] Beginner II Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner I students.

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Class starts Sep 19 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] 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 Sep 19 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] 'Der Oytser fun der Yidisher Shprakh' by Nokhem Stutshkov: Navigating the Thesaurus of Yiddish

Dovid Braun delves into Nokhem Stutshkov's monumental lexicological work, a treasure trove of Yiddish language, Jewish lore, learning, and life.

 

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Class starts Sep 19 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner II Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner I students.

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Class starts Sep 19 10:00am-11:30am

[FALL2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner II students.

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Class starts Sep 18 4:30pm-6:00pm

[FALL2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner III students.

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Monday
Sep 18
1:00pm

A Provincial Newspaper and Other Stories

Jessica Kirzane, in conversation with Anita Norich, discusses her newly published book featuring translations of a collection of stories by Miriam Karpilove originally published in the Forverts in the 1930s.

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Class starts Sep 18 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intermediate I students.

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Class starts Sep 14 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] Intensive Intermediate III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intensive Intermediate I&II students.

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Class starts Sep 13 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner I Yiddish (Wednesday)

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.

read more
Tuesday
Sep 12
7:30pm

Kleztival NYC - Brazilian Jewish Music Concert

Join us for a concert of Brazilian Jewish music to celebrate the 23 Brazilian Jews who, in 1654, arrived in North America and helped to build a city then called New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

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Tuesday
Sep 12
6:30pm

Emma Goldman, Radical Anarchism, and the Opera

Should a radical anarchist love going to the opera? To answer this complicated question, join Dr. Samantha M. Cooper for a lecture about the curious case of Emma Goldman.

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Class starts Sep 12 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate II Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intermediate I students.

read more
Class starts Sep 12 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] Intensive Advanced V&VI Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intensive Advanced III&IV students.

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Tuesday
Sep 12
3:00pm

Kleztival NYC - A Estrela Oculta do Sertão

Join us for a screening of the documentary A Estrela Oculta do Sertão (The Star Hidden in the Backlands) followed by a Q&A with the producers. This program celebrates the 23 Brazilian Jews who, in 1654, arrived in North America and helped to build a city then called New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

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Class starts Sep 11 6:30pm-8:00pm

[FALL2023] Intermediate IV Yiddish

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intermediate III students.

read more
Class starts Sep 11 6:00pm-7:30pm

[FALL2023] Beginner II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Beginner I students.

read more
Monday
Sep 11
6:00pm

Kleztival NYC - Brazilian Jewish Music Concert

Join us for a concert of Brazilian Jewish music to celebrate the 23 Brazilian Jews who, in 1654, arrived in North America and helped to build a city then called New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

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

[FALL2023] Intensive Beginner III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intensive Beginner I&II students.

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

[FALL2023] Intensive Intermediate I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intensive Beginner III&IV students.

read more
Class starts Sep 7 12:00pm-1:30pm

[FALL2023] Intensive Advanced I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for spring Intensive Intermediate III&IV students.

read more
Class starts Sep 7 11:00am-12:30pm

[FALL2023] 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.

read more
Class starts Sep 6 1:00pm-2:50pm

[FALL2023] 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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Thursday
Jul 27
2:00pm

Chaim Grade’s Two Faces - Poetry and Prose

Miriam Trinh explores the distinct periods of Chaim Grade's literary works, analyzing his poetry and prose to understand the unique characteristics of each period. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Tuesday
Jul 25
2:00pm

When Yiddish was Young in Israel

Shachar Pinsker examines Yiddish's impact on Hebrew cultural production from the establishment of the state in 1948 until today, from literature, journalism, visual art, film, to popular culture.

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Sunday
Jul 23
2:00pm

Shloyshim for Chava Lapin

In honor of Chava Lapin ע”ה on the occasion of her shloyshim we will make a siyum mishnayes, Mishna Ta'anit using the well-known Yiddish translation by her uncle Symcha Petrushka. The program will be conducted by the writer and researcher Michael Wex.

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Tuesday
Jul 18
2:00pm

The 'Tsenerene': The Most Popular Yiddish Book in History

Dr. Avi Blitz explores the enduring popularity and unique characteristics of the Tsenerene, arguably the most popular book in Yiddish literature.

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Thursday
Jul 13
2:00pm

Between Tradition and Trend: Popular Culture and Language Use among American Hasidim

Chaya Nove provides an overview of Hasidic popular culture, the ideological and cultural diversification within the community, and the the capacity of Hasidim to preserve their traditional lifestyle and adapt to the modern world. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Tuesday
Jul 11
7:00pm

Presents from Romania

Where was Yiddish theater born? And where was its bar mitsvah? With backstories in English and performances in Yiddish-with-supertitles, Presents from Romania is an evening of songs, scenes, stories, and "snippets" that will make you laugh and cry.

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Tuesday
Jul 11
2:00pm

The Hasidic Revival on the Eve of the Holocaust

Glenn Dynner examines how Hasidic rebbes underwent a pedagogical revolution after World War I, becoming educators to counter secularization and political challenges through devotional Torah study.

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Thursday
Jul 6
2:00pm

'Reb Zalmen', or The Aleksanderer Shtibl in Warsaw

Jonathan Boyarin delves into the captivating world of Yechiel Hofer's book Reb Zalmen, which offers a glimpse into the Aleksanderer Hasidim with whom he studied, prayed, and argued. Delivered in Yiddish.

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Thursday
Jun 29
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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Tuesday
Jun 27
2:00pm

Who Says Opera Is Always Long? Opera Excerpts for Yiddish Speakers in Early Twentieth-Century America

Daniela Smolov Levy examines the intriguing interest of Yiddish-speaking Jews in early twentieth-century America with operatic excerpts and explores the cultural influences that drove this fascination.

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Thursday
Jun 22
2:00pm

Yiddishism and Humanism in the Twentieth Century

Kenneth B. Moss explores how Yiddish writers navigated the tension between developing a self-sufficient cultural identity and their responsibilities to the Jewish community, societal change, cultural transmission, and the aftermath of the Holocaust. Delivered in Yiddish.
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Trip starts June 19

2023 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 Białystok.

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Thursday
Jun 15
1:00pm

Max Weinreich and the Meaning of Yiddish

Naomi Seidman, Kenneth Moss, and Jeffrey Shandler, in this panel moderated by Kalman Weiser, examine Max Weinreich's evolving understanding of the meaning of Yidishe visnshaft and the role of Yiddish in Jewish life throughout his career.

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Monday
Jun 12
7:30pm

Concert Premiere of A Dying Person (A Goyses), A New Chamber Opera by Evan Rapport and Daniel London

Join us for the concert premiere of A Dying Person (A Goyses), a new chamber opera by Evan Rapport and Daniel London, which explores the anxiety surrounding the potential loss of Jewish civilization through the story of a researcher interviewing an older woman on her deathbed.

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Thursday
Jun 8
7:00pm

Four Winters

A new film explores the story of the Jewish Partisans who blew up trains, bridges, police stations, and telegraph lines, making the forests so dangerous that Nazi soldiers were afraid to enter.

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Tuesday
Jun 6
1:00pm

Franz Kafka: The Diaries

Ross Benjamin and Jonathan Brent discuss Benjamin's recently published English translation of Franz Kafka's diaries, which include new content such as details, names, literary works, and previously omitted passages of a sexual nature.

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Monday
Jun 5
1:00pm

Yiddish to the Core: Wedding Music and Jewish Identity in Postwar New York City

In this talk, Uri Schreter will explore the evolution of Jewish wedding music in the early postwar period across different sectors of New York’s Jewish community.

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Thursday
Jun 1
8:00pm

Profs. Sam Shonkoff, Naomi Seidman, David Biale “Old Boys” at the New Lehrhaus: The Rosenzweig-Buber-Scholem Debate Transported to 2023

What if Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem were transported to 2023 Berkeley and asked to teach at New Lehrhaus? Three distinguished New Lehrhaus teachers will enact an imaginary debate followed by schmoozing and refreshments a la 1920 Frankfurt.

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Thursday
Jun 1
1:00pm

Yiddish Publishing after the Holocaust: I.L. Peretz and the Legacy of Polish Jewry

In this lecture, Rachelle Grossman will give an overview of global Yiddish after the Holocaust by focusing on competing publications made in honor of two literary jubilees of I.L. Peretz, “the father of modern Jewish literature.”

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Tuesday
May 30
1:00pm

Ukrainian-Jewish Relations in the Context of Antisemitism in Eastern Europe in the Interwar Period of the 20th Century

In this presentation, Andrii Bolianovskyi will elucidate the key figures and main aspects of Ukrainian-Jewish relations, as well as the intervention of "transnational players" in a broad global geopolitical context.

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Wednesday
May 24
7:00pm

The Last Laugh

Join us for a screening of The Last Laugh, an outrageously funny and thought-provoking film that asks uncomfortable questions about just how free speech can really be, with unexpected and hilarious results. A Q&A will follow with director Ferne Pearlstein and special guest Alan Zweibel.

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Tuesday
May 23
1:00pm

Poetics of Arrival or Return?: Laying the Path toward Industrial Utopia in Peretz Markish’s 'Der fertsikyeriker man'

Roy Ginsberg examines the factors that led poet Peretz Markish to pivot from his early abstract expressionism to increasingly ideological writing and demonstrates how this shift is revealed through his verse.

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Wednesday
May 17
7:30pm

Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion

By considering the resonance of Psalm 137 through the music of two ghettoized peoples—Italian Jews of Mantua during the period of the Counter-Reformation, and African Americans before, during, and after the Harlem Renaissance—explore minority musicians and their contributions to the music we listen to today.

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Wednesday
May 10
1:00pm

Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Simple Gimpl"

David Stromberg and David Roskies discuss Stromberg’s newly published bilingual edition of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Simple Gimpl, which tells the story of the deathbed confession of an orphaned baker who is targeted by his own community for ridicule and practical jokes.

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Tuesday
May 9
1:00pm

Baruch Vladeck and the Movement for Public Housing

Michael Casper explores Baruch Vladeck's unique place as a pioneer in the public housing movement in New York.

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Sunday
May 7
2:00pm

Yiddish Club Mixer

YIVO and the International Association of Yiddish Clubs (IAYC) join forces to present a Yiddish club mixer, allowing Yiddish clubs around the world the opportunity to share a bit about themselves, and to meet fellow Yiddish enthusiasts.

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Thursday
May 4
1:00pm

The Object of Jewish Literature: A Material History

Barbara E. Mann, in conversation with Justin Cammy, tells a history of modern Jewish literature, from novels and poetry to graphic novels and artists’ books.

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Tuesday
May 2
8:00pm

Heym Un Veg (Between Home and The Way)

Heym Un Veg (Between Home and The Way) tells an illuminating tale, weaving Zhenya Lopatnik’s original compositions with Ukrainian folk songs. The show is a theatrical journey through time with storytelling that conveys life in Ukraine and, particularly, in the Ukrainian Jewish Community.

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Tuesday
May 2
1:00pm

Gaping Mouths and Leaning Towers: The Queer Geometries of Peretz Markish’s Long Form Poems, 'Di kupe' and 'Radyo'

Elaine Wilson discusses Peretz Markish’s Yiddish long-form poems, Di kupe (The Mound) and Radyo (Radio), in relation to the architectural aspirations of the Soviet avant-garde.

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Thursday
Apr 27
7:00pm

Unearthed

Meryl Frank speaks with Laura E. Adkins about how her searching for her cousin’s story through archives across four continents revealed a lost world destroyed by hatred, and illuminated the cultural haven of Vilna and its resistance during World War II.

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Wednesday
Apr 26
1:00pm

Between the Living and the Dead: Considering Tradition in the Jewish Cemeteries of Poland, 1918-1945

Alison B. Curry examines how politics, modernity, and tragedy altered traditional uses of Jewish cemeteries in Poland.

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Monday
Apr 24
6:30pm

Virtual Tenement Concert: Songs of Yiddish New York with YIVO

Explore Jewish immigrant New York City of yesteryear through musical performances from inside the recreated 1890s parlor of the Levine family, immigrants from Eastern Europe.

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Sunday
Apr 23
1:00pm

Memorial Workshop in Honor of the Yiddish Poet Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim z”l

Join us for an interactive Yiddish-language workshop in honor of Yiddish poet Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim z"l.

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Wednesday
Apr 19
3:00pm

Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at Der Shteyn

The Congress for Jewish Culture, Friends of the Bund, Jewish Labor Committee, the 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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Monday
Apr 17
7:00pm

Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence

In a discussion with Samuel Norich, Joseph Berger presents Elie Wiesel as both a revered Nobel laureate and a man of complex psychological texture and contradictions.

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Sunday
Apr 16
2:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club: Yiddish Hip Hop with Josh "Socalled" Dolgin

Yiddish enthusiasts the world over, join the YIVO Yiddish club to celebrate Mame-loshn. This session features Josh "Socalled" Dolgin, a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec.

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Tuesday
Apr 11
1:00pm

Knowledge Under Siege | The Guardians of Fate

Bożena Keff examines Polish-language literature about the Holocaust, asking whether those literary works contain a diagnosis of Polish culture that corresponds with its assessment by critical humanities and arts today.

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Wednesday
Apr 5
1:00pm

This Was Not America

In a discussion led by Eddy Portnoy, Michael Steinlauf, historian of Polish-Jewish culture and child of Holocaust survivors, and anthropologist and artist Elżbieta Janicka examine critical moments in Jewish, Polish, and American history.

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Monday
Apr 3
1:00pm

Jewish Culture Between Canon and Heresy

David Biale, in a conversation with Sarah Abrevaya Stein, discusses his new anthology exploring power, sexuality, and secular Jewish thought.

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Thursday
Mar 30
7:30pm

A Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews

Commemorate the 80th anniversary of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews with this concert featuring music performed by members of the Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York (BCENY) and students from the Mannes Sounds Festival.

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Thursday
Mar 23
7:00pm

Chana Mlotek: Celebrating a Life of Yiddish Song

Celebrate the memory of Chana Mlotek, the longtime YIVO Music Archivist who played a key role in crafting the historical memory of Yiddish songs in our time.

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Class starts Mar 19 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Morning)

This weekly conversational class introduces new grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for fall Beginner I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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Class starts Mar 15 4:00pm-5:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners

This weekly conversational class covers grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for students who are new to the Yiddish language or have some exposure to Yiddish and would like a review.

read more
Wednesday
Mar 15
1:00pm

Knowledge Under Siege | Irena Sendler: In Hiding

Through excavating the truth about Irena Sendler’s life, and the stories of the children she saved, Anna Bikont reveals numerous silenced facts pertaining to the stances and behaviors of Polish society during the war and what came after.

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Class starts Mar 14 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2023] 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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Tuesday
Mar 14
1:00pm

American Jewish Women and New York Opera Culture

Drawing on archival and press findings, Dr. Samantha M. Cooper explores the enduring relationship that Jewish women nurtured with New York opera culture from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries. A response to this talk will be provided by Judith Pinnolis.

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Monday
Mar 13
7:30pm

Refuge - Art Songs by Jewish American Refugee Composers

David Berger and Joyce Rosenzweig reflect on their new album “REFUGE,” featuring music from composers who came to the United States as refugees fleeing antisemitism.

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Class starts Mar 13 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust

Explore Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, focusing not only on acts of confrontational or violent resistance, but also on acts of resistance intended to record a historical record, resist the destruction of Jewish culture, and preserve individual and collective dignity.

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Class starts Mar 13 10:30am-12:00pm

[SPR2023] Sipurey Mayses: The Tales of Rebbe Nakhman of Bratslav

David Birnbaum examines the themes and questions raised by close readings of tales of Rebbe Nakhman of Bratslav, considered by his followers to contain his most holy and mystical teachings, and seen by secular Yiddish literary critics as a foundational text of modern Yiddish literature.

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Sunday
Mar 12
2:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club: The Yiddish Forward with Rukhl Schaechter

Yiddish enthusiasts the world over, join the YIVO Yiddish club to celebrate Mame-loshn. This session features Rukhl Schaechter, the editor of the Yiddish Forward (Forverts) and the producer and star of the YouTube series “Yiddish Word of the Day.”

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Class starts Mar 12 1:00pm-2:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Afternoon)

This weekly conversational class introduces new grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for fall Beginner I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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

[SPR2023] Intermediate II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Afternoon)

This weekly conversational class develops grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for fall Intermediate I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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

[SPR2023] 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 Mar 12 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2023] Intermediate II Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners (Morning)

This weekly conversational class develops grammatical skills and sets of vocabulary. It is primarily for fall Intermediate I Conversational Yiddish for Heritage Learners students.

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Tuesday
Mar 7
1:00pm

Molly Picon as Lyricist

Musician-scholar Ronald Robboy offers a guide through Molly Picon’s long career, choosing selected songs to show how she marshaled her writing skills not only to show off her singing to best advantage, but to flesh out characterizations and further the dramatic action of the many musicals in which she starred.

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Class starts Mar 5 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] 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 Mar 5 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2023] Intermediate I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner IV students.

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

[SPR2023] Modern Jewish France: 1789 to the Present

Explore the conflicted, multifaceted, and multilingual French Jewish experience from 1789 to the present.

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Class starts Mar 5 12:30pm-2:00pm

[SPR2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Sunday Afternoon)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner III students.

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Class starts Mar 5 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Sunday Morning)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner III students.

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Wednesday
Mar 1
1:00pm

Once Upon a Time the Fire Burned Brighter

Jeremiah Lockwood, in a conversation with journalist and playwright Rokhl Kafrissen, explores the Yiddish folksong tradition, Yiddish music today, and his new arrangements of Yiddish ballads. The presentation will culminate in a video-premiere of one of his songs.

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Class starts Feb 28 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] Continuing with 'College Yiddish'

Dovid Braun offers a continuation of the study of fundamental Yiddish grammar and vocabulary using the classic textbook College Yiddish: An Introduction to the Yiddish Language and to Jewish Life and Culture by Uriel Weinreich.

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Class starts Feb 28 4:30pm-6:00pm

[SPR2023] Beginner I Yiddish (Tuesday Afternoon)

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 28 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Tuesday Afternoon)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner II students.

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Class starts Feb 28 1:00pm-2:50pm

[SPR2023] 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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Class starts Feb 28 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner I Yiddish (Tuesday Morning)

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 28 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Tuesday Morning)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner II students.

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

[SPR2023] Intermediate III Yiddish

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intermediate II students.

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

[SPR2023] Beginner I Yiddish (Monday)

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 27 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Monday II)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner II students.

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Class starts Feb 27 4:30pm-6:00pm

[SPR2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Monday I)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner II students.

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Monday
Feb 27
1:00pm

Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

Sandra Fox, in a conversation led by Philissa Cramer (Jewish Telegraphic Agency), explores how a cultural crisis birthed summer camp as a rite of passage that remains a significant influence in American Jewish life.

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Class starts Feb 27 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2023] Intermediate II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intermediate I students.

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Class starts Feb 27 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2023] Intermediate I Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner IV students.

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Class starts Feb 26 4:00pm-5:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner III Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner II students.

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Class starts Feb 26 2:00pm-3:30pm

[SPR2023] Intermediate II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intermediate I students.

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Class starts Feb 26 1:30pm-3:00pm

[SPR2023] Intermediate IV Yiddish

This weekly standard class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intermediate III students.

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Class starts Feb 26 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2023] Advanced II Yiddish

This weekly standard class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Advanced I students.

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Sunday
Feb 26
11:00am

2023 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 26 10:30am-12:00pm

[SPR2023] Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner I students.

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Class starts Feb 24 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2023] Beginner IV Yiddish (Friday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner III students.

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Thursday
Feb 23
7:30pm

More Forbidden Music: Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis

Experience a selection of the music whose composers were branded as 'degenerate' and is being rediscovered thanks to the Exilarte Center in Vienna works to rediscover musical treasures of the 20th Century that were suppressed by the Third Reich.

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Class starts Feb 23 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] Intensive Intermediate I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intensive Beginner III&IV students.

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Class starts Feb 23 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2023] Intensive Beginner III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intensive Beginner I&II students.

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Class starts Feb 23 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2023] Intensive Advanced V&VI Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intensive Advanced III&IV students.

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Class starts Feb 23 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2023] Intensive Intermediate III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intensive Intermediate I&II students.

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Class starts Feb 22 9:00am-10:30am

[SPR2023] Intensive Advanced I&II Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Intensive Intermediate III&IV students.

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

[SPR2023] Intensive Advanced III&IV Yiddish

This twice-weekly intensive class further enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall advanced intensive course students.

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Class starts Feb 21 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2023] Beginner II Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner I students.

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Thursday
Feb 16
7:00pm

Irena Klepfisz: Her Birth and Later Years: New and Collected Poems, 1971-2021

Lesbian poet, child Holocaust survivor, and political activist Irena Klepfisz discusses her newly published book, the first and only complete collection of her work, in conversation with Julie Enszer.

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

[SPR2023] Beginner II Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly standard class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for fall Beginner I students.

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Wednesday
Feb 15
1:00pm

Knowledge Under Siege | Breaking the Frame: New School of Polish-Jewish Studies

Irena Grudzińska Gross and Konrad Matyjaszek explore how, by addressing the anti-Jewish violence perpetrated through Polish history, that past violence can be overcome and prevented in the future.

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Sunday
Feb 5
2:00pm

YIVO Yiddish Club: Theater and Storytelling with Eleanor Reissa

Yiddish enthusiasts the world over, join the YIVO Yiddish club to celebrate Mame-loshn. This session features Eleanor Reissa, a Tony-nominated director; Broadway, film, and television actress; a prize-winning playwright, and an international singing artist.

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Friday
Feb 3
10:00am

2023 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
Feb 1
1:00pm

2023 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 26
6:15pm

Unmasking Antisemitism: A Panel Discussion in Conjunction with the Exhibition #FakeImages at the United Nations

Widely regarded as the “oldest hatred,” antisemitism is experiencing an alarming revival in the contemporary world. Join us for a panel discussion on antisemitism, past and present, in conjunction with the new exhibition at the United Nations, #Fake Images: Unmask the Dangers of Stereotypes.

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Thursday
Jan 26
1:00pm

Good Goy, Bad Goy: The Portrayal of Gentiles in Sketches from the London Yiddish Press

Vivi Lachs looks at how and where Gentile characters appear in the Yiddish press and fiction and their relationship to the Jewish immigrant.

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Wednesday
Jan 25
7:00pm

700 Years of Vilnius, A City of Translation

Join us in commemorating 700 years of the founding of Vilnius, featuring a presentation by Laimonas Briedis, and a discussion moderated by Jonathan Brent with Briedis, Laima Laučkaitė, Irena Grudzińska Gross, and David Roskies.

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Tuesday
Jan 24
6:00pm

2023 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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Class starts Jan 17 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2023] Yiddish Songs for Children

Conducted in English, this seminar will teach Yiddish songs and chants to adults. Parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, and educators who want to bring Yiddish into the world of young children (or to enrich one's own inner child!) are encouraged to register.

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Class starts Jan 11 4:00pm-5:30pm

[WY2023] Zuntik Bulbes (Sunday Potatoes)

Conducted in Yiddish, this seminar will explore potatoes in Yiddish literature, art, and recipes. Potato enthusiasts will have the option to cook along in real time during class. The course is designed for advanced-beginner and lower-intermediate Yiddish students.

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Wednesday
Jan 11
2:00pm

Legitimizing Genocide: Science, Scholarship and the Complicity of the Academy

Join Alan Steinweis and Jonathan Brent for a discussion on how understanding antisemitic discourse in Nazi Germany can be used to understand antisemitism in other historical contexts, including the contemporary United States.

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Class starts Jan 11 10:45am-12:00pm

[WP2023] Visions of Continuity and Rupture: Franz Kafka, S. An-ski, Isaac Babel, and Joseph Roth

Jonathan Brent examines works by S. An-ski, Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and Joseph Roth between World War I and World War II, and how they address the profound threats to Jewish culture and historical memory.

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Class starts Jan 11 9:00am-10:15am

[WP2023] Treblinka and Its Contexts – Past and Present

Retracing the history of the forced labor camp Treblinka I (1941-1944), the extermination camp Treblinka II (1942-1943), and a railway station at the village of Treblinka, Elżbieta Janicka explores the geographic, topographic, social, economic, political, culture, and religious contexts of Treblinka.

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Class starts Jan 10 8:00pm-9:15pm

[WP2023] History of the Yiddish Language (Evening)

From the origins of Ashkenazi civilization to twenty-first century Yiddish debates, Dovid Katz provides a thorough overview of the Yiddish language through linguistical, sociological, and historical lenses.

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Class starts Jan 10 8:00pm-9:15pm

[WP2023] Jews and Photography

Maya Benton explores the unique contributions of Jews to shaping the history and medium of photography in relation to exile, social change, and the imagination of possible futures.

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Class starts Jan 10 6:30pm-7:45pm

[WP2023] Clothing, Crime and Class Conflict: Jews in the 'Shmate' Trade

Tony Michels explores what drew Jews to the garment industry in the early 1900s and how it became a hotbed of social protest.

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Class starts Jan 10 6:30pm-7:45pm

[WP2023] The Birth of the Jewish Novel: La Celestina, Lazarillo de Tormes, Don Quixote de la Mancha

Ilan Stavans explores the origins of the Jewish novel in Spain after the expulsion in 1492 and the world of so-called marranos.

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Class starts Jan 10 4:00pm-5:15pm

[WP2023] ‘Israel’s Moment’: A History of the Establishment of the State of Israel

Jeffrey Herf examines the events before, during, and after the State of Israel’s founding, challenging misconceptions about who supported and who opposed the Zionist project.

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Class starts Jan 10 2:30pm-3:45pm

[WP2023] History of the Yiddish Language (Afternoon)

From the origins of Ashkenazi civilization to twenty-first century Yiddish debates, Dovid Katz provides a thorough overview of the Yiddish language through linguistical, sociological, and historical lenses.

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Class starts Jan 10 1:00pm-2:15pm

[WP2023] From Ashes to Ashes: Death in the Jewish Imagination

Maya Balakirsky Katz explores Jewish attitudes towards death to provide a lens for studying the construction of identity, selfhood, and collective memory across various periods of Jewish history.

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

[WP2023] Jewish Folk Medicine in Eastern Europe

Marek Tuszewicki unveils Ashkenazi Jewish folk medicine in historical, cultural, and social contexts, going beyond the stigma of harmful superstition to understand it in connection with other aspects of daily life.

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

[WP2023] American Yiddish Short Stories

Anita Norich examines works by Yiddish writers (in English translation) who came to the U.S. and reflected both on the European past and American present and future.

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Class starts Jan 10 10:00am-11:30am

[WY2023] The Shoemaker’s Plums: Yosl Birstein’s Yiddish Tales of Jerusalem

Conducted in Yiddish, this seminar will read short stories that evoke writer Yosl Birstein's childhood in Poland and the heavy historical baggage of 20th century Jewish life. The course is designed for upper-intermediate and advanced Yiddish students.

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Class starts Jan 9 12:00pm-1:30pm

[WY2023] The Jewish Don Quixote? Mendele’s 'The Brief Travels of Benjamin III'

Conducted in English, this seminar will offer a close reading of Sholem Yankev Abramovish's grand satire of shtetl life. While the course will use an English translation of the novel, Yiddish-readers may use the original text.

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Thursday
Jan 5
1:00pm

Boots, Arms, and Spoons: On the Material Lives of Jewish Partisans in German-occupied Lithuania (1941-1944)

In this lecture, Justina Smalkyté examines the social differentiation in the partisan camps based on possession of certain scarce objects such as boots, better food rations, and arms.

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