Di Nyu yorkerin: Yiddish New York Begins 2014

by SARAH PONICHTERA

As is appropriate for this time of year, we’ll begin with a look back and end with a gaze ahead. The annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies met in Boston in mid-December, featuring several panels on Yiddish topics, including Yiddish in the twentieth century, and new views of the modern Yiddish canon. Speakers included Miriam Udel, Rachel Rojanski, Leyzer Burko, and Adi Mehalel. There was also a panel on the reception and criticism of Yiddish literature, featuring papers by Ellen Kellman, Eli Rosenblatt, Zelda Newman, and Itay Zutra, and a panel on Yiddish biographies. See the complete program.

In late December, KlezKamp took place at the Hudson Valley Resort, offering workshops on topics as diverse as lullabies, nigunim, how to incorporate hip hop in klezmer, folk dance, and calligraphy. Teachers, including Paula Teitelbaum, Frank London, Deborah Strauss, Jeff Warschauer, and Miriam Isaacs shared their expertise. Visit the Living Traditions website for more information.

With the new year, new opportunities to learn Yiddish have arrived, starting with Yiddish Farm’s winter ulpan, offered in conjunction with Columbia University. Students learn with Columbia faculty, and can use their knowledge to place into more advanced classes when they return home, while taking advantage of the opportunity to use Yiddish with fluent speakers on a daily basis in the unique setting of Yiddish Farm. YIVO’s Yiddish classes begin on January 27th with a new Intermediate course. A course for beginners starts in February. Contact Jennifer Young jyoung@yivo.cjh.org for more information.

On Sunday, January 12, the Eldridge Street Synagogue will celebrate Tu B’Shvat with a Tu B’Shvat seder, a bialy demo from their neighbors at Kossar’s, and a genealogy workshop, as well as sustainable arts and crafts. Also on that day, the shloshim for Beyle Schaechter Gottesman will be observed at the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center in Bainbridge, in the Bronx. She will be remembered with poetry and song performed by Binyumin Schaechter, Itsik Gottesman, Shane Baker, Sheva Zucker and many others. The January 6 funeral for Beyle’s sister-in-law, Charlotte (Charne) Schaechter is available online for a limited time at the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel website.

On January 20, the new website Der Leyenzal will celebrate its debut, in the Department of Linguistics at New York University. The event, which will represent the one offline meeting of the group this year, will take place from 4:00-5:15. If you are new to this website, it is a groundbreaking undertaking, offering high-quality classes on authentic Yiddish texts from professors from around the world. The first class, on Ber Borokhov’s “Di oyfgabn fun der yidisher filologye,” taught by Kalman Vayzer, can be found here, and the second, a series on Mendele Moykher Sforim’s Masoes Binyomin Hashlishi, taught by Yitskhok Niborski, will begin on January 20. The website offers the texts, as well as videos, of the lectures, so if you would like to take part in the January 20th class, you can start reading the text now to prepare!

Finally, in these chilly days Di Nyu-yorkerin has been huddling indoors as often as possible, and rediscovering the fantastic video archives at the Yiddish Forward. These feature fascinating historical topics, rich visuals and the beautiful Yiddish narration of Boris Sandler. Here is a link to their latest episode, on Mendele Moykher-Sforim. There are English subtitles, which may be useful for beginners.

Stay warm and see you in February!

Sarah Ponichtera is a Processing Archivist at the Center for Jewish History.