Yiddish Brief Newsletter

September 7, 2025 - The amazing story of the Lost Shtetl Museum • Opera about a unique Yiddish dictionary premieres • So what was that dictionary debate really about?

August 31, 2025 - When New York was a Yiddish town • A chat with a young YouTuber from Satmar • A moving Yiddish story about a girl saying kaddish, now in English

August 17, 2025 - The Yiddish poet who wrote over 500 songs • An opera for Yiddish fans • Hiding from the Nazis in Japan

July 27, 2025 - Fiddler Daniel Hoffman has died • Food influencers ‘butchering’ name of Katz’s Deli • Humorous story about a pleasure trip, now in English

July 20, 2025 - A new Yiddish tango you can hear and watch • The Yiddish Summer Weimar Festival Aug 12—17 • A book about the power of music to connect cultures

July 13, 2025 - Brandeis University drops its Yiddish program • Yiddishland California plans move to Mexico • A new Yiddish play marries tradition and taboo

July 6, 2025 - High energy, Jewish pride at Central Park’s Yiddish singalong • International arts festival gets taste of Yiddish • Jewish food's back in Poland

June 29, 2025 - Video tells story of the Yiddish Book Center • Popular Yiddish learning program offering grants • YIVO exhibits reveal what was miraculously saved

June 22, 2025 - Hasidic man goes to Iran to find Queen Esther’s tomb • ‘The first trip to Coney Island’ • Yiddish poetry at Yeshivat Hadar

June 15, 2025 - A wig making salon in the 1920s • New Yiddish learning tool now on the Forward website • ‘How my grandparents met: A Yiddish-American romance’

June 1, 2025 - VIDEO: Cheese blintzes were meant to be savory • ‘No fighting on the day before Shavuot!’ • A tour in Yiddish of NYC's Queen Esther exhibit

May 25, 2025 - Riki Rose singing ‘Summertime’ in Yiddish • What the shtiebel meant for Jewish male immigrants • A fascinating look at YIVO’s evolution

May 18, 2025 - Why these students will study Yiddish in Warsaw • Reactions to the photo of two girls and the Yiddish sign • A ‘field of dreams’ for this Orthodox Jew

May 11, 2025 - ‘A photo of my bubbe when stores had Yiddish signs’ • ‘My complex relationship with my mother’ • Aaron Lansky’s final talk as president of the YBC

May 4, 2025 - This synagogue ‘gets’ why you need Yiddish on Yom Hashoah • Yiddish film ‘Shttl‘ finally being released • NPR reports on growing interest in Yiddish

April 27, 2025 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising tribute describes women ghetto fighters • Forverts gifted with Yiddish web domains • NEH grants for Yiddish culture terminated

April 6, 2025 - 13-year old makes sous vide salmon in Yiddish • I miss those secular Jews who led traditional seders • Children at a seder while hiding from the Nazis

March 30, 2025 - Yiddish still riding the bronco in Texas • Bashevis’ ‘Golem’ staged in Yiddish and French • Can YIVO still serve a people who don’t speak Yiddish?

March 23, 2025 - Five cities now have regular meet-ups in Yiddish • Seven treasures from YIVO’s collection • Our favorite Yiddish-speaking Israeli soldier had a baby

March 16, 2025 - The last lines Chaim Grade ever wrote • The Shvesters in concert next week in NYC • A warning from the Munkaczer Rebbe on March 15, 1933

March 9, 2025 - ‘Shtisel’ spin-off ‘Kugel’ richly portrays diasporic Hasidic community • Hear the megillah in Yiddish • The tradition of the rhyming Purim shpil

March 2, 2025 - Chaim Grade’s last novel now in English • Reviving tunes that were nearly lost • YIVO founder Max Weinreich’s son talks about his Christian conversion

February 23, 2025 - Short Yiddish horror film set in a shtetl • Exploring the Ukrainian-Yiddish dialect • When your name is Rivka but people on the phone call you ‘sir’

February 2, 2025 - Watch us make our own sauerkraut in Yiddish • Riki Rose’s new Yiddish single, ‘Shluf’ • Good news for ‘Shtisel’ fans

January 26, 2025 - Yiddish festival is discussed on TV • Conference to promote the study of Eastern European Jewry in Ukraine • An all-day online Yiddish extravaganza

January 19, 2025 - Yiddish activist Michael Fox has died • A concert where Paul Robeson wasn’t allowed to sing in Yiddish • ‘Bad Yiddish’ is theme of Yiddish conference

January 12, 2025 - The funny guys at Yidlife Crisis go to Sweden • ‘Jimmy Carter, Bubby and me’ • The amazing evolution of the Klezmatics as they turn 40

December 22, 2024 - VIDEO: Making latkes in Yiddish with my grandson • A Hanukkah story set in San Francisco, 1849 • Art exhibit on life in the Lodz Ghetto

December 15, 2024 - A fun recording of The Dreidel Song • New blog ties weekly Torah portions with Yiddish literature • Print is still huge for these Yiddish readers

December 8, 2024 - Harvard’s Yiddish studies program is in danger • The day a Bronx kid shocked a Vermont salesperson • A Yiddish show about demons opening off-Broadway

November 24, 2024 - Harvard denies its only Yiddish professor tenure • A place to share handwritten recipes and memories • The Hasidic housewife who became a comedian

November 17, 2024 - Satmar-raised Riki Rose becomes a Yiddish rock star • L.A. Yiddish scene continues a long tradition • How WEVD music was saved from the dumpster

November 10, 2024 - Celebrating my 25 years at the Forward • Klezmer violinist Deborah Strauss to be honored • The education of a young girl in a Belarusian shtetl

November 3, 2024 - Yiddish-speaking Israeli soldier Yonatan Alman has married • Yiddish NY festival is coming up • The boy who kept a diary while hiding from the Nazis

October 27, 2024 - VIDEO: Roza makes kasha varnishkes • Is the accordion a Jewish instrument? • How Jewish performer Al Jolson helped remake America

October 20, 2024 - Yiddish parody of the prayer for rain • Hilarious video about the Jewish fall holidays • Elie Wiesel celebrating Simchat Torah in Moscow in 1965

October 13, 2024 - The magical part of making cabbage strudel • A scary Sukkos for this immigrant Jewish family • How to greet people in Yiddish on each Jewish holiday

September 29, 2024 - A painful split in the Yiddishist community since Oct. 7 • The rabbi who was late to Yom Kippur • Vilna resistance fighter Fania Brantsovsky has died

September 22, 2024 - Honey balls and ginger candy for Rosh Hashanah • Yiddish holiday tales provide hope in these dark times • The curious history of Rosh Hashanah cards

September 15, 2024 - Sneak preview of an amazing album • Creating a synagogue in L.A. that embraces culture • A horror show at her grandparents’ house

September 8, 2024 - The powerful ballad of September 11 • Songwriter Josh Waletzky’s elegy for 9/11 • The mysterious disappearance of a Jewish ritual slaughterer

September 1, 2024 - This strike leader paid dearly for his activism • What kids did on their summer vacation a century ago • Yiddish activist Bella Bryks Klein has died

August 11, 2024 - Meet young people who studied Yiddish this summer • Elegy for cherished Jewish historian David Biale • A Yiddish bracelet found in the Catskills

July 28, 2024 - Lively course on Hasidic Yiddish • Recalling the murdered Soviet Yiddish writers • Improve your Yiddish comprehension with this easy news brief

July 21, 2024 - Shabbos songs in Yiddish! • Another teen who kept a diary during the Holocaust • Why are Yiddish speakers talking about JD Vance and bedbugs?

July 14, 2024 - A remarkable film about young Yiddish scholars • Baklava is actually part of Ashkenazi culinary history • Hit song ‘Bring Him Home’ now in Yiddish

June 30, 2024 - A 13-year old bakes baklava in Yiddish • Free, online resources to learn ‘mame-loshn’ • Hear the lovely vocal techniques of old world cantorial music

June 23, 2024 - How an Orthodox woman became my soul sister • Conference seeks role for Yiddish in Holocaust studies • Film portrays the devotion of Yiddish musicians

June 9, 2024 - Watch us make dairy and vegan cheesecakes • Zoom event will celebrate cantorial music • Folkway Records was created by novelist Sholem Asch’s son

June 2, 2024 - Why is Ken Burns so negative about Yiddish? • A refue shleyme, Frank London • Yiddish novelist I. J. Singer on Black American life

May 26, 2024 - Hostage’s bubbe speaks to us in Yiddish • Opera about the fate of the Great Yiddish Dictionary • Did Sigmund Freud hide his closeness to the Jews?

May 19, 2024 - A Yiddish word I never expected to see on a license plate • Soviet Yiddish magazine is being digitized • Yiddish plays about agunahs and abortion

May 12, 2024 - Bundist-raised writer loses his political home • How the Forverts brought Jon Ossoff's relative to the US • ‘Colors of the Wind’ in Yiddish

April 21, 2024 - Passover 1941 among refugees in Japan • Bringing Pesach back to the town where Nazis killed our relatives • Haggadah with Yiddish instructions

April 14, 2024 - Itzhak Perlman's favorite Passover recipes • El Lissitzky's gorgeous illustrations to ‘Khad Gadyo’ • An Ashkenazi delicacy made of fish sperm

April 7, 2024 - Mendy Twerski’s newest song, ‘Nem mikh arum’ • Memories of the Yiddish kitchen • Yiddish cartoon about Trump’s bible sale

March 31, 2024 - Training Hester Street actors how to say their Yiddish lines • Yiddish weekend in the UK • Asian descendants of hidden Jews maintain their languages

March 24, 2024 - So do you spell it schlep or shlep? • The 1975 film ‘Hester Street’ is now on stage • New translations of I. B. Singer’s essays at the Forverts

March 17, 2024 - ‘The first time I wore a yarmulke on the subway’ • Video: A Purim tale by I. L. Peretz • When Irish-Jewish immigrants celebrated St. Patrick’s Day

March 10, 2024 - Yiddish text on the cover of The Atlantic! • A mouthwatering vegan brisket • Linguist Ross Perlin speaks about endangered languages

March 3, 2024 - Mendy Twersky’s new song, ‘Gut Morgn!’ • Aaron Lansky, who rescued 1.5 million books, is retiring • Goose, schmaltz and pletzel!

February 25, 2024 - Yiddish in bars all over Berlin • Yiddish activist Fishl Kutner has died • Essay: ‘My family’s role in collapse of a bank for Jewish immigrants’

February 11, 2024 - A melodrama that’s silly but fun to watch • Lower East Side Jewish women • Meet ‘The Nosher’ editor and chef Shannon Sarna at our Zoom chat

February 4, 2024 - Young cooks preparing old Jewish dishes • A video celebrating Ladino Day in Yiddish • Magnificent Judaica gallery

January 28, 2024 - Why ‘The Gospel According to Chaim’ is a big deal • The forgotten lines of ’Abi Gezunt’ • Jewish deli and Yiddish cooking in a TikTok world

January 21, 2024 - Anguished cry in Yiddish by father of 2 hostages • When Elie Wiesel was enchanted by Disneyland • A tragedy of 2 fathers

January 14, 2024 - This filmmaker challenged his Haredi community’s prejudices • Twelve-year old chef bakes pretzels in Yiddish • A call to Yiddish-speaking cooks

January 7, 2024 - Yiddish play tackles taboo subject • A band’s Yiddish response to Oct. 7 massacre • Reading Chava Rosenfarb’s stories after Oct. 7

December 24, 2023 - Ethel Niborski reports from Jerusalem’s Cinema Week • Antisemitism in elite private schools • San Diego Yiddish organization may have to move

December 17, 2023 - A new Yiddish drama on the NY stage • Translator and linguist Zelda Kahan Newman has died • The brazen antisemitic act in the Polish parliament

December 10, 2023 - Why we took down the paywall • This Hanukkah song ponders the meaning of the candles • A reconstructed Yiddish comic operetta

November 19, 2023 - New Yiddish musical reminds us why Israel was founded • Yiddish-themed gifts for Hanukkah • How to make the traditional home remedy, gogl-mogl

November 12, 2023 - Our Yiddish-speaking soldier longs for a drink • A new Yiddish musical at the Folksbiene • I.B. Singer’s newspaper articles now in English

November 5, 2023 - Vandals deface Bronx Yiddish cultural center • Israeli soldier speaking Hasidic Yiddish • Vegetarian cholent cooking demo

October 29, 2023 - A magnificent exhibit • Two Yiddish words Holocaust survivors knew well • New Yiddish version of a popular Russian love song

Yiddish Brief

Recent Newsletters