This is the Forward’s coverage of the Yiddish language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews in Europe and still spoken by many Hasidic Jews today.
For more stories on Yiddishkeit, see Forverts in English, and for stories written in…
Yiddish
The Latest
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The Schmooze Hardcore Klezmer: Talking With Ramzailech
Crossposted from Midnight East. Photos by Gangi. Thirty seconds into the music bodies are moving on the dance floor, my pulse is synched to the beat, and electric guitar and drums are crashing through my bloodstream. Then the wail of the clarinet takes over my brain and I’m singing along with the band — in…
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The Schmooze Oy Gevolt, It’s Tshiribim!
We’ve covered the Yiddish metal band Gevolt before, after their first album, “Sidur,” in 2007 here and here. And, even, since their new album “Alefbase” came out in 2011, as part of the — no-joking — Yiddish metal scene here and here. But the new video for the track “Tshiribim Tshiribom” is great. I think…
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Culture Sholom Aleichem Is Alive and Well
Yarmulkes are a rare sight along Norwood’s Bainbridge Avenue, a busy thoroughfare at the heart of the Bronx neighborhood once dominated by Jews and Italians. Today, the street is lined with shops and stores owned by a new, diverse group of immigrants. Residents can get their teeth cleaned by a Dominican dentist, purchase pastries from…
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Culture Looking Back: January 13, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward A fire occurred at New York City’s Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, a Jewish orphanage on 151st Street and Broadway. More than 700 children live in the orphanage, and they were all on different floors when the fire, which started at a construction site next to the orphanage, broke out….
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Culture Sorcerer for the Goose and Gander
A reader who may prefer to remain anonymous sends me an email in which he describes recently hearing his sister call his elderly mother a “machashefer,” a term with which he was not familiar. The letter continues: “I asked my sister what she meant by ‘machashefer,’ and she said it’s a witch. She then told…
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News Adrienne Cooper’s Musical Life
The legendary Yiddish musician and music teacher Adrienne Cooper, who died December 25 at age 65, was remembered at a New Year’s Day memorial service on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Jon Kalish reports from the event, and speaks with Cooper’s friends and colleagues about the life, career, character of the woman who, as fellow musician…
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Fast Forward Memorial Services Planned for Adrienne Cooper
A memorial service for famed Yiddish singer Adrienne Cooper is planned for Sunday, January 1 at Ansche Chesed in Manhattan at 12:00pm. The memorial will begin with a kriah, the ceremonial tearing or ripping of garments, and will celebrate the life of Cooper who died on December 25 at the age of 65. Cooper, who…
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Culture Bintel Briefs Way Ahead of Times
The explosive popularity of the Yiddish advice column published in the Forverts from 1906 paved the way first for a genre and then an entire industry. Although it seems self-evident to us now, writing to a newspaper for advice was a revolutionary idea. Click to view a slideshow. The Bintel Brief (literally “bundle of letters”)…
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