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 Yiddish World, and for stories written in Yiddish,…
Yiddish
The Latest
-
The Schmooze Emerging Artist: Tanya Fredman’s Talmudic Vision
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. Last month, New York’s central Jewish education agency changed its name, and is now celebrating its new identity with a fascinating exhibit of a fresh new Jewish artist and art educator. The exhibit, hosted by the Jewish Education Project (formerly the Board of Jewish Education of…
-
The Schmooze Esperanto, the ‘Worldwide Yiddish’
What do fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien, Yugoslavian dictator Josip Broz Tito, Brazilian soccer star Pelé and financier George Soros have in common? They all share an interest in Esperanto, an invented language whose goal is to unite humankind. “Nekredebla,” you might be thinking (that’s Esperanto for “incredible”). But not so quick — other well known…
-
The Schmooze Learning From the Big Fish
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Forverts associate editor Itzik Gottesman writes about “Di fishelekh in vaser” (“The Fish in Water”) by Isaac Rymer: “Di fishelekh in vaser” (“The Fish in Water”) was one of Isaac (Tsunye) Rymer‘s most beloved songs to perform (for more on Rymer see the previous posting on “Shpilt…
-
The Schmooze All the Emperor’s Treasures
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Forverts associate editor Itzik Gottesman writes about “If I Were to Have the Emperor’s Treasures,” as sung by Ita Taub: This recording of Ita Taub was done in our dining room in our Bronx home in the 1980s after a meal, as you can hear from the…
-
The Schmooze Monday Music: Josh Waletzky’s Yiddish Song
On the Yiddish Song of the Week blog, Pete Rushefsky writes about Josh Waletzky and “Yaninke,” a song Josh learned from his father, Sholom Waletzky: One of the leading contemporary composers of Yiddish song, Josh Waletzky (b. 1948) grew up in a family that was deeply embedded in the secular Yiddish world of Camp Boiberik…
-
The Schmooze Horas for Headbangers
Back in 1997, “Buena Vista Social Club” introduced American audiences to a style of Cuban music that was popular in Havana in the 1950s. The album charmed the critics, topped the charts, spawned a documentary film, and was championed by Starbucks when the coffee behemoth decided to become a curator of world music. Such a…
-
Books Q&A: Author Michael Wex on the Jewish Comic Novel
Michael Wex is best known for his acerbic, authoritative books on Yiddish language and culture, but in this fall’s “The Frumkiss Family Business,” he has turned his attention to fiction. The sprawling novel is a farcical family saga, following three generations of a Jewish clan in Toronto’s Bathurst Manor neighborhood and questioning, in Wex’s characteristically…
-
The Schmooze Yinglish and Spanglish at the International Accordion Festival
Mark Rubin is a musician based out of Austin, Texas, who has played at the International Accordion Festival since 2001. His latest project is the Atomic Duo. The International Accordion Festival is not well known outside of Texas, and that’s a shame. For a decade, the people of San Antonio have been treated, at no…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Antisemitism Decoded After Minneapolis, a YouTuber comes for Jewish ‘welfare queens’
- 2
News Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince, has a plan for his people’s future — if they’ll have him
- 3
News An Arizona cemetery now requires mourners to leave before burial. A rabbi plans to sue.
- 4
News What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein’s Childhood
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward US urges Americans to ‘DEPART NOW’ from Israel and a dozen other Middle Eastern countries
-
News Purim gets creative in Israel, with festivities driven underground
-
Fast Forward Suspect in Brooklyn Chabad car-ramming incident faces federal charge
-
Opinion In three days, Israel and the US reshaped the Middle East
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
