Welcome to 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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Yiddish World Favorite Heirlooms: Hats from the black market in Uzbekistan
These are the hats that my mother and uncles bought when bartering to survive in Uzbekistan during the Holocaust years. My mother was only twelve years old and her brothers – 14 and 9 years of age – when she and her family left Horodenka, Ukraine in 1941 and took the long treacherous journey to…
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Yiddish World How I, a Chabadnik, discovered Chaim Grade’s novels
In the Chabad yeshiva in Crown Heights, where I was a student in the early 1980s, Yiddish literature was non-existent. Sure, we spoke Yiddish in school and we read the text of the Rebbe’s Yiddish sermons, but Yiddish literature was never mentioned. Then again, we didn’t read English literature either. We studied the Torah, Talmud,…
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Yiddish World An Echo of Jewish Lublin through Yiddish Fonts
“Normally, a poster would not include so much empty space. But any poster about Lublin must contain empty space,” Robert told me. I was standing in the print shop of Dom Słów or The House of Words in Lublin, Poland, next to visionary printer Robert Sawa in his signature ink-stained apron, his long graying hair…
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Yiddish World Jewish couples in love even after decades together
As the Yiddish proverb goes: “Hob mikh veyniker lib, nor hob mikh lang lib – love me less, but love me long.” I don’t see this as a popular saying among millennials, just as it wasn’t for us yidn in di yorn (Jews getting on in years) when we were young ourselves. Being swept up…
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Yiddish World The Night Golda Meir Slept In My Bed
Norma Salz shares the story behind her favorite heirloom: a handwritten letter in Yiddish from Golda Meir in 1931.
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Yiddish World VIDEO: Bubbe’s noodle kugel – savory and fried
In this clip of the Forverts cooking show, “Est Gezunterheyt,” watch Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz prepare a traditional dairy noodle kugel that’s savory rather than loaded with sugar – and fried rather than baked. Eve says it’s the only noodle kugel her mother and grandmother ever made. And check out the video’s new look!
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Culture A kids’ guide to gender and sexuality arrives in Yiddish – and hopes to reach Hasidic children
Hasidic children will learn about LGBTQ allyship, gender expression and the diverse world of identity when “You Be You: The Kid’s Guide to Gender, Sexuality and Family” arrives in Yiddish Jan. 31. The author, Jonathan Branfman, first published the book in English in 2019. His goal was to make a resource that offers stigma-free information…
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Yiddish World YidLife Crisis comedy show, ‘Pandemish,’ streaming soon
When people today use the term “Yiddish comedy”, they usually mean a standup act or film in English with Yiddish words tacked on for comic effect. The online comedy web series, “YidLife Crisis”, created and starring Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, is completely different. As many of you saw with their hilarious clip on Jewish…
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Yiddish הערט די פּרעכטיקע לידער פֿון דער „מגילה פֿון איציק מאַנגער“Listen to the delightful songs of the ‘Megillah by Itsik Manger’
די אַכצן לידער ווערן דאָ געזונגען פֿון די ערשטקלאַסישע אַרטיסטן — דער משפּחה בורשטיין
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Opinion A Pentagon official spewed antisemitism. Her words about child victims of Oct. 7 are even more hateful
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Yiddish World ‘Shtisel’ spin-off ‘Kugel’ richly portrays a diasporic Hasidic community
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