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 Getting over the feeling that Yiddish is just for old folks
I’ve recently pondered: “When is a person old enough to flavor one’s language with Yiddish expressions?” There have been many times where a Yiddish expression was so on-target that I would use it, but I would always attribute it to my mother or grandmother, implying that Yiddish was only a language for older folks, as…
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Yiddish World Yiddish Folklore Inspires American Artist Debra Olin
Read this article in Yiddish. As seen in a new exhibit at the Museum at Eldridge Street, artist Debra Olin has created large format monoprint collages that explore Jewish folkloric superstitions and religious practices, particularly those of women in the Russian Pale of Settlement. Olin based her art on the information she gleaned from an…
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Yiddish World Online Yiddish Hanukkah song workshop and sing-along
If you’d like to learn or brush up on your knowledge of Yiddish Hanukkah songs, you might consider joining an online workshop and sing-along, led by the conductor of the Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus, Binyumen Schaechter. Schaechter is a brother of Forverts editor, Rukhl Schaechter. Sessions will take place on November 7 and 14, culminating in…
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Yiddish World New edition of landmark English-Yiddish Dictionary includes “lockdown” and “breakout room”
Read this article in Yiddish The world has changed massively in five years – from new political movements to a global pandemic, and now your Yiddish can keep up with it. Five years after the Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary was first published, comes a revised and expanded second edition. Both versions, edited by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Dr….
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Yiddish World How an indigenous hero inspired an epic poem in Yiddish
For Indigenous People’s Day, read this translated excerpt of the poem “Hatuey” by the Cuban Yiddish author, Osher Penn.
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Yiddish World What does Yiddish scholar Samuel Spinner mean by Jewish primitivism?
Samuel J. Spinner Jewish Primitivism Stanford University Press, 272 pp. According to the Russian־Jewish art critic, Abram Efros (1888-1954), modern Jewish art needs to embody two principles: European modernism and Jewish folk art. In his article, “Aladdin’s Magic Lantern,” Efros wrote that “the face of modernism is turned outwards, while folk art turns inward.” Efros’…
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Yiddish World Intensive beginners’ Yiddish class will use new prizewinning textbook
For six weeks in November and December, the Yiddish Book Center will conduct an intensive beginners class online, using its prizewinning multimedia Yiddish textbook, “In Eynem” (a Yiddish expression which means “together”). The book, written by Asya Vaisman Schulman and Jordan Brown with Mikhl Yashinsky, received a Textbook Excellence Award last February from the Textbook…
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Art Now in English, an almost-forgotten story by Sholem Aleichem
We know the usual occupations in Sholom Aleichem’s fiction: dairyman, butcher, tailor. But did you hear the one about pickpockets (or “nimble fingers”), robbers (“snatchers”) and horse thieves? If not, don’t worry — most haven’t. As far as we know, Sholom Aleichem, the beloved Yiddish author best-remembered for his Tevye stories, only wrote about such…
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