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…
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…
The stereotype-defying Orthodox singer and composer, also known as the Hasidic Lady Gaga, talks to the Yiddish Forward at his latest concert in Manhattan.
I never quite feel like I’m the right age. My congregants consistently tell me that I’m too young to be a rabbi. When I watched the standup comedian Robert Klein began one of his sets with a song about colonoscopies (below), I also felt be a bit out of place. When the rest of the…
The FBI yesterday revealed covert photographs of a villager known as Tevye colluding with Russian diplomats. Little is known of the conversation — which Tevye initially denied ever happened. He is suspected of discussing how he might be made “a rich man” and of concealing the conversation by having a violinist play loudly on top…
The wooden houses with their straw roofs, their low beams, and crooked steps, solid wooden churches of dark wood with curved domes and cupolas, creaky old chicken coops and mud paths seemed both distant and familiar. At any moment one expects Tevye to appear from behind a corner nudging his horse, teasing his wife, or…
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A new opera based on an 86-year-old Yiddish poem about a Taino indigenous chief who resisted the Spanish invaders will have its premiere in Havana next month. “Hatuey: Memory of Fire,” will first be performed in Havana on March 3, reported the New York Times. Composed by Frank London of the Klezmatics, the…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. When I got married, I decided to speak Yiddish to my children, and not just any Yiddish, but my husband’s “heymish Yiddish”; in other words – Hasidic Yiddish. I was able to carry out my plan quickly since I was marrying a divorced father of three, so…
Editor’s note: In Ashkenazi Jewish folklore, the (very real) city of Chelm functions as an imaginary town of fools. Many tales from this tradition are entitled “The Wise Men of Chelm.” The following piece continues in that tradition. Lately, the people of Chelm had been afraid. A number of townspeople, afflicted by poverty and unhappiness,…
100 Years Ago After a long and difficult struggle, the enemies of free immigration have won a battle. The Burnett Anti-Immigration Bill will become law despite a presidential veto, and will go into effect in May. However, those who support free immigration can take a bit of solace because the anti-immigration forces were compelled to…
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