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 Jewish Languages from Bukhori to Juhuri
A new organization aims to preserve languages that are no longer spoken or are in danger of disappearing
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Culture A Very Yiddish Take on the Star Spangled Banner
Frieda Danziger of Manhattan writes to ask whether I have ever encountered the Yiddish term farfl un lokshn as a comical or disparaging way of referring to the Stars and Stripes. I have, once, in a poem by Abraham Liessin, a well-known Yiddish poet. Liessin, who was born in Russia in 1872 and came to…
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Culture Third Century Synagogue Unearthed in Turkey
1913 •100 years ago Nursery’s heartbreaking scenes A black sign hanging on an old three-story house on the Lower East Side’s Madison Street has written on it, in golden letters: “Hebrew Day Nursery.” This means that inside is a place where they keep babies for the day while their mothers are at work. What sad…
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The Schmooze Now You Can Learn Yiddish From a Robot
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. Translation by Ezra Glinter. “Good morning. My name is Nomy. I am a girl. Good morning, Moby! He is a robot.” So begins the first section of YiddishPOP, a new educational website featuring animated videos whose main character is a robot. It’s the result of a…
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Culture A New York Jewish Man Tries To Commit Suicide by Cocaine
1913 •100 years ago Cocaine, Suicide and Incest Why did Dr. Jacob Haas attempt to take his own life in such a grotesque manner? Last Tuesday, Haas ingested 10 grams of cocaine and slashed his own throat, but missed the jugular and managed to remain alive after Meyer Wolf, a doctor who lives a few…
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The Schmooze Elie Wiesel And Evgeny Kissin At YIVO Gala
The piano was tuned, the vodka was flowing and world renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin posed for photos with noshers and nibblers at the pre-concert reception of the YIVO Institute for Yiddish Research’s 12th Annual Heritage Gala at the Center for Jewish History on May 7. “Just as there is love at first sight, there is…
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Books Taking Yiddish Translation to the Masses
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here. Academics and enthusiasts of Yiddish studies have long been pushing for the translation of Yiddish literature. Unfortunately, few efforts have met with much success, even among Jewish readers. The New Yiddish Library Series, from Yale University Press, had plans to translate and publish dozens of Yiddish…
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Books Inspired by Gluckel of Hameln
This week Rebecca Miller will be sharing texts that shed light on Jewish life in 18th-century France, the setting of her new novel, “Jacob’s Folly” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on…
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