Yiddish Civilization Lecture Series

When students come to YIVO’s Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture, they don’t just study the Yiddish language, they also study the whole world of culture that goes along with it: literature, history, music, theater, and more. While much of YIVO’s programming throughout the year explores these topics, we wanted to find a way to allow the wider public to take part in this incredible learning community each summer.

Thus began our Yiddish Civilization Lecture Series. The series, 10 lectures each summer, is part of our Uriel Weinreich Summer Program curriculum and open to the general public as well. With half of its lectures in Yiddish, and half in English, the programs provide an opportunity for students and audience members alike to immerse themselves in Yiddish civilization, and practice their Yiddish too.

The series, which started in 2019, completed its third season this past summer. In its three-year history it has included 30 talks with 30 scholars — a veritable who’s who of researchers and educators in the world of Jewish Studies today. Lectures have covered topics in history such as the Oyneg Shabes Archive, the Ashkenazi community of Mexico, and the stories of political movements including Bundism and Zionism. Many lectures explored Yiddish literature, in genres ranging from radical modernist poetry to children’s literature. Other talks focused on particular luminaries of the Yiddish world, such as Chaim Zhitlovsky and Sh. An-ski. Art and culture lectures explored topics including the Barton Brothers and Mickey Katz, Yiddish Theater, Yiddish folksong, and Yiddish radio. Linguistics-focused lectures touched on Yiddish dialects and the usage of Yiddish among contemporary Hasidic communities.

This past summer we had over 1,700 audience members join us on Zoom, with viewers tuning in from over 25 countries. Recordings of all three years of lectures are accessible on YIVO’s YouTube channel where they have already been viewed over 26,000 times. We look forward to continuing to foster an international community of Yiddish cultural learning with the fourth season of this series in 2022.