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 Podcast: A Jewish revolutionary tells her story
Read this article in Yiddish The Yiddish Book Center recently launched a unique podcast in which the actress, translator and Yiddish theater scholar Caraid O’Brien reads her own translation of the memoirs of a Russian revolutionary. The program, “The Last Maximalist,” recalls the extraordinary early years of Klara Klebanova, a Jewish girl who left her…
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Yiddish World Yiddish culture barely touched upon in ‘The New Jewish Canon’
Read this article in Yiddish What were the most important Jewish texts of the last 40 years? What did the Jewish opinion-makers have to say about the most important issues of Jewish survival? Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire Sufrin attempt to answer these questions in a collection of 70 selected documents called “The New Jewish Canon:…
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Culture As popularity of Yiddish skyrockets, Knesset launches Yiddish initiative in Israel
Read this article in Yiddish This week, a lobby was launched in the Knesset, urging the government to take responsibility for preserving Yiddish as a national language, and ultimately, for Israel to become the world center for Yiddish activity. A Knesset lobby is a group of Knesset members who want to enlist support for individuals…
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Yiddish World In a delightful short film, a Hasidic bookbinder leads a secret online existence
Read this article in Yiddish. Right from the beginning, “The Binding of Itzik”, a new short film playing in the online Yonkers Film Festival and winner of Best Narrative Short Film at the Berlin Underground Film Festival, treads into uncharted territory. As innocuous piano music plays in the background, the film opens with a computer…
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Fast Forward NYC has at most 5 Yiddish-speaking contact tracers despite COVID spike among the Orthodox
Read this article in Yiddish While New York City has hired thousands for its Test and Trace Corps in an attempt to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the city, there are no more than five Yiddish speakers on staff. The low number is especially striking as a second wave of the virus is breaking out…
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Fast Forward Kibitz is the Oxford English Dictionary’s ‘Word of the Day’ — but their definition will surprise you
The Oxford English Dictionary’s online word of the day is kibitz. However, the dictionary’s first definition is a bit jarring for Americans who are accustomed to the using the word as a colloquialism for warm, friendly chatter. Instead, the OED defines it as “To watch (a card game or card player) as a spectator, typically…
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Fast Forward Etsy vendor’s misspelled Yiddish ‘NYC crotch’ mask is selling out, so she’s making one for L.A.
The Etsy vendor who accidentally created a face mask reading “NYC Crotch” in Yiddish is now doing so on purpose, and ramping up production to meet rising demand on both coasts. “We are all laughing again!! I love that!! The sales have gone through the roof!!! I quit counting!! LOL! (Hurray!! I’m able to pay…
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Yiddish World Amidst coronavirus pandemic, YIVO looks to the digital future
Read this article in Yiddish. Like stores, museums and theaters, archives and specialized libraries have struggled to adapt in the face of social distancing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With staff and scholars unable to access their holdings and the public unable to attend in-person programming, many institutions have found themselves in a state of…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Fast Forward Ursula Haverbeck, infamous German Holocaust denier known as ‘Nazi grandma,’ dies at 96
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