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
-
News In New York State, Citizens Can Still Vote In Yiddish — But How Many Do?
On Election Day, New York City provides translation services for widely spoken languages, like Spanish and Mandarin. But Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has also been working recently to improve ballot box accessibility more widely — even for speakers of tongues that are less well known, like the mame loshen, or mother tongue, of Ashkenazi…
-
Culture Here Are The Winners Of Israel’s National Yiddish Story Contest
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. In July, Israel’s National Authority for Yiddish Culture launched the first government-sponsored Yiddish-language writing contest ever held in the Jewish state. This week, the authority announced the three winners. Ethel Niborski, age 17, won first prize for her short story “Letters to a Blind Grandfather,” for which…
-
Yiddish World How ‘YidLife Crisis’ Tackled Anti-Semitism
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The 1980s marked the peak of a bizarre and often disturbing television trend: the “very special episode.” Such episodes featured tragic events intruding upon the usually idyllic world of evening sitcoms. “Very special episodes” served an overt pedagogical purpose, warning about everything from drunk driving and the…
-
Culture WATCH: The Timeless Yiddish Love Song, ‘It’s Dark Outside’
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Adah Hetko is a Yiddish singer who adapts classic songs from the collections of ethnomusicologists such as Ruth Rubin and gives them a modern feel. In this recording, produced by the Forverts, she performs her take on the folk song “In Droysn Iz Fintster” (“It’s Dark Outside”)…
-
Yiddish World The Day The Rabbi Cursed His Congregation
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. This summer, my synagogue, Young Israel Ohab Zedek in Riverdale, New York, has embarked on a new adventure, completely renovating and expanding its building in order to accommodate the growing number of young Jewish families moving into north Riverdale and south Yonkers. Gazing at the large, wooden…
-
Yiddish World When Jews Embraced Tin Pan Alley
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. “In the 1890s, writers of Yiddish melodramas simply took famous, successful American popular songs and set Yiddish texts to their melodies,” N.B. Minkov wrote in “Pionern fun der Yidisher Poezye in Amerike,” or “Pioneers of Jewish Poetry in America” (1956). “This was a big hit with the…
-
Yiddish World Remembering Dina Abramowicz, The YIVO Librarian Who Preserved Vilna In New York
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Whenever I see an announcement for the latest exhibit at the Neue Galerie, a New York museum of German and Austrian Art, I’m reminded of the nearly four decades (1955-1994) when the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research had its home in that same Upper East Side townhouse….
-
Culture WATCH: How Standard Yiddish Pronunciation Originated
Dr. Hershl Glasser, a Yiddish scholar, lexicographer and Forverts contributor, visited the Forverts’ studio to discuss the history of standard Yiddish pronunciation and to explain why he champions it despite objections from many Yiddish speakers.
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
- 2
Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
- 3
Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
- 4
News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Justin Trudeau condemns antisemitism after Montreal pro-Palestinian protest where Netanyahu is burned in effigy
-
Culture There aren’t Jewish fighters in Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator II.’ But what about in ancient Rome?
-
Fast Forward Three arrested in murder of rabbi in United Arab Emirates; Israel denounces ‘despicable antisemitic act’
-
News Trump promised peace in the Middle East. Will his 2020 plan be the blueprint?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
