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
-
Yiddish World How Paul McCartney Turned Isaac Bashevis Singer Into A Polish Hero
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. 116 years after his birth, Isaac Bashevis Singer has found a new champion: Paul McCartney. Yes, really. When the Polish Parliament passed a resolution honoring the Nobel Prize-winning author on November 21, the anniversary of his birth, it was thanks to the efforts of the former Beatle….
-
Yiddish World This Australian Yiddish Big Band Will Blow Your Mind
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. It all started with a joke. Simon Starr, an Australian music producer, band director and bass guitarist, had been living in Israel for six years when he and his family had to return to Melbourne to be closer to aging relatives. Professionally speaking, the timing was not…
-
Yiddish World The Night That Golda Meir Slept In My Bed
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. In the 1930s, Golda Meir, then known as Golda Meyerson, worked on a mission for Pioneer Women in Israel in the United States, collecting funds for women and children in Palestine. In 1931, the organization held its annual fundraising dinner in Buffalo, New York and Meir came…
-
Yiddish World WATCH: In This Classic Yiddish Joke, A Maybe-Atheist Confronts God
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The Yiddish Forward is producing a series of classic Yiddish jokes presented in Yiddish by Leana Jelen, a young Yiddish-speaking sign-language interpreter. In this joke famed Jewish folk-hero and alleged atheist Hershele Ostropoler gives a unique answer to a friend questioning his piety.
-
Opinion How Old Is Yiddish? It’s Not As Old As You Think.
The question of how old Yiddish is has long preoccupied Yiddishists. And as it turns out, it’s a question that’s deeply connected to the nature of Yiddish as a language. On the one hand, you have the Jewish-oriented approach, advocated by Max Weinreich, a 20th century Yiddishist, which sees in modern Yiddish an inheritor of…
-
Life Anonymous Hasidic Writer Speaks Out On Failing Schools
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. People close to me know that I’ve always felt a kinship with the Hasidic community. Part of the appeal for me is their success at maintaining Yiddish as the lingua franca of their community. Where else but in Williamsburg or Mea Shearim do you hear Yiddish wherever…
-
Culture How A Forverts Video Reunited Two Old Friends
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. In an apartment somewhere in the metropolis of New York City, the distinguished composer Gershon Kingsley was sitting by his archive when he found sheet music for a composition he had created years ago for the dancer Naomi Leaf Halpern, and he realized that it had been…
-
Yiddish World How Far Will Grandmothers Go To Look Out For Granddaughters? In Borscht Belt Joke, Maybe Too Far.
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The Yiddish Forward is producing a series of classic Yiddish jokes presented in Yiddish by Leana Jelen, a young Yiddish-speaking sign-language interpreter. This joke shows the drastic measures some Jewish grandmothers will take to protect their granddaughters — or at least their own sanity.
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 Jared Kushner donates $1 million to Chabad of United Arab Emirates after rabbi murdered
-
Fast Forward Far-right politician who praised Nazi collaborators shocks with top finish in Romanian presidential election
-
News For Israelis still displaced from their homes, reclaiming the kitchen can be an act of hope
-
Yiddish בער קאָטלערמאַן געווינט די י. י. סיגאַל פּרעמיע פֿאַר זײַן בוך דערציילונגען „סאַמאָיעד“Ber Kotlerman wins J. I Segal award for his collection of stories, ‘Samoyed’
די העלדן אין דער זאַמלונג זענען אוקראַיִנער ייִדן וואָס לײַדן פֿון אַ שווער לעבן אָבער בלײַבן פֿאָרט לײַטיש.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
