Unprecedented Growth in Yiddish Learning Online at YIVO

(New York, NY) – Responding to unprecedented growth in demand for Yiddish classes over the last 12 months, YIVO is announcing a variety of forthcoming Yiddish offerings: spring semester courses featuring four times as many classes as last year’s spring; YIVO’s 2021 acclaimed Yiddish Summer Program -- online for the second time; and a new initiative for more casual Yiddish enthusiasts: a YIVO Yiddish Club hosted by actor and translator Shane Baker.

This increase in programming comes amidst a sharp rise in demand for Yiddish learning online. YIVO’s Summer Program enrollment increased 60% in 2020, followed by a 284% increase in its fall 2020 Yiddish classes and a 533% increase in the 2021 Yiddish winter semester. YIVO has struggled to meet this quickly growing demand with students frequently on waitlists.

“We are reaching more students now than ever before,” said Ben Kaplan, YIVO’s Director of Education. “Though online learning poses some challenges, there are also many benefits, including greater accessibility for students who wouldn’t be able to attend our courses in New York.”

“There has been significant growth in interest in Yiddish as people around the world look to reconnect to their history and explore different facets of Jewish identity in the 21st century,” said Eddy Portnoy, YIVO’s Academic Advisor and Exhibitions Curator. “There’s interest in the Yiddish of the Hasidic and the Litvish ultra-Orthodox worlds, engagement with the Yiddish pasts of left-wing political movements, curiosity about Ashkenazi food culture, in recent Yiddish theater productions like God of Vengeance, Indecent, and Fiddler on the Roof and more. The pandemic has provided a unique opportunity for us to connect with this global community.”

While YIVO’s Spring classes offer an a-la-carte assortment of Yiddish instruction, YIVO’s Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture offers a robust line-up of courses including grammar and literature classes, history and culture seminars, a theater workshop and more. The program usually consists of five different levels from beginner to advanced. This summer for the first time in its history YIVO will include a sixth level to cater to the most advanced Yiddish learners.

Complementing these more academic offerings, YIVO’s new online Yiddish Club offers the global Yiddish-enthusiast an informal monthly gathering to celebrate mame-loshn through open discussions which feature special guests from the world of Yiddish-language Jewish culture. The first three Yiddish club sessions will feature author Michael Wex discussing Yiddish humor (February 28), playwright and Tablet Magazine columnist Rokhl Kafrissen on contemporary Yiddish culture (March 14), and singer and composer Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell discussing the Yiddish song repertoire of Sidor Belarsky (April 11).

“As a center for the study of Jewish life and the celebration of Jewish culture, YIVO has a vital responsibility to help our global community connect to the treasures of Jewish heritage,” said Jonathan Brent, YIVO’s Executive Director. “Yiddish is vital to accessing these treasures, and YIVO is a one stop shop for Yiddish language education catering to all levels of students and anyone looking for both a more scholarly or more casual approach. At a time when so many of us are struggling with isolation, YIVO’s responsibility to its global community has exceptional importance. I’m proud that YIVO can offer this kind of spiritual and intellectual nourishment through our online courses.”

To learn more about YIVO’s online Yiddish programming, visit yivo.org/classes for spring and fall Yiddish courses, summerprogram.yivo.org for the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program, and yivo.org/YiddishClub for YIVO’s Yiddish Club. The financial aid deadline for the Summer Program is February 26, 2021 and the general deadline is March 26, 2021.

For more information contact:
Shelly Freeman
Chief of Staff

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story