YIVO's Top 5 of 2018
Thanks to our incredible donors, YIVO has been able to accomplish many great things this year. Here are some of our favorites:
The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections Project
In April 2018, YIVO received a $3 million gift to name the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum. Telling the story of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and Russia over more than 400 years through YIVO’s world-renowned archival and library collections, the YIVO Online Museum will provide access to a worldwide audience. This Museum will select from 1.3 million original documents and over 2.5 million pages of books being digitized as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project—YIVO’s landmark preservation and digitization initiative—to create English language galleries that reflect the entire spectrum of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and Russia from music, literature, and theater to mercantile guilds, municipal organizations, and rabbinic courts; from traditional ways of life and the education of children to Zionism and revolution. The exhibits will include manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings, posters, and other artifacts.
YIVO’s Shine Online Educational Series
Our third online course, Oh Mama, I’m in Love! The Story of the Yiddish Stage, presented by Edward Blank & Family launched to rave reviews in May 2018. The course features leading scholars of Yiddish theater as they trace the history of Jewish performance and explores Yiddish theater as a global phenomenon through images and playbills from more than 20 countries. The course includes nearly 1,000 archival objects and documents from the YIVO Archives, including never-before-seen photographs, newly digitized audio clips, original posters and advertisements, and vibrant set and costume designs that bring the Yiddish theater to life. Development for our fourth class is underway. Stay tuned for more details and how to register in the coming months.
Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture
This year at YIVO we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the summer program. The 2018 program brought together the largest cohort in over a decade—from Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and across Eastern Europe and the United States. The longest-running Yiddish intensive program in the world, this year featured courses taught by leading scholars, a 50th anniversary celebration . The program trains the next generation of Yiddish scholars, teachers, and students, inspiring communities worldwide to experience Yiddish in all its history, complexity, and beauty.
Public Programs
We hosted 49 public programs, covering a range of Jewish life, history, and culture, including: the first two events in the In Dialogue: Polish Jewish Relations Series, which continues into the Spring 2019 with the third event and a conference; performances of The Essence of the Yiddish Theater created by Allen Lewis Rickman, Yelena Shmulenson, and Steve Sterner and an English translation of the Yiddish play One of Those by Paula Prilutski; the concert Joachim Stutschewsky and the Music of his World; and the sold-out event, Adam Michnik Discusses Antisemitism in 20th Century Poland.
The Ruth Rubin Legacy: Archive of Yiddish Folksongs
We launched the online exhibition, The Ruth Rubin Legacy: Archive of Yiddish Folksongs, which highlights the renowned vocalist and scholar's collection of over 1,900 Yiddish songs performed by some of the most extraordinary traditional singers of the 20th century, including Rubin herself. Ruth Rubin's entire life's work can be found on this site: field recordings, lectures, concerts, radio interviews, videos, manuscripts and published materials. Much of this content are accessible for the very first time. On December 23, YIVO hosted Ruth Rubin’s Legacy of Yiddish Song, a sold out evening of celebration consist of a number of performances by renowned musicians including: Michael Alpert (Scotland/USA), Itzik Gottesman (NY), Daniel Kahn (Berlin/USA), Sasha Lurje (Riga/Berlin), Ethel Raim (NY), Lorin Sklamberg (NY) and many more.