News & Features

Assemble the letterheads of Jewish organizations, institutions, and individuals in Europe, North and South America, and Palestine from the 1890s to the eve of World War II in 1939 and you have a portrait of the Jewish world: transnational; diverse in language, political, and religious orientation; and flourishing. Di gantse velt ...

In this episode, originally broadcast on March 28, 1965, host Sheftl Zak sits down for a conversation with Dr. Mikhl Herzog, a student of Dr. Uriel Weinreich, about the Yiddish Culture Atlas project. They discuss the ways that the Atlas does more than document different Yiddishdialects. The project also maps ...

Newly discovered documents in the Lithuanian Central State Archive from YIVO’s prewar collection, now in the process of being sorted andconserved. Their damaged appearance is testament to the circumstances in which they were rescued and hidden. Photo by Roberta Newman. The press conference held by YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent and Director of Development Suzanne Leon in ...

The performer, puppeteer, and former sound archivist turns YIVO upside-down. By LEAH FALK Jenny Romaine has been spending a lot of time at YIVO lately. This summer, she co-led, with Shane Baker, the theater workshop for the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture, introducing students to troll costumes, ...

In this episode, originally broadcast on March 21, 1965, Dr. Shlomo Noble visits the WEVD studio for a program entitled “Mentshn fregn dem YIVO” (People Ask YIVO). Dr. Noble reports on the types of questions that YIVO gets and how YIVO receives the inquiries and answers them, as well as ...

Coverage of the Vilna Project

YIVO’s press conference in Vilnius about the launch of its fundraising campaign for the YIVO Vilna Project was covered by numerous Lithuanian news outlets and other worldwide media, including:

Der Standard
Delfi (English-language)
LRT Fonoteka Radio
Lrytas
ELTA
Kauno diena
Alfa
Vilniaus Diena

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania featured a report on the press conference on their English-language website.

The project was written up in the New York Times, The Jewish Week, and the Forward. The New York Times article was picked up by numerous websites, including Haaretz.

YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent and Director of Development Suzanne Leon held a press conference to announce YIVO’s new international project to preserve and digitize all of the YIVO prewar collections that survived looting by the Nazis and which are now located in both YIVO in New York and in Lithuanian repositories.

An exhibition honoring doctor and Jewish communal leader Tsemakh Shabad (Szabad; 1864-1935) opened at the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) on September 21, 2014. Based on photographs and artifacts from YIVO’s Archives and Library and curated by Edward Portnoy, it explores the life and legacy of a man celebrated not only for ...

On Sunday, October 12, at 6:30pm YIVO presents “Making/History: Reconstructing the Gwoździec Synagogue,” about a ten-year project to rebuild the roof and ceiling of a 17th-century wooden synagogue for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. “Making/History” features the project’s creators, Rick and Laura Brown of Handshouse Studio; Trillium Studios filmmakers with excerpts from their documentary, Raise the Roof; and project funder Irene Pletka.

Helena Gindi, Public Program Director at YIVO, and Rick Brown of Handshouse Studio sat down and spoke about the project, Handshouse’s educational philosophy (“learn by doing”), and why the Browns are in still in awe of Gwoździec. Highlights from their conversation appear below.

Attend the event.
Watch the trailer for Raise the Roof.

Jennifer Young, YIVO’s Director of Education, interviewed Gennady Estraikh, YIVO’s inaugural Albert B. Ratner Visiting Scholar in East European Jewish Literature, about Prof. Estraikh’s upcoming Ruth Gay Seminar at YIVO, Farewell to Communism: Howard Fast and Soviet Yiddish Writers, on Tuesday, October 7, at 7:00pm. YIVO Members have the opportunity to get to know Prof. Estraikh, other members, and the YIVO staff at a Members-Only reception at 5:30pm - RSVP today!