News & Features

Each year, YIVO awards a series of Max Weinreich Center Research Fellowships for scholarly research in YIVO’s library and archival collections. These fellowships are intended primarily, but not exclusively, for graduate students and emerging scholars. Each fellowship requires a public lecture by the holder, to be held during or immediately ...

From 1963-1976, YIVO had its own program on WEVD, the radio station established by the Socialist Party of America in 1927 (its call letters stand for the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs), which was purchased by the Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and became a major venue ...

by SARAH PONICHTERA

Welcome to Di Nyu-yorkerin!*

This monthly blog will announce Yiddish happenings taking place in and around New York City, and sometimes beyond.

In the cultural sphere, the New Yiddish Rep and Castillo Theater’s production of “Waiting for Godot” has been getting rave reviews both from people well-versed in Yiddish culture (such as Leyzer Burko’s review) and mainstream news outlets (such as Anita Gates’ review in the New York Times). The Folksbiene is holding a concert series featuring previously unheard songs gathered from Jewish families who lived in Soviet Russia, titled “Notes from the Underground.” The songs will be performed by members of the klezmer band Golem, and the performance is directed by the eminent Zalman Mlotek. Details can be found here.

http://michaelwex.com/ Witty and erudite observations on Yiddish and yidishkeyt by Michael Wex, author of Born to Kvetch, the bestselling book about Yiddish. http://rokhl.blogspot.com/ “Dynamic Yiddishkayt for the New Millennium.” Rokhl Kafrissen’s sharp and thoughtful reflections on Yiddish, Jewish identity, and more. http://inmolaraan.blogspot.com/ Eve Jochnowitz’s blog about food and Yiddish. http://yiddishsong.wordpress.com/ “The Yiddish Song of the Week,” edited by ...

On Sunday, October 6, 2013, YIVO and the Center for Jewish History will host a one-day conference, Hidden from History: The Pinkas of the Metz Rabbinic Court, 1771-1789, in conjunction with an exhibition and two other public programs celebrating the pinkas (register) of the bet din (rabbinic court) of the Jewish community of Metz, France, two leather-bound volumes preserved in the YIVO Archives. Brimming with details of commercial transactions involving Jews and non-Jews, family law, inheritance, modes of jurisprudence, and recourse to civil courts, the Pinkas is a monument to an extraordinary community and its remarkable rabbinical court.

• Visit the exhibition and symposium web site and buy tickets to the events.
• Attend the conference on October 6.
• Attend the lecture by Rabbi Moshe Arye Bamberger (Head of the Bet Din of the Metz Jewish Community, France) on October 7.

Professor Jay Berkovitz of the University of Massachusetts is the author of the upcoming book, Protocols of Justice: The Pinkas of the Metz Rabbinic Court 1771-1789 (Brill), a transcription and annotated translation of the 400,000-word document.

On September 9, he sat down with Yedies Editor Roberta Newman to talk about the pinkas. This interview is the first in a three-part series.

Jay Berkovitz talks about the significance of the Pinkas of Metz.

Steven Zipperstein YIVO is pleased to announce the appointment of the first Jacob Kronhill Visiting Scholar, Dr. Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University. The Jacob Kronhill Visiting Scholar will conduct a graduate-level seminar in East European Jewish history, lead a professional development workshop for ...

YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent and Max Weinreich Center Academic Advisor Eddy Portnoy were featured on the September 13 "Please Explain" segment of The Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC/NPR), discussing the history, roots and culture of Yiddish. Berlin's Svetlana Kundish Wows at Yiddish Songfest The Forward’s Shmooze reviewed the September 9th program, “Festival ...

Sixty-three years ago, YIVO honored historian Simon Dubnowwith this special postal mark. The caption explains that a year earlier, YIVO had created a mark to commemorate classic Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem.

(NEW YORK, September 17, 2013) – The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is pleased to announce the appointment of the first Jacob Kronhill Visiting Scholar, Dr. Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University. The Jacob Kronhill Visiting Scholar will conduct a graduate-level seminar in ...