Exploring Early Modern Yiddish Literature

Intermediate-to-advanced level speakers are welcome to join us in a linguistic and literary trip back in time to a world of Eastern European Jews of the  19^th century. Reb Nakhman’s Tales, works by Dr. Solomon Ettinger and Isroel Aksenfeld, and early creations by Mendele Moykher Sforim were the first modern Yiddish literature in print. We will try, via close reading of those texts, to get the feel of the everyday life of the Jews of the Pale of Settlement; of their spectrum of knowledge, beliefs, thought patterns, passions, hopes, and, of course, sense of humor. You can register by clicking the button below.

When: October 19, 11:00 a.m. PDT (2:00 p.m. EDT, 7:00 p.m. in the U.K., 8:00 p.m. in Central Europe, 9:00 p.m. in Israel)

Where: Online

Cost: First class free! (if there is demand, then we will schedule 5 more sessions)

Instructor: David Shafir

David Shafir is a life-long student of Yiddish. Having spent many years among the native speakers of Yiddish in Canada and the USA has helped him a lot in better understanding the language and its culture. He loves collaborating on new Yiddish-focused projects.