Upcoming Events
Itzik and the Golden Peacock: Itzik 120 Years of Itzik Manger
Itzik Manger portrait by Arthur Kolnik A celebration of the famous Yiddish Bard on his 120th Birthday. An international ensemble of Yiddish performers and experts delightfully reveal why Itzik Manger (1901 - 1969) is such an enduring inspiration. Join Mike Burstyn, Shura Lipovsky, Dr. Helen Beer, Ruth Levin, Mendy Cahan, Binyumen Schaechter, Gitl Schaechter Viswanath, Shane Baker, Miri Koral, among others, for […]
From Hassid to Hollywood
Get the inside scoop on the upcoming Yiddish horror film The Chosen One It's much easier to shave your beard than to shed who you are. LOok out! Award-winning screenwriter and now filmmaker Elazar Fine and his lead actors Luzer Twersky (Felix & Meira) and Malky Goldman (Unorthodox) are on the hotseat about making their […]
“Today My Best Poem’s A Child” with Prof. Goldie Morgentaler
Goldie Morgentaler and Chava Rosenfarb - A Daughter Tackles Her Mother's Giant Legacy How does a young girl respond when she's recruited to help translate her mother's landmark work from Yiddish? What is it like to delve into the intimacies of your mother's words and life, some of which are harrowing? When does an obligation […]
Winter Talk Series with Prof. Kalman Weiser (York University)
January - March 2022 Join the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language In association with the Toronto Committee for Yiddish and Der Nister L.A. for these delightful (virtual) talks (in English) about subjects dear to our hearts: Sunday, January 9, 2022, 11am PST/ 2pm EST Di Tsores mit fardreyte yidishe nemen How Ashkenazic Jews […]
The Astonishing History (and Future) of Yiddish In Universities
Last of the Winter Talk Series with Dr. Kalman Weiser (Don't forget Daylight Savings begins in Canada & the US!) The third of three of the Winter Talk Series Prof. Kalman Weiser, York University 11 AM PACIFIC, 2 PM EASTERN, SUNDAY 3/13/22 CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR YIDDISH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE (CIYCL), DER NISTER LOS ANGELES and […]
To Light Our Way: Yiddish song and poetry of resistance and resilience
THURS | APRIL 28 | 7:30 PM | VIRTUAL | FREE Celebrate the most heroic forms of resistance against destruction: mentshlekhkayt, maintaining one’s humanity; and sheferishkayt, creativity A selection of miraculously preserved words and music written in Yiddish during the Holocaust brought to life by Cantor Sharon Bernstein and Miri Koral, with special guest appearances by Mike Burstyn […]
HINDCAST/FORECAST: How the YIVO Vilna Digitization Project Helps Us Grasp Our Present and Future
No less than miracles, fierce dedication, and surprising ingenuity led to the gathering, safeguarding, and ultimately making widely accessible a most precious collection of Jewish manuscripts and books. In January 2022, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research completed the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project, a 7-year initiative to digitize the materials YIVO had […]
A Gallery of Missing Husbands: Tracing Runaway Husbands and Lost Relatives
The great sweeps of Jewish immigration to the Americas in the early 1900s brought with them an epidemic of abandoned wives and children. So much so that the most popular Yiddish paper teamed up with a newly-created Jewish agency to help reunite families. A Galeria fun Farshvundene Mener/ A Gallery of Missing Husbands, which spanned […]
Animation Sings New Life into Once Popular Yiddish Songs
Presented by Jane Peppler Musician, composer, singer, translator Jane Peppler has been researching brilliant but forgotten Yiddish theater songs for more than a decade. How, then, to get people to listen to these obscure but marvellous songs, when most people have heard - and loved - only the same 20 Yiddish songs over and over again? Animation was […]