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Through our programs, YIVO makes discoveries and treasures from our collections accessible and fosters the creation of contemporary Jewish culture. Explore our upcoming events and join us at YIVO soon.

To do our part to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus, YIVO is temporarily closed until further notice. In place of our regularly scheduled in-person programs during this time we are offering live and pre-recorded programs online. Find out about our upcoming online programs below and be sure to follow us on Facebook, where we are hosting Live check-ins and mini-lectures throughout each week.

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Sunday
Dec 29
3:00pm

Hanukkah Concert 2024 - The Andy Statman Trio

This annual Hanukkah concert showcases songs and stories that charm and delight audiences in celebration of this joyous holiday. This year's concert will feature a performance by The Andy Statman Trio.

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Class starts Jan 5 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2025] The Lullaby of Second Avenue: Yiddish Urban Theater (Sunday)

Mikhl Yashinsky examines a series of powerful theatrical scenes to explore the motivating forces and inspiration behind their creation.

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Class starts Jan 6 1:00pm-2:30pm

[WY2025] Alefbeys Workshop

Josh Price prepares students to start learning Yiddish with an introduction to the Yiddish alphabet, basic reading, writing, and pronunciation.

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Class starts Jan 6 4:00pm-5:30pm

[WY2025] Introduction to Ashkenazi Jewish Foodways

Eve Jochnowitz examines how Ashkenazic foodways, along with the Yiddish language and the rhythms of Jewish practice, formed the medium in which Jewish life was and is lived in the Yiddish world.

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Class starts Jan 7 9:00am-10:15am

[WP2025] Outside the Synagogue: Traditional Songs and Nigunim of Eastern Yiddish Speakers

Michael Lukin explores the various genres of Yiddish folk songs and old Hasidic wordless nigunim, including ballads, folk paraphrases, cumulative songs, lullabies, lyric songs, and “cleaving nigunim,” as well as dance, march, and joy-nigunim.

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Class starts Jan 7 10:45am-12:00pm

[WP2025] In the Aftermath of the National Origins Act, 1924-1928

Hasia Diner examines landmark moments in the half decade between the passage of the National Origins Act and the 1929 onset of the Great Depression that shaped Jewish life in America.

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Class starts Jan 7 12:00pm-1:15pm

[WP2025] Desire in Yiddish Literature

Anita Norich explores a range of familiar and unfamiliar Yiddish stories and poems to consider how Yiddish writers responded to the social and political issues of their day: emigration/immigration, various forms of nationalism, socialism, religious belief, and rejection of religious observance.

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Class starts Jan 7 1:00pm-2:15pm

[WP2025] Whitewash: Holocaust Distortion in Poland and Beyond

Jan Grabowski sheds light on the origins of Holocaust distortion as well as its impact on Holocaust memory and Holocaust education in Poland, in Europe, and beyond.

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Class starts Jan 7 2:30pm-3:45pm

[WP2025] Making and Unmaking Jews in our Post-Pandemic Age of Antisemitism

Sander Gilman discusses the ever-shifting meaning of being a Jew in our contemporary debates about antisemitism, looking at the continuities and discontinuities both among those who define themselves as Jewish and those who seek to define Jews, both from within and without.

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Class starts Jan 7 4:00pm-5:15pm

[WP2025] Jewish Languages

Ilan Stavans tackles questions such as what constitutes a Jewish language, why have some developed more than others, when and where Jewish languages emerge from, and how Jewish languages die, if and when they do.

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Class starts Jan 7 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2025] The Lullaby of Second Avenue: Yiddish Urban Theater (Tuesday)

Mikhl Yashinsky examines a series of powerful theatrical scenes to explore the motivating forces and inspiration behind their creation.

read more
Class starts Jan 7 6:30pm-7:45pm

[WP2025] Jewish Intellectuals and the Birth of the Nuclear Era

Alex Wellerstein tracks the key figures, ethical debates, and geopolitical influences of Jewish scientists on the creation, proliferation, and plans for the use of nuclear weapons, beginning with the rise of Jewish prominence in theoretical physics in the early 1900s.

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Class starts Jan 8 10:00am-11:30am

[WY2025] Yiddish Folktales

Vera Szabó studies Yiddish folktales for a glimpse into the spoken language, as well as thoughts, desires, fears, and fantasies of those who told and listened to them.

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Class starts Jan 8 10:45am-12:00pm

[WP2025] Encounters with Mephistopheles

Jonathan Brent explores the ultimate source of evil as it has been visualized and understood in the twentieth century by Thomas Mann and Arnošt Lustig whose works evolved out of their immediate experiences with Nazi totalitarianism.

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Class starts Jan 8 12:00pm-1:30pm

[WP2025] Entertaining America: Jews and Hollywood

J. Hoberman examines the relationship between Jews and Hollywood, as producers, artists, and symbolic figures.

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Class starts Jan 8 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2025] Yiddish Argentina: Countryside, City, Stage, and Tango – A YIVO Centennial Retrospective

Abraham Lichtenbaum delves into the history of the Jewish population, Yiddish language and culture, and YIVO in Argentina.

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Class starts Jan 14 11:00am-12:30pm

[WY2025] Contrasting Styles, Common Themes: A Taste of Modern Yiddish Prose

Eugene Orenstein explores the development of a modern Yiddish prose style as seen in stories by Sholem Asch, Dovid Bergelson, Yosef Opatoshu, and Moyshe Nadir.

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Wednesday
Jan 15
1:00pm

On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice

Adam Kirsch shows how the concept of settler colonialism emerged in the context of North American and Australian history and how it is being applied to Israel today.

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Tuesday
Jan 21
6:00pm

2025 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at the YIVO-Bard Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of the Summer Program for a brief information session.

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Class starts Jan 21 6:00pm-7:30pm

[WY2025] Seasons in Yiddish Song

Perl Teitelbaum explores folksongs passed down from generation to generation and songs by beloved poets and composers.

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Wednesday
Jan 22
1:00pm

Autocracies in the 21st Century

For the 2025 Winter Program Keynote, Anne Applebaum and Jonathan Brent discuss how autocracies have evolved in the 21st century.

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Thursday
Jan 23
2:00pm

Person Place Thing with Zalmen Mlotek and Steven Skybell

Join YIVO and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene for a recording of the public radio show, Person Place Thing, with actor Steven Skybell and Artistic Director of the NYTF Zalmen Mlotek, hosted by humorist Randy Cohen

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Tuesday
Jan 28
1:00pm

“America – A New World for Jewish Children”: An Unknown Letter by Sholem Aleichem in the YIVO Archives

Yael Levi examines an unpublished letter by Sholem Aleichem, situating it within the historical and cultural context of his biography and epistolary legacy, with a particular focus on the pivotal period of Jewish migration and the experience of East European Jewish children in America.

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Wednesday
Jan 29
1:00pm

2025 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at the YIVO-Bard Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of the Summer Program for a brief information session.

read more
Friday
Feb 7
10:00am

2025 Summer Program Information Session

Have you always wanted to study Yiddish at the YIVO-Bard Summer Program? Are you wondering what it would be like to take the program online or in person? Join faculty and staff of the Summer Program for a brief information session.

read more
Class starts Feb 16 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

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Class starts Feb 17 4:00pm-5:30pm

[SPR2025] Intermediate III Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 18 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Intermediate I Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 18 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2025] Intermediate III Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 18 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner IV Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Wednesday
Feb 19
1:00pm

The YIVO Library in New York: Personal Reflections on Its History and Collections

Zachary M. Baker offers personal reflections on the legacy of the YIVO Library, focusing on its collections and leading personalities after its move to New York City in 1940.

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Class starts Feb 19 7:00pm-8:30pm

[SPR2025] The Poetry of Dovid Hofshteyn

Eugene Orenstein analyzes selected texts by Dovid Hofshteyn in order to appreciate the genius of his poetics and the synthesis of his Jewishness and universalism.

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Class starts Feb 20 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2025] Advanced Topics in Yiddish Literature & Grammar: Autobiographical Writing in Yiddish

This twice-weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intensive Advanced II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 23 8:30am-10:00am

[SPR2025] Intermediate I Yiddish (Sunday)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 23 10:00am-11:30am

[SPR2025] Intermediate II Yiddish

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 23 10:30am-12:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday Morning)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 23 10:30am-12:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner III Yiddish

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner II Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Sunday
Feb 23
11:00am

2025 Summer Program Information Session - Advanced Levels

Are you thinking of returning to the Summer Program to continue your advanced studies? Join Summer Program faculty and staff for a brief information session about YIVO’s advanced levels.

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Class starts Feb 23 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Jewish Warsaw

Samuel Glauber uses Jewish Warsaw as a lens by which to study the larger movements that characterized Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Class starts Feb 23 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner II Yiddish (Sunday Afternoon)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 23 12:00pm-1:30pm

[SPR2025] Advanced Topics in Yiddish Literature & Grammar: The Generation Gap

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is is appropriate for Yiddish students at the advanced level.

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Class starts Feb 23 2:00pm-3:30pm

[SPR2025] Advanced II Yiddish (Sunday Afternoon)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Advanced I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 23 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2025] Advanced II Yiddish (Sunday Evening)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Advanced I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

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Class starts Feb 24 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner II Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Intermediate IV Yiddish (Monday Morning)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Advanced I Yiddish

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate IV Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 3:00pm-4:30pm

[SPR2025] Intermediate IV Yiddish (Monday Afternoon)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Intermediate III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Monday In-person)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Monday)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

read more
Class starts Feb 24 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner IV Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly class enhances listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner III Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 25 11:00am-12:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Tuesday)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

read more
Class starts Feb 25 6:00pm-7:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner II Yiddish (In-person)

This weekly class develops listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills. It is primarily for students who have completed Beginner I Yiddish or equivalent coursework.

read more
Class starts Feb 25 6:30pm-8:00pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Tuesday In-person)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

read more
Class starts Feb 26 9:30am-11:00am

[SPR2025] Readings in Yiddish Prose

Read, listen to, and talk about short stories, essays, journalistic writing, folklore, and more from a literary and linguistic point of view with Vera Szabó.

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Class starts Feb 27 5:00pm-6:30pm

[SPR2025] Beginner I Yiddish (Thursday)

This weekly class covers the alef-beys and grammar, vocabulary, and conversational basics. It is for those who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review.

read more
Class starts Mar 2 12:30pm-2:00pm

[SPR2025] Victims, Refugees, Soldiers: East European Jews at War

Aleksandra Jakubczak explores the complex and often precarious experiences of Jews in Eastern Europe, a region marked by centuries of military conflict and shifting political power.

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Monday
Mar 10
1:00pm

Yiddish Tangos and Klezmer Mambos

Join YIVO for a panel discussion with Ronald Robboy, Sonia Gollance, and Josh Kun, as they explore the remarkable influence of Latin American music and dance on the culture of Yiddish speaking communities in the United States.

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Thursday
Apr 24
1:00pm

The YIVO Sound Archive and the Klezmer Revival

YIVO sound archivist Eléonore Biezunski tells the story of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archive of YIVO Sound Recordings in relation to the revitalization of klezmer music since the mid-1970s.

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Thursday
May 1
7:00pm

Falafel, Freilach and Frijoles: From Mambo to Borscht

Enjoy a concert performed by Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra featuring Jewish and Yiddish classics in Afro Latin big band versions and Latin classics in Klezmer arrangements.

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Monday
May 19
1:00pm

The Making of a Historian of East European Jewry and the Holocaust: Lucy S. Dawidowicz and the YIVO in Vilna, New York, and Offenbach

This talk by Nancy Sinkoff will explore the influence of the YIVO on Lucy S. Dawidowicz (1915-1990), a postwar American Jewish public intellectual and historian, who was central to the field that is now called “Holocaust Studies.” 

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Wednesday
Jun 11
1:00pm

New Trends in YIVO Scholarship

Join YIVO for a panel discussion sharing new research on various historic YIVO initiatives featuring presentations by William Pimlott, Kamil Kijek, and Nicolas Vallois, followed by a conversation led by Jessica Kirzane.

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Trip starts June 16

2025 Study Tour of Lithuania & Poland

Join YIVO for an enlightening journey to Lithuania and Poland. Reclaim your heritage as you examine the life that was lived in these lands. View the remarkable history of old Warsaw, Kraków, Vilnius, and Białowieża.

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Jun 22 7:00pm-9:30pm and Jun 23 10:00am-9:30pm

YIVO in America

Join us for a celebration of YIVO’s 100th anniversary with a conference focusing on how YIVO’s founding vision for Jewish social sciences has been realized in America since its headquarters shifted to New York City in 1940.

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Trip starts July 7

2025 Study Tour of Imperial Cities in Central Europe

Come and explore the rich history of Hungary, Austria, and Germany through a uniquely Jewish lens. This tour will visit beautiful synagogues, unrivaled museums, and landmarks of Jewish religious life and secular genius.

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Trip starts Sep 1

2025 Study Tour of Northern Italy

Join YIVO on a journey of discovery across northern Italy, exploring the fascinating, troubled, and glorious history of Italian Jews in the northern tier, unfamiliar to most of us.

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