Yiddish Language and Culture Courses
FALL 2026
YIDD 101 Yiddish I
Gina Glasman | MWF 11:00am -12:00pm | WL1, O, GL, FYA |
Cross listed: YIDD 501, JUST 180A, EEES 181B, GERM 180C, RUSS 180A
This is an introductory language class. We start from scratch and no prior knowledge or familiarity of any sort is assumed. Students learn simple conversational Yiddish and how to read and write, beginning with the alphabet. This foundation course is also meant as an entry-way into aspects of Yiddish-speaking cultures, past and present, and uses language themed instruction as a means to that end. Among the wide variety of topics that we consider: the phenomenon of Yiddish calques (aka Yinglish or Yiddish inflected speech in English); folk idioms, including street-wise Yiddish with its famous cursing talent, and Yiddish song (a rich musical repertoire born in Jewish Eastern Europe, which now has a home in the contemporary klezmer scene). Through all these mechanisms, students walk away from 101 with a foundational knowledge of Yiddish as a once vital, and still enduring linguistic and cultural phenomenon.
YIDD 351 Jewish New York
Gina Glasman | TR 5:00-6:30pm | D, H, T, *USD, W |
Cross listed: JUST 351, EEES 380X, GERM 380Q, HIST 380B, RUSS 380C
A study of ethnic, urban, and material history with a focus on Yiddish speaking, Eastern European immigrant society, and the story of its arrival into America’s signature metropolis at the turn of the twentieth century. With this broad canvas in mind, we will tackle themes that have a particular as well as universal resonance, such as the collective imagining of home for those who are newly displaced, and of newer identities embraced with the abandonment of the old. To wrap our minds around this historical purpose, we will turn to an eclectic mix of sources: literature and film, urban architecture and everyday objects will become our tools to excavate an emergent “New York-ish” world in all its distinctive detail.
YIDD 380A Shtetl Photography
Gina Glasman | TR 1:30-3:00pm | C, H, *A |
Cross listed: JUST 380D, EEES 380E, GERM 380A, GMAP 381C, HIST 386W, RUSS 380D
We Were This Once: Shtetl Photography, Family Memory and Ethnic Self-Representation
The advent of accessible and affordable forms of photographic technology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has transformed the ways that people record and remember their own lives. In quick measure, vernacular forms of photography, such as the formal studio picture, or the “selfie,” graced the walls of ordinary homes or were pasted into family albums. These repositories of private memory will be the focus of our study in class, as we think through the implications of this once novel cultural artifact, and its transformative effect on individual and collective notions of visual self-representation. With this last theme in mind, we will also consider the broader cultural and social history of photography in relation to Yiddish (Jewish Eastern European) and other comparable urban minority societies, especially from an American perspective.
OTHER COURSES
YIDD 100 mini course - A Fast Track to Basic Yiddish
A mini ‐course that provides a rapid‐fire immersion in the basics of conversational
Yiddish through "shmoozing" and song.
YIDD 102 - Yiddish II - WL2, O, FYA
Follows on from Yiddish 101 as students sharpen their linguistic skills with more
complex sentence structure, a deeper knowledge of tenses and cases, and a broader
vocabulary. In addition, we explore Yiddish culture through film, stories, folk sayings
and the occasional joke! As always lyrics from Yiddish popular song provide the backbone
of the class, and individual attention is a feature of the instruction. Note: interested
students can join 102 directly without having taken 101. (Instructor permission needed.)
YIDD 203 - Yiddish III - WL3
An intermediate level language class. Students will build upon the foundation of introductory
Yiddish (101-102) to deepen their understanding of conversational and literary Yiddish.
Idiomatic speech and Yiddish syntax will provide a particular focus of class. Song,
poetry and prose will again supplement our study, as students continue to enrich their
knowledge of Yiddish language and culture. Yiddish 102 is required or with permission
from the instructor.
YIDD 280A - The Story of Yiddish Cinema - A, C, FYA
Yiddish cinema had its start in the silent movie era of the early twentieth century.
Today, a movie with any Yiddish content is a rarity. But in between then and now,
Yiddish cinema had a golden age, built upon the cultural appetites of the Jewish Eastern
European heartlands, and its Yiddish-speaking, immigrant reinventions in New York
City and beyond. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this class will examine aspects
of this ethnic film scene, and what it once meant (and even now means) to speak Yiddish
in the “language” of cinema.
YIDD 354 - Modern Yiddish Culture - H, J
In the half century before the Second World War, a Yiddish speaking "Jewish Street"
stretched from Buenos Aires to Boston, from London to Lodz, with many cities in between.
What characterized the culture of this mostly urban and modernizing society is the
subject of this class. Cinema and short stories, poetry and politics provide our vehicle
to explore the world of Eastern European Jewry in a time of radical transformation
and approaching catastrophe (all material is in English). Note: If a student has already
taken a 200-level version of Modern Yiddish Culture they will not receive credit for
this course.
YIDD 371 - The Ghetto, The Jews, & the City - A, C
European Jewry has often been a quintessentially urban society and culture, both by
way of reputation, and as a matter of fact. Our class will explore this urban personality
across time and space, beginning with the mandated pre-modern ghettos of central and
southern Europe and ending with the ethnically rooted neighbourhoods of Vienna and
Paris, Berlin and London in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Along
the way, we will consider related themes, including civic & minority identity, the
nature of toleration, and the place of the city within broader society. When possible,
we will ground our conversation in contemporary material culture, including urban
landmarks, post-cards and various kinds of visual media.
YIDD 397 & YIDD 497 - Independent Study
Individual research under the supervision of a faculty member. Prerequisites: consent
of instructor and approval by the Judaic Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies
or the Chair. Variable credits.