A few years ago, I read the lively and unlikely story of Aaron Lansky's quest to rescue Yiddish books from obscurity and oblivion. One of these days, I hope to get to the National Yiddish Book Center that he established in Amherst.
But in the meantime, there's plenty of Yiddishkeit alive and well in our own backyard. For example...
Every Wednesday night, the Yiddish Voice airs on WUNR 1600 AM radio at 7:30 to 8:30 pm.
Workman's Circle offers Yiddish classes; in fact, new classes are begining on Tuesday, February 9. Don't you love the title of the classes... Beyond "Oy Vey"!
And their Yiddish choir A Besere Velt (a better world) is the best. Last year, I had the great pleasure of attending their concert with the Klezmatics at the Somerville Theatre where they sang "I ain't afraid" among other fabulous Yiddish songs. They do an open Yiddish sing once a month; January 28th is the next one.
You can also find Yiddish lessons at The Boston Language Institute. Or a Yiddish club at Brandeis.
Finally, if you're a fan of Klezmer music, check out Ari Davidow's labor of love, the Klezmer Shack. It's full of fabulous resources, from radio shows to blog postings to music calendars.
Please let me know what I left out - we want to make sure all of these resources get listed on JewishBoston.com. It's fascinating just how many nooks and crannies of Jewish culture exist all around us.
This just appeared yesterday: "Yiddish Center gets $3 million" http://ow.ly/TQoM
Posted by: Joel Katz | Jan 07, 2010 at 06:12 PM