From L to R: Alicia Brudney, Joshua Price, Sara Israel, Jordan Kutzik and Emma Morgenstern

We are delighted to introduce the Yiddish Book Center's 2011-2012 fellows:

Alicia (Allie) Brudney (Middlebury College, 2011) speaks German fluently and has taught the language to children at the Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota. Having studied Yiddish independently and at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute this summer, Allie is already deepening her knowledge of the language and its historical context as a Fellow. She is working on Oral History and helping us plan on-site education programs. 

Former Steiner Summer student Sara Israel (McGill University, 2011) returned as a Fellow in September. Sara worked as a research assistant for McGill Professor Esther Frank, and received numerous prizes for her work in Jewish studies and Yiddish language. Sara is working on the upcoming conference Translating Yiddish Literature: Mobilizing a New Generation, the Book Center’s translation grant program, and alumni programming.

While an undergraduate student at Rutgers University, Jordan Kutzik (2011) founded the Rutgers Yiddish Language and Culture Club and studied the language. Also a graduate of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, Jordan reads, writes, and speaks Yiddish fluently. He has also been on the board of Yugntruf (Youth for Yiddish) and has worked as a freelance Yiddish translator.  Jordan currently researching and organizing the audio books project, a collaborative venture with the Montreal Jewish Public Library, to digitize their collection of texts read by native Yiddish speakers as well as lectures and interviews with leading literary figures from the mid-twentieth century.

Emma Morgenstern (University of Pennsylvania, 2010) couldn’t get enough: she is staying for a second year of the Fellowship. She is the managing editor of Pakn Treger and contributes to educational programming and alumni activities at the Center. Emma was a student in the 2010 Steiner Summer Program. In her second year, she is continuing as Managing Editor of Pakn Treger and taking the lead role on our online culture courses.

Joshua Price (Yale University, 2011) studied Yiddish at the YIVO Summer Institute, the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, and at Yale with Benjamin Harshav. He also taught Yiddish at the Yale Center for Jewish Life, in addition to working as a web developer for the ubiquitous Mendele listserv and contributing to an undergraduate publication on Jewish thought. Josh is is coordinating the on-site scanning of Yiddish books to complete the online Yiddish library.

Thanks to our members, the Yiddish Book Center is saving books, sharing stories and engaging a new generation.