Professional Development Seminars for Educators

Join us for a new online series of seminars that brings together educators from across disciplines to engage with master teachers of Yiddish literature and to help further enrich their own curricula, lesson plans, and personal growth. This series is open to all, but is designed be most beneficial to high school and college teachers; lifelong learning educators at synagogues and community centers; book club facilitators, and others looking to develop their pedagogical best practices in the fields of Yiddish literature, history, and culture. Resource guides, bibliographies, and other learning materials will also be provided.

Professional development seminars are free to attend, but advance registration is required. All sessions will be held live on Zoom from 4:30–5:30 p.m. ET.  

May 9, 2024: “The Book of Ruth in Jewish Literature” with Jessica Kirzane (University of Chicago)

Teachers working in Jewish settings often find it easiest—and motivating to their students—to tie lessons on Jewish literature and culture to the Jewish holiday calendar. This seminar will examine Shvues (Shavuot) and discuss how the Sinaitic revelation and the Book of Ruth have been discussed in modern Jewish writing, including texts by Yankev Glatshteyn, Cynthia Ozick, Itsik Manger, Marge Piercy, and others. Through these texts we will ask questions about what it means to witness or to experience revelation, what it means to wander and to find a home, and the relationship modern Jewish writers have with ancient and more recent pasts. 

Recordings of past seminars:

Justin Cammy, “Sutzkever’s Poetic World"
Miriam Udel, "Teaching Antisemitism Through Yiddish Children's Literature"
Mindl Cohen, "Teaching Gender in Yiddish Women's Poetry"
Sam Spinner, "The Lessons of Yiddish Holocaust Poetry"

Coming Soon: Sasha Senderovich, "Teaching With/In Translation: The Example of Isaac Babel”

Stay in touch:

Sign up here to receive emails about upcoming seminars and other opportunities for teachers.