Register for Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool

The registration deadline for Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool at the Center has passed. Join our email list to be notified about future Yiddish language offerings.

Cost: $875 for Yiddish Book Center members; $950 for nonmembers.

Each individual participant must register separately. You can register as a non-member or become a member and then register for Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool.

Not sure which unit is right for you? Our registration form asks about your language background, and we review your answers to ensure you are placed in the right level. You can also email [email protected] with questions before registering.

Cancellation Policy: Cancel by March 25 to receive a full refund, minus a $50 processing fee. If you cancel by April 1, you will receive a refund of 50 percent of your original payment. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a refund for cancellations after April 1.

Course Levels:

Beginner: Sholem-aleykhem!
Intermediate High: Sholem Aleichem’s “Khave” as Story, Play, and Film

Beginner: Sholem-aleykhem!

Begin learning Yiddish using our award-winning textbook—In eynem is the first fully illustrated, multimedia Yiddish textbook that uses the communicative approach to language learning.
Who should take this course?
This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Yiddish. Students should study the Yiddish alphabet prior to the course start date. 

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to: 

• Greet people and introduce yourself 

• Describe activities during a typical day and a typical week  

• Have polite conversation  

• Count objects and buy certain items at a store   

Culture: Folksongs, brief history of Yiddish

Materials: Students will need to purchase a copy of In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook (available here).

Instructor:
This course is taught by Sonia Bloom, the Yiddish Book Center's Yiddish Education Specialist. Learn more about Sonia here.

Intermediate High: Sholem Aleichem’s “Khave” as Story, Play, and Film

Among Sholem Aleichem’s many memorable characters, perhaps most enduring is Tevye the dairyman, the inspiration for the 1939 eponymous film by Maurice Schwartz and, of course, the musical Fiddler on the Roof. In these tales, Tevye finds himself caught between traditional Jewish values and modernity, exemplified in the dramatic story of his daughter Khave, who breaks custom when she takes an interest in a Christian man.

This course will engage with four source texts pertaining to Tevye and Khave: Sholem Aleichem’s original short story; the audio book recording of that story; the author’s own adaptation of the story into a four-act play; and Maurice Schwartz’s film adaptation.

Each class will focus on one short scene, comparing the story, play, and film versions. Students will engage in pre-viewing and pre-reading activities, guided interaction with a scene, and post-viewing or post-reading creative tasks. After actively reading or listening to and working with the dialogue in the scene itself, we will process what we have learned by sharing our opinions on the characters’ actions, speculating about alternative storylines, and comparing the cultural practices in the movie with our own cultural practices and perspectives.

Who should take this course?
This course is perfect for students at an intermediate high level of Yiddish who are interested in further strengthening their reading, listening, and conversational skills as well as increasing their Yiddish cultural competency. Students who have previously taken an intermediate level of YiddishSchool are eligible.  The significance of the Tevye stories and “Khave” in particular cannot be overstated—this deep dive into the story, play, and film will offer plenty of engaging topics of conversation resulting in a more nuanced understanding of Yiddish culture and increased confidence in conversing in Yiddish.

Prerequisites:
Conversational vocabulary; ability to narrate and describe events in the present, past, and future; ability to understand language about familiar or everyday topics; ability to understand short, non-complex texts that convey basic information and deal with personal and social topics.

Materials: Materials for this level are provided by the instructor.

Instructor:
This course is taught by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Director of the Yiddish Book Center's Yiddish Language Institute and lead author of In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook. Learn more about Asya here.