Yiddish
Miriam Udel (Photo by Sarah Woods)
Books
Miriam Udel, prominent scholar of Yiddish literature, comes to Pittsburgh
By Emma Riva
Udel hopes her role as darshanit helps more audiences access Yiddish texts and be curious about the past.
Miriam Udel (Photo by Sarah Woods)
October 19, 2026, 9:30 am
Miriam Udel, prominent scholar of Yiddish literature, comes to Pittsburgh
Udel hopes her role as darshanit helps more audiences access Yiddish texts and be curious about the past.
By Emma Riva
Pinchas Cohen speaks at the USC Asian Health and Longevity Symposium on Feb. 27, 2026. (Courtesy)
April 16, 2026, 12:57 pm
Many peptides sound like Yiddish words. Here’s why.
Pinchas Cohen is the Jewish USC researcher behind discoveries like SHLP (“schlep”), SHMOOSE and MENTSH.
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
Women surrounded by posters in English and Yiddish supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert H. Lehman, and the American Labor Party teach other women how to vote, 1935. (Photo courtesy of Kheel Center, Cornell University Library via Flickr)
October 17, 2025, 6:01 pm
Pittsburgh Yiddish festival celebrates language, music and memory
Events encourage recognition of rich culture and 'treasure of our heritage'
By Adam Reinherz
Chaim lived with his mother in a room at Jatkever gas, 15 (Photo by Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe. Sygnatura: 1-U-7587-2., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
August 7, 2025, 8:21 am
‘Sons and Daughters’ takes us back to an obliterated world
“Sons and Daughters” presents the full catalogue of movements and identities that roiled the Jewish world in the 1920s and ’30s.
By Jeffrey Spitz Cohan
The Shvesters: Paulina Levi (left) and Polina Fradkin (Photo by Nira Dayanim)
March 12, 2025, 2:44 pm
How two Yiddish soul sisters became a singing sensation
The Shvesters, originally from Michigan but with Israel their new home base, are hopping on the tour circuit to major cities in the United States.
By Alan Zeitlin
Soul to Soul combines music from both Black and Jewish sources in one show. (Photo provided by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene)
February 6, 2024, 9:24 am
Beth Shalom Congregation celebrates Black History Month with ‘Soul to Soul’
“When things are sad, we sing. When things are joyous, we sing. The commonality is what we’re trying to stress here,” she said.
By David Rullo
A recent performance by Canadian rapper SoCalled had Andrew Silow-Carroll thinking of Yiddish. Photo by Mário Pires courtesy of flickr.com.
July 20, 2022, 4:35 pm
How I learned to stop kvetching and love the Yiddish revival
The pandemic was very good for Yiddish.
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
The author had a "tucky" encounter at a Cracker Barrel restaurant while traveling. (Dave Stone, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
January 26, 2022, 11:58 am
Resurrecting ‘tucky’
No one seemed to know what "tucky" meant — it was just a great word to use for emphasis.
By Josh L. Sivitz
"Jeopardy!" contestant Ed Hashima smiles as he listens to host Mayim Bialik read a question in the Yiddish Theater category in the episode that aired Dec. 9, 2021. (Screenshot from show)
December 11, 2021, 10:38 pm
Yiddish theater debuts as a category on ‘Jeopardy!’
It makes one knowledgable contestant a rich(er) man
By Philissa Cramer
Screenshot from Duolingo’s new Yiddish app
April 14, 2021, 10:31 am
A legacy language
Yiddish is one of several fading dialects Duolingo has added to its course catalog in recent years.
By Manya Brachear Pashman
Oliver Elkus
September 9, 2020, 6:36 pm
Yiddish is a connection to our past
"I believe if we understand Yiddish, we understand our past and, without exaggeration, we understand ourselves."
By Oliver Elkus
Yiddish song 'Eli Eli' first became popular in the 1920s. (Design by Arielle Kaplan/ JTA)
June 24, 2020, 2:57 pm
How this iconic Yiddish song became an anthem for Black Americans
"Eli Eli" gained popularity in 1917
By Arielle Kaplan
South Hills congregations have a history of collaboration--this photo was taken from Temple Emanuel and Beth El's Purim celebration in 2018. Photo by Rob Goodman
March 4, 2020, 12:21 pm
Pittsburgh pulses to the rhythm of Purim shpiels
The community recounts the Purim story in the city and neighboring suburbs
By David Rullo
(In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)
February 20, 2020, 10:31 am
From ‘bialy’ to ‘Jew York,’ OED adds dozens of Jewish-themed words and phrases
Some entries seen as anti-Semitic
By Gabe Friedman JTA
October 10, 2019, 5:40 pm
Yiddish: The secret handshake
Remembering a rich culture
By Stacia Friedman
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