Yiddish Language Program--For Release

[Rich Dikeman <rd125...>]

Press Contact:
Jeffrey Salant
(212) 246-6080
fax (212) 292-1892

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1996 COLUMBIA/YIVO YIDDISH SUMMER PROGRAM ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

NEW YORK CITY--January 9, 1996--Applications are now being accepted for the 
Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, which will 
take place on the Columbia University campus from June 24 to August 2, 1996.  
The program, jointly
 
sponsored by the Max Weinreich Center of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research 
and Columbia University, is a six-week, non-matriculating, three-credit college 
course offered on three levels:  elementary, intermediate and advanced.  The 
program proper wi
l
l be preceded by an optional two-week review session for intermediate and 
advanced students beginning on June 10.  Elementary students with no reading or 
writing knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet are required to attend a one-day 
reading and writing works
h
op on Sunday, June 23.
        

People worldwide have discovered the importance of Yiddish as a key to 
understanding a significant component of the Jewish heritage.  Every summer for 
the last twenty-eight years, several dozen people from diverse backgrounds, 
professional pursuits and p
l
aces as far-ranging as Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Argentina, China and 
Australia make their way to New York City to study Yiddish in the world's first 
and most acclaimed, college-level Yiddish-language program.
        

Many summer program students have gone on to become fellows of the Max 
Weinreich Center, an accredited institute for advanced study of East European 
and American Jewish history and culture.  Others have entered graduate programs 
in Jewish studies offered
 
by major universities throughout North America, Europe and Israel.  The program 
has thus served as an essential stepping stone in the careers of such prominent 
scholars in the field of Yiddish as Janet Hadda, Michael Stanislawski, Jack 
Kugelmass and Iren
a
 Klepfisz.
        

Participants in the program not only learn the fundamentals of Yiddish grammar 
and read Yiddish literary classics, but also explore the riches of East 
European and American Jewish culture through lectures in Yiddish and English, 
Yiddish films, Yiddish co
n
versation groups and a variety of workshops in translation, theater, folksong 
and traditional dance.
        

As a means of expanding the opportunities for verbal practice and creating a 
feeling of camaraderie, out-of-towners are given the option of staying in 
single rooms in  Yidish hoyz, a Yiddish dormitory suite on campus.  Excursions 
to Jewish points of inte
r
est in and outside of New York City add depth and immediacy to subjects covered 
in the classroom. 

 
Dr. Allan Nadler, Director of Research at YIVO, has called the program "an 
intensive, intellectually stimulating experience, whose rewards remain 
throughout one's lifetime."   For an application including information on 
housing and partial scholarships, 
c
all, fax or write to Jeffrey Salant, Director of Yiddish Language Programs, 
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 555 West 57th Street Suite 1100, New York, 
NY 10019, (212) 246-6080, fax (212) 292-1892.  The deadline for scholarship 
applications is March 2
8
..


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