2000 YIVO/Columbia Summer Yiddish Program

[Rich Dikeman <rd125...>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2000 COLUMBIA/YIVO YIDDISH SUMMER PROGRAM
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

NEW YORK CITY--January 16, 2000--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 26 to August 4,
2000.  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 four levels:
elementary, intermediate I, intermediate II and advanced.  The program
proper will be preceded by an optional two-week review session for
intermediate and advanced students beginning on June 13.  Elementary
students with no reading or writing knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet are
required to attend a one-day reading and writing workshop on Sunday, June
25.
        People worldwide have discovered the importance of Yiddish as a key to
understanding a significant component of the Jewish heritage.  Every summer
since 1968, several dozen people from diverse backgrounds, professional
pursuits and places as far-ranging as Argentina, Australia, Chile, China,
Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and
Slovakia 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, Irena Klepfisz, Jack Kugelmass and Michael
Stanislawski.
        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 conversation 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 interest in and outside of New York City
add depth and immediacy to subjects covered in the classroom.
Dr. Rheins, YIVO's Executive Director, 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, call, fax or write to Yankl Salant, Director of Yiddish
Language Programs, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street,
New York, NY 10011, (212) 294-6138, fax (212) 292-1892,
e-mail <ysalant (at) yivo(dot)cjh(dot)org>.  The deadline for receipt of 
scholarship
materials is March 22.


Press Contact:
Yankl Salant
        (212) 294-6138
fax (212) 292-1892


Rich Dikeman
Director of Communications
Columbia University Summer Session


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