Contact
For more information contact Jeff Tecosky-Feldman.
- jtecosky@haverford.edu
- (610) 896-1199
Organizers
- Prof. Jeff Tecosky-Feldman
- Prof. Dan Gillis
- Prof. Sid Perloe
In Memoriam Seth Brody and Mel Santer
This free, informal gathering meets periodically to enjoy film, music and speakers encompassing all things Yiddish. It is not necessary to speak or understand Yiddish to fully enjoy these events.
Meetings are held Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. (promptly!) in Chase Hall Auditorium.
NOTE: These programs will be held during inclement weather UNLESS the campus is closed, which happens only rarely. Please call Campus Security (610-896-1111) to check.
Fall 2019 Schedule
Wednesday, September 11
Chase Hall Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
Black Honey: The Life and Poetry of Avraham Sutzkever (2018)
Directed by Uri Barbash, Black Honey tells the incredible story of the one of the greatest Yiddish poets of modern times. The man who led the Paper Brigade underground movement that saved Jewish manuscripts from the Nazis, survived WWII due to Stalin sending him a private rescue plane, testified in the Nuremberg Trials, and immigrated to Israel in 1947 where he led Yiddish culture, all the while writing with astonishing vitality. Distributed by Go2Films; in Hebrew, English and Yiddish with English Subtitles (76 minutes).
Wednesday, October 30
Chase Hall Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
Alive! Where Has All The Yiddish Gone? Approaching the Worlds We Have Lost
Rakhmiel Peltz will take us on a tour of a new educational website he has authored based on many years of research and teaching, alivetobyssunshine.com. Constructing a model of restorative justice after comparing the difficulties experienced by survivors of groups victimized by genocide in studying their decimated cultural world, the educational project presents various resources it developed. Learn about these theoretical perspectives and new teaching tools created together with students and colleagues here and in Lublin, Poland, to understand that both the contemporary Jewish communities and the world at large cannot afford to lose Yiddish. Rakhmiel Peltz is Professor of Sociolinguistics at Drexel University.
Wednesday, November 13
Chase Hall Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
Beyle: The Artist and Her Legacy (2019)
A new documentary short produced by the Wexler Oral History Project at the National Yiddish Book Center. It explores the life and legacy of the Yiddish poet, artist and activist Beyle Shaechter-Gottesman (1920-2013). Born in Vienna and raised in Czernowitz, Beyle survived the Holocaust after which she raised her children speaking Yiddish in a small community in New York City known as Bainbridgivke. She began writing to provide material in Yiddish for her children’s study and play. Beyle’s poems and songs are part of the fabric of postwar Yiddish culture worldwide. Supplemented by excerpts from the film Songs of Autumn from the League of Yiddish's “Yiddish Writers' Film Project”, directed by Josh Waletsky. In Yiddish (with English subtitles) and English.
Wednesday, December 4
Chase Hall Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
His Wife’s Lover (1931)
Billed as the “first Jewish musical comedy talking picture” this farce combines ribald romantic comedy, music and the gifted tummler Ludwig Satz (who prefigures Sid Caesar and Jerry Lewis). Directed by Sidney M.Goldin. Film restoration & new English subtitles by The National Center for Jewish Film, www.jewishfilm.org. In Yiddish with English subtitles (80 minutes – we last showed this in 2005).
Directions
Enter the campus by the College Ave (back) entrance which is near Haverford Rd (NOT the Lancaster Ave/Rt 30 main entrance), and make an immediate left; park in any spot marked FACULTY/STAFF. Follow the path between Stokes Hall and the Dining Center which leads to Chase Hall on your right. The entrance is accessible with no steps.
Chase Hall
Support the Festival
We need your contribution to support this ongoing celebration of Yiddish culture, so please either make a gift online or send a check made out to Haverford College, with Yiddish Culture Festival written on the check or on an accompanying note to: Haverford College, Advancement Services, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041.