Yiddish is a High German language that has borrowed many words from Hebrew and Slavic and is usually written in Hebrew characters. Yiddish was once widely spoken, chiefly as a vernacular, in eastern European Jewish communities and by emigrants from these communities throughout the world, including in the United States.

Currently, the Department of Germanic Studies, in conjunction with the Jewish Studies Program, offers four courses in Yiddish language skills and two courses in Yiddish literature, film, and culture in English translation. The English-language courses examine the history, literature, drama, and film of Eastern European and American Yiddish culture.

Learn more about the Yiddish Studies minor

• Dov-Ber Kerler is an active member of the international Yiddish community. Watch his interview with Forverts (The Yiddish Daily Forward).
• Explore The Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories (AHEYM), a collaborative project for which Dov-Ber Kerler is a researcher and co-director.
• Dov-Ber is a published poet, writing under the pen name Boris Karloff. Enjoy a recording of one of his poems.
• Check out Dov-Ber's Pinterest page about Yiddish ethnography, poetry, folklore and dialects.