Classic Yiddish Short Stories
Hosted By: My Jewish Learning
“If stories weren’t told or books weren’t written, man would live like the beasts, only for the day.” –Isaac Bashevis Singer
There is something particularly magical about stories written in Yiddish — they capture bygone Jewish worlds and tackle some of the weightiest themes in Jewish life through the centuries.
And they are particularly potent in the short story format, the classic condensed tale that when done well bottles up all of the power of a thousand-page novel into a few pages.
Study works by some of the Yiddish greats in this new My Jewish Learning course led by Josh Lambert, a distinguished professor at Wellesley College and the former academic director of the Yiddish Book Center.
You will cover a range of writers, from titans like Bashevis Singer and I.L. Peretz to lesser-known masters like Blume Lempel and Yosef Opatoshu. Prof. Lambert will provide story texts and illuminate parts of their biographies that are refracted in their work.
No Yiddish language knowledge is required for this class, which will be taught entirely in English and English translation.
