YIVO Yiddish Club: Contemporary Yiddish Creativity in Israel with Mendy Cahan

Nu, vilst redn a bisele yidish? An event for Yiddish enthusiasts the world over, the YIVO Yiddish club is an informal monthly gathering to celebrate mame-loshn. Hosted by Shane Baker, sessions take place in English, and are liberally peppered with Yiddish. Each month Baker is joined by a different guest who discusses their work and a related Yiddish cultural theme. In the spirit of a club, sessions are held as interactive zoom meetings in which participants can see and hear one another. Each session includes ample time for audience questions, group discussion, and, time permitting, knock-down, drag-out arguments. Attendees need not know any Yiddish to attend, though some familiarity with the language is highly recommended.

This session features Mendy Cahan, Yiddish singer, actor, badkhn, teacher, and founder of the YUNG YiDiSH Library and Cultural center in Tel Aviv which hosts a variety of activities to strengthen Yiddish culture in Israel. Cahan performs on Yiddish stages worldwide and at the Gesher Theatre in Tel Aviv. He has appeared in award-winning films including Murer: Anatomie eines Prozesses and the Oscar-awarded Son of Saul, for which he was also the Yiddish coach. Cahan will soon be seen in the upcoming Netflix series Diamonds. He currently lectures about Yiddish Literature at Alma College and is active as a volunteer for YUNG YiDiSH.