Students must sign up for this course by the deadline. Please review the YIVO Institute website for details on upcoming deadlines.
About This Course
This course is .5 credits towards smicha
Students can take any of the following Yiddish courses from the YIVO Institute for one-half credit:
Explore the Yiddish language in your choice of three experience levels: beginner, advanced and intermediate.
Yiddish courses are offered by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, whose mission is to preserve, study, share, and perpetuate knowledge of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide.
Students will only receive credit for the Yiddish Intensives, not for other courses. Please make sure to sign up for the right course for credit from PRS.
Students will show comprehension of the course by submitting a two-page paper highlighting what they learned from the course, as well as submitting samples of work they did during the course.
Unless you have taken a YIVO class before, please take the Beginner course. Here are descriptions of the courses currently available:
Beginner
This course is for students who are new to the Yiddish language or would like a review. You will learn the alphabet, acquire basic reading and writing skills, and learn to talk about yourself and your interests, surroundings, friends, and family. You will also learn about the history, sociology and culture of Yiddish and how Jewish life is reflected in the language. We will read and discuss simple Yiddish texts from various times, places, and genres – proverbs, folk songs and folktales, songs of the Yiddish theater and labor movement, poetry, and texts from secular and Hasidic Yiddish school books.
Advanced
Advanced Beginner Yiddish Class is for students who have taken one semester of Beginner Yiddish and know the Yiddish alef-beys. The class will integrate listening, reading, writing and speaking using Sheva Zucker’s textbook, Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture Volume 1, and other materials.
Intermediate
This course is for students who are comfortable reading and conversing in Yiddish. Students in this class should have taken at least three semesters of Yiddish previously. The class will enhance skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
Course Objectives
By the end of the Yiddish intensive, students should have a taste of what Yiddish language and culture offered to the collective Jewish peoplehood.
This course is provided by a third party and is unaffiliated with Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary. There may be a cost associated with this course. Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary does not receive any kind of fees by recommending this course to students.
About Your Instructor
YIVO is all these things: a research institute, an institution of higher learning, an adult education organization, a cultural organization, and a world-renowned library and archive. Their mission is to preserve, study, share, and perpetuate knowledge of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide.
