"...For generations, Jewish women in Eastern Europe utilized threads to measure cemeteries & graves. These threads were used to create special soul candles known as neshome likht... Typically overseen by skilled women called feldmesterins, activities such as feldmestn (cemetery measuring) & kneytlekh leygn (laying wicks) were most prevalent during Elul to prepare soul candles for Yom Kippur.
...The session will include...Yiddish songs, reciting tkhines (Yiddish prayers) and reading poems, some of which are focused on this ritual. Delving into the history of this tradition will shed light on how cemeteries were perceived in shtetl society, serving as a means to communicate with the deceased & seek their assistance. At the end of this Immersion, you will be able to host a cemetery measuring event in Elul or any other time of the year..."
It’s a funny word, “schmooze.” It comes from the Yiddish, shmuesn, and before that from Hebrew, approximately shemuoth, according to my Webster’s.
Leo Rosten, in The Joys of #Yiddish, says it refers to a “friendly, gossipy, prolonged, heart-to-heart talk.” No other word, he avers, “conveys ‘heart-to-heart chit-chat’ as warmly.”
A cloud hung his tears on my window
and clothed me in his fears
If I were a small crying grey cloud
then someone would see my tears
but I’m not a cloud
no one sees my grief
and my tears have no power to reach
anyone’s windows
Join the Workers Circle for a conversation on original Yiddish art with Mikhl Yashinsky, a bold new Yiddish playwright and actor. Also a co-writer of the Yiddish textbook In eynem, Yashinsky teaches Yiddish for the Workers Circle and at Columbia, and created our video series #YiddishAlive. Yashinsky's controversial drama Di psure loyt khaim (The Gospel According to Chaim), recently put on by New Yiddish Rep, was noted as the first new full-length, entirely original Yiddish play that had been professionally produced in America for a number of decades, and was hailed by the Forward for having "jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully submissive." Yashinsky will discuss this latest piece and present excerpts from it...
In English with excerpts of work in Yiddish, given alongside translation.
Jewish Culture for a Just World
Sun Mar 31, 2024
1:00-2:00 PM
Heading down to Seattle today for a 4 day weekend to participate in Seattle Yiddish Fest which seems rather expanded in scope this year. A few highlights for me are seeing Ilya Shneyveys, accordionist and multi-instrumentalist who'll be teaching and leading events, and Michael Wex, the Canadian Yiddishist and raconteur. #klezmer#Yiddish#MusicFestival#Seattle https://www.seattleyiddishfest.com/
I knew about this newly published book of old #Klezmer because two colleagues of mine helped typeset it, but it was going to be too expensive to ship to Canada. So I was glad to be able to buy a copy from Hoffman's great granddaughter Susan Watts who is teaching at the festival this weekend.🎺🎶 Great stuff!
Festival finished last night and I'm heading back to Canada this morning😭 the final concert was livestreamed and was a lot of fun, including a Michael Wex comedy routine that had the house in tears.
Concert starts around 42 min into the livestream. #yiddish#klezmer https://www.youtube.com/live/qhA4as8zExM?feature=shared
Super special thanks this week to @peribotsarah for her help in figuring out a technical challenge we were having on the backend of the service.
While @serge does a lot, there are some absolutely incredible volunteers on the Community Team that keep the site running smoothly and well.
If you're looking to help support the site, we have our Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/BabkaNet ) but we could really use your help on the Community Team.
In addition, we have an exciting announcement from @raf and his company SunnyThinking, which provides Babka's translations. This includes Yiddish and Ladino translations, which lets our Babka Community connect more with its roots. More information at https://babka.social/@raf/112009792781159544
I've pushed support for #Yiddish and #Ladino to my translation server. That means #Babka will now have support for translating from and to those two languages
Just to temper expectations, these models have a BLEU score of 18-25 while typical models score at 40-50 BLEU
As always reach out to me if you see translations that seem off or if you'd like to see other languages supported!