לייענקרײַז Yiddish Reading Group: A Bintel Briv (Monday)

Class starts Mar 14 7:00pm-8:15pm

Tuition: $400 | YIVO members: $325**
Students: $215 (Must register with valid university email address)

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This class is co-sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center.

This is a live, online seminar held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish and English.

Instructor: Anita Norich

Course Description:
A Bintel Briv was the famous advice column that appeared in the Forverts newspaper beginning in 1906. This course will read selected letters and responses published throughout the twentieth century. The course will investigate: what does A Bintel Briv reveal about immigration, assimilation, family dynamics, gender roles, economics, politics, and more? There will also be discussion on how we might have responded, or would respond today, to the questions.

Who should take this course?
This course is designed for those who can comfortably read Yiddish since we will be reading aloud in each class. Those who understand Yiddish but are not comfortable reading aloud are welcome to listen and may contribute comments in Yiddish or English. Please note that most of A Bintel Briv has not been translated into English.

Course Materials:
The instructor will provide selections from A Bintel Briv digitally throughout the class on Canvas. The column is also available online.

Questions? Read our 2022 Spring Classes FAQ.

Anita Norich is Collegiate Professor Emerita of English and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the translator of Fear and Other Stories by Chana Blankshteyn (forthcoming, 2022) and A Jewish Refugee in New York by Kadya Molodovsky (2019). She is also the author of Writing in Tongues: Yiddish Translation in the 20th Century; Discovering Exile: Yiddish and Jewish American Literature in America During the Holocaust; The Homeless Imagination in the Fiction of Israel Joshua Singer. She translates Yiddish literature and lectures and publishes on a range of topics concerning modern Jewish cultures, Yiddish language and literature, Jewish American literature, and Holocaust literature.

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