2024 Yiddish Reading Classes in St. Petersburg
A new series of Yiddish reading classes for advanced students was launched on early November at the Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg. The studies are led by the Yiddish writer Yoel Matveyev.
For the current academic year, the classes’ organizers have chosen Yitzkhok Yoel Linetzky’s semi-autobiographical novel “Dos Poylishe Yingl” (The Polish Lad), considered a masterpiece of Yiddish picturesque satire. While its vitriolic humor is aimed againt Hasidim, this book may help secular readers to understand better Hasidic Hebrew and Aramaic expressions used in Yiddish. Many of these expressions are still in common use. Linetzky (1839–1915) first published his novel in 1867.