Yiddish Culture Course at Bard

Prof. Cecile Kuznitz

Prof. Cecile Kuznitz, the director of Jewish studies at Bard College who teaches Yiddish from beginner to the most advanced level, discussed her activities with the managers of our project, wishing us the best, and told us about her regular university course entitled The Culture of Yiddish. Much in the spirit of our own mission, it surveys the history of Yiddish culture as well as the changing status of the language and its evolving role in Jewish life from the Middle Ages to the present.

Bard College, a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, offering undergraduate and graduate programs, has an affiliation with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, originally established in 1925 in Vilna as the first institution devoted to scholarship in Yiddish and Yiddish culture. Based in New York, YIVO remains one of the most prominent world centers of Yiddish studies.

Watch Prof. Cecile Kuznitz’s interview with the Yiddish Book Center where she discusses her Eastern European family background, her dissertation on the history of YIVO, her beliefs about the future of Yiddish, and more.