Rukhl Schaechter

1 month ago | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

If you know Yiddish and live in or frequently visit Boston, Michigan, Montreal or Toronto, you can now join other Yiddish speakers on organized trips to museums, concerts, hikes or singalongs. The initiative, called Farbreng, was launched in the spring of 2024 by Yugntruf, the organization best known for its weeklong Yiddish summer retreat in Copake, NY called Yiddish Vokh. Yugntruf provides modest financial support and publicity for the activities of each Farbreng branch.

1 month ago | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

פֿון Rukhl Schaechter March 12, 2025ס׳איז אַ זעלטענע זאַך צו קענען זען אַ ווידעאָ מיט קלאַנג, וואָס ווײַזט ווי אַ רבי האַלט אַ דרשה אין מיזרח־אייראָפּע פֿאַר דער צווייטער וועלט־מלחמה. אויף יוטוב געפֿינט זיך אָבער אַ ווידעאָ פֿונעם מונקאַטשער רבין, ר׳ חיים אלעזר שפּירא, בעת דער חתונה פֿון זײַן בת־יחידה חיה פֿרומע רבֿקה אין מונקאַטש אין די קאַרפּאַטן־בערג (הײַנט - אוקראַיִע) אין 1933. איר חתן איז געווען ברוך יהושה ראַבינאָוויץ, אַ זון פֿון אַדמו״רים (אָנגעזעענע חסידישע פֿירער).

1 month ago | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

When I visited the Jewish community of Antwerp 15 years ago, three things stood out for me. First, Haredi Jews traveled everywhere on bicycles - something I had never seen in my hometown of New York. Second, people were so outgoing, they didn't hesitate to invite my husband and me for a shabbos meal, even though they didn't know us. And finally, when I asked strangers on the street for directions in Yiddish, they didn't bat an eye and answered me - in Yiddish.

Jan 16, 2025 | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

Fox was a native Yiddish speaker who cherished the language. Although his father, a well-known Yiddish poet, Chaim Leib Fox, and his mother, Leah, sent him to a yeshiva as a child ("in order to get a solid Jewish education," his father said), Michael always said that he truly blossomed when he discovered the secular Yiddish socialist summer camp, Camp Hemshekh.

Jan 13, 2025 | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

For the past four years, academics in Yiddish-related fields have been flocking to a unique online conference on topics that don't always fit the mold of a standard scholarly convention. This year's bold, yet playful title, 'Bad Yiddish', reflects the counter-cultural atmosphere of the event. At first glance, it seems to refer to the concern among many Yiddish instructors that their students use proper grammar when speaking the language.