Rukhl Schaechter

1 week ago | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

As a member of the Riverdale-Yonkers Jewish community, I've heard for years about the Yom Hashoah Seder conducted by the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, also known as The Bayit. This year, as I debated which Yom Hashoah program to go to (there were several throughout the neighborhood), I decided on the Seder. I'm glad I did.

2 weeks ago | forward.com | Rukhl Schaechter

In Riverside Park in Manhattan, stands a simple slab of stone (called der shteyn in Yiddish), commemorating the Jewish fighters of the historic Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. On Friday, April 18, close to 300 people gathered by der shteyn to honor the memory of the uprising, and the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The annual event is hosted by the Congress for Jewish Culture and several other Jewish organizations.

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.

2 months 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).

2 months 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.