Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Yiddish Thrives at the University of Texas

Yiddish 101 is an introduction to an ancient language that's attracting new interest at the University of Texas. Richard Schlesinger has a video report on the Austin classroom where conversations sound like they could be taking place at a Hasidic Jewish bakery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This video was shown on the CBS Sunday Morning TV show last week. It focuses on the resurgence of spoken Yiddish in Texas classrooms. The report includes comments by a University of Texas Vietnamese student who is adding Yiddish to her language repertory, a visit to the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts and its founder Aaron Lansky, and to the streets of Williamsburg where Yiddish is the main spoken language of its Hasidic residents.

We  also get a glimpse of activities of the National Center for Yiddish Film, the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene, and the Klezmatics, one of the oldest bands playing the Klezmer music that was the dominant musical form in Eastern Europe.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)