CENES is thrilled to introduce Yiddish language courses beginning fall 2024 for UBC students—in a flexible, multi-access format. This will be the seventh language program taught within the CENES department.

Yiddish is a historically and culturally Jewish language that has been spoken around the world since the 9th century, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and is today in a period of renaissance and creativity. Throughout the arts, literature, translation, and secular and religious culture, Yiddish is a beloved and spirited meaning-making repertoire for truth-telling and relationship-building around the world.

Photo of Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Yiddish poet and musician. Photo from anthonyrusselbass.com.

Our 3-credit courses will cover the foundations of the language and connect students to Yiddish music, film, and literature. Come join the new community of UBC students learning, loving, and finding joy and meaning together in Yiddish, a thousand-year old European Jewish language with a bright future!

The course is meant for curious learners who want to know more about Yiddish-speaking culture and who want to dedicate time to learning the language itself. Yiddish is a thriving, lively, beautiful language worth loving and caring for in all its details and variations. It is the key secular language for millions of Jewish people throughout history, and through vast regions of Europe, the Américas, and beyond. It is key to connecting with ancestors and traditions, as well as for music, literature, and everyday culture around the world.

Yiddish poet Avraham Sutzkever (right) and his friend Shmerke Kaczerginski sit on a terrace within the Vilna ghetto, 1943. Photo from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of the Sutzkever Family

Curriculum

Starting in 2024, CENES will be offering the following Yiddish language courses:

  • YDSH 101 (3 credit course), Term 1, Fall 2024: Tuesday / Thursday, 3:30pm-5pm (in-person AND multi-access, for those off-campus)
  • YDSH 102 (3 credit course), Term 2, Spring 2025: Tuesday / Thursday, 3:30pm-5pm (in-person AND multi-access, for those off-campus)

YDSH 101 & YDSH 102 may be counted towards the Language as Meaning breadth requirement for UBC Arts beginning Winter 2024.