Interest in the serious study of Yiddish language, literature, and culture continues to grow internationally. At the same time, the last living Yiddish writers, teachers, scholars, artists, and other cultural figures to reach intellectual maturity before the Holocaust are growing fewer with each passing year. Their Yiddish world destroyed, deep into old age they are working resolutely to secure and expand their beloved heritage.

Yiddish is taught nowadays at many levels, particularly in university credit programs, and in adult education and community settings. Progress can also be seen in the introduction of the language and its literature at the elementary and secondary levels in Hebrew day schools and other Jewish educational establishments. Furthermore, doctoral students, researchers, and scholars are discovering the value of Yiddish for the study of European languages, literatures, history, ethnography, and related subjects. Beyond Jewish Studies, they come from the fields of Slavic, Baltic, and Germanic Studies, and still others. As the need for Yiddish grows, so, too, does the necessity to train new Yiddish educators and to enhance the knowledge and skills of those already in the field.

Ms. Miriam Hoffman

The pioneer YIDDISH EDUCATOR PROGRAM AT VILNIUS UNIVERSITY took place in 2005. It brought together four teachers from the realm of secular Yiddish studies who have distinguished themselves internationally through their university teaching careers as well as their publications. As have few others in the field, for decades they have taught advanced university courses and published books in as well as on Yiddish. Each of the four instructors concentrated on a specific aspect of Yiddish Studies in which he or she is a specialist

Prof. Yitskhok Niborski

In the 2005 program, grammar was taught by Professor Yitskhok Niborski of the Institute for Oriental Languages (Paris) and the Paris Yiddish Center; fiction by Ms. Miriam Hoffman of Columbia University, New York; poetry by Professor Dov-Ber Kerler of Indiana University at Bloomington; and linguistics and stylistics by Professor Dovid Katz of Vilnius University.

Prof. Dovid Katz

Participants must be professional teachers or teachers-in-training in a recognized institution. All participants are taught by all four instructors. In addition to classroom work, there is daily written homework. The program is conducted entirely in Yiddish.

Prof. Dov-Ber Kerler

The Vilnius Yiddish Educator Program was created by the Friends of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute with generous support from the Righteous Persons Foundation.

A second program will be initiated as soon as resources permit. In the meantime, interested students are respectfully directed to the advanced-level course at the annual Vilnius Summer Program in Yiddish.