Summer 2021 Yiddish Classes
Yiddish Chicago, a joint effort of Chicago YIVO Society and the Chicago Workers Circle, is excited to offer three Yiddish classes online starting in June
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yiddish Chicago has moved classes to an online platform (Zoom) until further notice.
Beginners Yiddish III
Thursdays
7:00pm - 8:30pm CST
9 sessions
June 3rd to July 29th
Beginners Yiddish III is open to students who completed Beginners Yiddish II with Noah in the winter. This class will focus on basic conversation, grammar, and vocabulary and uses the book Colloquial Yiddish by Lily Kahn.
If you did not attend the course in the winter but think the course may be a fit for you, please email yiddishchicago@gmail.com
Teacher: Noah (Noyekh) Barrera
Advanced Beginners Yiddish III
Wednesdays
6:30pm - 8:00pm CST
8 sessions
June 2nd to July 21st
This class is open to students who completed Advanced Beginners II with Benna in the winter. This class will continue on conversational Yiddish, grammar, and vocabulary taught in the winter, focusing on chapters 10 and 11 of Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture, Vol 1 by Sheva Zucker. Students will also learn Yiddish songs and poems.
If you did not attend the course in the winter but think this course might be a fit for you, please email
Teacher: Benna Kessler
Intermediate Yiddish III
Thursdays
6:30pm - 8:00pm CST
9 sessions
June 3rd to July 29th
This class is open to students who completed Intermediate Yiddish II with Annie in the winter. This class is taught almost entirely in Yiddish, and will build on conversational Yiddish, grammar, and vocabulary taught in the fall using Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture, Vol 2 by Sheva Zucker. Students will also read from the book Motl Peyse (Motl the Cantor's Son) by Sholem Aleichem (can be purchased here).
If you did not attend the course in the winter but think this course might be a fit for you, please email
Teacher: Annie (Anye) Kaufman (Koyfmentsh)
Tuition
If you signed up for the class via the registration form, you will receive an email prior to the class starting regarding instructions to pay electronically or send a check. Below are tuition rates:
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$180 full tuition
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$130 reduced tuition (guideline is $40k or less in household income.)
Starting in summer 2021, we are also offering the Khane-Faygl Turtletaub Memorial Scholarship to cover full tuition for one student. To apply for the scholarship, please email
No student is turned away for inability to pay, to arrange an alternative payment plan please write to us separately at .
Course Materials
The Beginners III class uses Colloquial Yiddish by Lily Kahn, which is available through online retailers. The Advanced Beginners class uses the book Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture, Vol 1 by Sheva Zucker, and the Intermediate class uses Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture, Vol 2 by the same author.
We are aware there is currently limited availability of the Sheva Zucker books online. If you are having issues locating a copy please get in touch with us via yiddishchicago@gmail.com.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding classes or to learn which class might be the best fit for you
Meet The Teachers
Noah (Noyekh) Barrera
Noah, known by his students as Reb Noyekh, has taught and coordinated Yiddish language and culture classes in major programs in NYC. He studied and subsequently taught Yiddish at the esteemed Uriel Weinreich Summer Program. He coordinated and taught in the Worker's Circle Yiddish language program. In addition to his teaching, Reb Noyekh is a Yiddish writer and translator. His works have appeared in the Yiddish Daily Forward, Pakn Treger, and elsewhere. His translation, together with Professor Nathaniel Deutsch, of Abraham Rechtman's memoirs of Sh. An-sky's ethnographic expedition in 1912, will soon be published by Indiana University. Listen to a Yiddish interview with him here.
Benna Kessler
Benna grew up speaking Yiddish at home with her mother. She has studied Yiddish at the YIVO Intensive Yiddish Summer Program and, most recently, at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish in Paris. She has attended the annual Yugntruf Yidish Vokh every year since she was two (this year sadly via Zoom), and has taught beginner Yiddish for Yiddish Chicago twice.
Annie began formal Yiddish studies 20 years ago at the Uriel Weinreich YIVO Summer Program where she learned under Naomi Kadar z''l and Rivke Margolis. She spent a year in Chisinau, Moldova as Yechiel Shraybman's z''l last private Yiddish student. Through Yugntruf, she studied with Yankl Peretz Blum and then served as the coordinator of Yiddish Vokh for 5 years.