Introduction to Old Yiddish

Note: This course will now start on October 3 (previously September 5). 10 sessions, Tuesdays October 3, 17, 24; November 7, 21, 28; December 5, 12, 19 – 10th session TBA YIVO members: $250** Non-members: $325 Registration is closed. Sign up for YIVO's email list to receive announcements of upcoming classes. For inquiries about this course, contact: Ben Kaplan Director of Education (212) 294-6153

Instructor: Leyzer Burko

Although Yiddish literature is often thought to begin in the late nineteenth century with the three classic writers Sholem Aleichem, Mendele, and Peretz, it actually goes back at least five hundred years earlier - to the epic poems of the Cambridge Codex, dated 1382 and discovered in the Cairo Genizah. The Old Literary Language, based on the Western Yiddish dialects of Central Europe, was the exclusive medium of Yiddish book publication until the late eighteenth century. In keeping with the more widespread use of Yiddish before the Enlightenment, the Old Yiddish book market extended from Amsterdam and Alsace in the west, to Italy in the south, to the farthest reaches of Ukraine and Lithuania in the east.

Old Yiddish authors produced a slew of classic works, some of which remained popular for centuries, such as the adventure story Bovo of Antona (source of the term bobe-mayse, 'a tall tale'), the heroic epic Shmuel-Bukh, the beautiful romance Pariz and Viene, and the famous "women's Bible" Tsene-Rene, which even today remains a frequent wedding present given to Hasidic brides. One of the most famous Jewish autobiographies of all time, the memoirs of Glikl of Hamil, was written in Old Yiddish, as were Moses Mendelssohn's love letters to his future wife.

This course will provide a basic introduction to the Old Literary Language and a tour through some of its most important works. Students will learn to read the vaybertaytsh typeface used to print most Yiddish texts through the mid-nineteenth century and, in addition to modern editions, will also work with scanned copies of originals (some of which YIVO has among its holdings). Students should be proficient in Yiddish and/or German and/or Hebrew - as Old Yiddish is located somewhere in between.

The textbook for the class will be Jerold Frakes’ brand new Guide to Old Literary Yiddish and will focus on the early poem "Joseph the Righteous" (1382). Additional readings will come from such central works as Mayse-Bukh (1602), Bovo d'Antona (1507), Shmuel-bukh (1544), Briyo ve-Zimro (1585), Pariz un Viene (1594) Glikl of Hamil's memoirs (1691-1719), and other poems from the Cambridge Codex (1382).

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