Sipurey Mayses: The Tales of Rebbe Nakhman of Bratslav

Tuition: $480 | YIVO members: $375**
Students: $240 (Must register with valid university email address)

This is a live, online seminar held weekly on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 15 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, etc.) will be posted to Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website. This class will be conducted in Yiddish.

Instructor: Daniel Birnbaum

Course Description:
The tales of Rebbe Nakhman of Bratslav, considered by his followers to contain his most holy and mystical teachings, are also seen by secular Yiddish literary critics as a foundational text of modern Yiddish literature. This course will mainly focus on close readings of a number of these intriguing and paradoxical stories and on a discussion in Yiddish of the themes and questions that they raise. While we will locate the stories in the context of Rebbe Nakhman’s other teachings, our exploration will be open ended and directed by the questions that emerge from our readings.

Who should take this course?
This class is intended for students with an intermediate-level knowledge of Yiddish, who can read with fluency. The stories, told in a simple and direct manner, should be quite readable for anyone with a solid basis in the language. We will make an effort to discuss the materials in Yiddish even in simple terms, and students will be encouraged to express themselves using the Yiddish vocabulary at their disposal. We will also expand the students’ ability to discuss texts and literary themes in Yiddish. Students will be expected to read an average of 8 pages of Yiddish per week.

Course Materials:
The instructor will provide all course materials digitally throughout the class on Canvas.

Daniel Birnbaum has been teaching Yiddish to students from Israel and around the world since 2007. Daniel holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Oberlin College an M.A. in Comparative Literature from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His M.A. thesis on S.Y. Abramovich (Mendele Mocher Sforim) under the guidance of Prof. Avrom Novershtern won an award of distinction in Yiddish scholarship. Daniel currently teaches classes at Tel Aviv University, Beth Sholem Aleychem and YIVO. Daniel has developed an original Yiddish textbook for first and second year students, as well as an online Yiddish curriculum. Over the years, he has connected with hundreds of students who seek an access point to Yiddish language and culture and he delights in providing an opening to the richness of that tradition for people from a variety of backgrounds.

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