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Yiddish Letters - Schoolbook from the Peretz Centre's Kirman Library

Yiddish Language Courses

Learn to read, write, and speak in Yiddish at the Peretz Centre in Vancouver

Learn Yiddish at the Peretz Centre

"It is true that they are saying that we are a dead language already 500 years ago, but as far as I'm concerned, Yiddish is going to be a dying language for the next 2000 years." 

-- Yitzhak Bashvis Zinger (1904-1991)

Yiddish has been the spoken language of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern and Central Europe for a thousand years. It has served as the everyday expression of Jewish life -- secular, religious, and everything in between.

 

Yiddish isn't just a language, it's a meeting point of different cultures, histories, and geographical locations. When we learn Yiddish vocabulary, we encounter Hebrew and Aramaic, German, and Slavic languages that shaped the unique experience of Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

Yiddishland isn't just the physical places where Yiddish-speaking Jews lived, it is also "a republic of letters." When we learn Yiddish, we tap into a treasure trove of stories, poetry, philosophy, history, politics, and the records of everyday life. We will draw on these texts to deepen our connection to our history and culture.
 

​By engaging with Yiddish language and culture, we locate ourselves at the threshold of Jewish modernity, encountering thinkers, rebels, revolutionaries, sages, and storytellers of our past and present.

Yiddish Language Classes in Vancouver

Beginners' Yiddish Classes

Start your Yiddish language learning journey at the Peretz Centre with Beginners' Yiddish!

In this introductory class, we will dive into the language and culture of Eastern European Jews, and explore the fascinating world of Yiddishkayt. Using a communicative and task-based approach, we will practice basic conversational skills, learn important verbs and adjectives to describe our daily life, and learn to read and write in Yiddish! During our classes we will also learn Yiddish folks songs and get exposed to Yiddish film, art and, culture.

Intermediate Yiddish Classes

Deepen your understanding of Yiddish with interactive, text-based classes

​This course is based on a conversational, interactive and communicative approach to Yiddish. In it, we will focus on deepening our conversational and expressive skills in Yiddish, all the while deepening our grammatical to allow us to engage in authentic conversation in Yiddish. In addition, we will learn Yiddish songs, read short stories and poems, watch Yiddish films, clips, interviews and more!

More Yiddish Language Programs at the Peretz Centre

Online Yiddish Reading Groups

Practice and expand your Yiddish with the intermediate or advanced reading groups, which meet online every week! With a rotating reading list, these informal and long-running groups are great ways to dig deeper into the language.

Get in touch
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Kirman Yiddish Library

The Paulina and Shaya Kirman Library, located at the Peretz Centre, is the largest Yiddish language library in Western Canada. The library contains over 4000 Yiddish and English books, journals, and other print media (open to the public by appointment).

Browse catalogue

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir

The Choir sings mostly Yiddish pieces ranging from traditional folk and Yiddish theatre songs to newly-composed and arranged pieces of greater complexity, plus Hanukkah and Pesach repertoires in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, and English.

Join the Choir

Register for Yiddish Courses

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