A huge thank you to everyone who took part, spoke, watched, helped, and did all the things that made the Farbindungen 2023 weekend such a success. The 2023 keynote address is available on our YouTube page in perpetuity. Some conference paper recordings are available on our YouTube page as well. 

Presented by the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto, the Farbindungen / פֿאַרבינדונגען Yiddish Studies Conference took place virtually on Sunday, February 19th and Monday, February 20th, 2023. 

In our second gathering, Farbindungen 2023: Yiddish Futures / ייִדישע צוקונפֿטן, we aimed to bring together graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and early career professionals to look towards the futures of Yiddish and Yiddish Studies. Through a keynote address, interactive workshops, and moderated paper panels, participants were invited to study, envision, and build the future of the field.

Conference Theme: Yiddish Futures / ייִדישע צוקונפֿטן

Keynote speakers: Rebecca Margolis (Monash) and Chaya Nove (UC Berkeley)

Keynote moderator: Miriam Schwartz (U of Toronto)

Workshop facilitators: Jordan Lee Schnee (Freie Universität Berlin), Tetiana Shyshkina (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), freygl gertsovski (Community Organizer), misha holleb (Community Organizer), Ruby Poltorak (Community Organizer), and Sarah Schneider (Community Organizer), and Cameron Bernstein (Queensland-Ochsner)

Faculty moderators: Nick Underwood (The College of Idaho), Dovid Braun (YIVO), Naomi Seidman (Toronto), Anna Shternshis (Toronto), Miriam Chorley-Schultz (Toronto), Joel Berkowitz (Wisconsin), Hannah Pollin-Galay (Tel Aviv), Allison Schachter (Vanderbilt)

Presenters: William Marshall Pimlott (UCL), Tetiana Shyshkina (Justus-Liebig), Zoë Belk (UCL), Eli Benedict (Independent Scholar), Nicola Menser Hearn (Monash), Jakub Zygmunt (Warsaw), Zofia Agata Zięba (Warsaw), Eve Glazier (Barnard), Max Friedman (Independent Scholar), Nathan Friedman (Toronto), Reyzl Grace MoChridhe (Independent Scholar), Jacob Hermant (Toronto), Anna Nienartowicz (Wrocław), Tetiana Nepypenko (Nat'l University of Kyiv), Marcin Janczak (Toronto), Yaad Biran (Independent Scholar), Eyshe Beirich (Chicago), Asa Brunet-Jailly (York), Marissa Herzig (Toronto), and Hannah Wickham (Toronto)

Organizing committee: Alona Bach (MIT), Carolyn Beard (Toronto), Cameron Bernstein (Queensland-Ochsner), Sarah Biskowitz (Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), Shoshana Boardman (University of Oxford), Sophie Cardin (University of Oxford), Anita Christensen (Norwegian School of Theology), Jacob Hermant (Toronto), Marissa Herzig (Toronto), Eli Jany (Toronto), David Kurkovskiy (UC Berkeley), Miriam Schwartz (Toronto), Julie Sharff (Toronto), Caleb Sher (Yiddish Book Center), Sophia Shoulson (Johns Hopkins), Sean Sidky (Indiana), and Hannah Wickham (Toronto)

Faculty advisor: Anna Shternshis (Toronto)

2-3PM EST Sunday, February 19th, 2023

Creative Translation: Yiddish Remixed with Jordan Lee Schnee (Freie Universität Berlin)

How can we access and unlock Yiddish and its literature through creative, radical translations?

This workshop will introduce participants to the theory and practice of creative translations of Yiddish texts, with a focus on poetry. Learning translation techniques such as “phonetic translation,” “noun+7,” and “vowel preservation,” participants will be invited to engage in close textual study and transform an original text to create a new work. Artists from other disciplines are also welcomed to create intermedial translations, where poems will become visual art, sculptures, or songs.

Please note that this workshop is accessible to participants at all levels of Yiddish comprehension.

The SNA for Yiddish Databases with Tetiana Shyshkina (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)

Working in the sphere of digital humanities, this workshop aims to show participants what Social Network Analysis (SNA) can offer the field of Yiddish Studies. After reviewing a case study of data from the Index of Yiddish Periodicals, participants will be invited to try this approach themselves by interacting with prepared data and code and explore what SNA or other modes of digital humanities might offer their work.

Please note that this workshop does not require Yiddish language skills or previous experience in coding. Some installation of the software prior to the workshop is required.

4-4PM EST Monday, February 20th, 2023

The Future of Yiddish is Accessible with freygl gertsovski, Droyre Rosenstein, Sorke Schneider, and collaborators

Employing a framing lens of Disability Justice, this workshop will discuss how Yiddish cultural organizing can center accessibility to create liberatory and accessible political, cultural, technological, and pedagogical futures.

Participants will discuss structural and organizational modes of accessibility: the utility of online and hybrid offerings, how financial support can foster cross-class solidarity while serving as an access point, and the importance of cultural production and curricula that reflect diverse experiences and needs. 

Workshop leaders will share best practices based on personal experience and brainstorm new strategies to ensure the future of Yiddish is one envisioned together. Participants will leave empowered to (re)design programming content, spaces, and organizational strategies utilizing disability justice organizing principles.

Please note that this workshop does not require Yiddish language skills.

A Waltz of Rendering Pop Culture Schmaltz into Yiddish with Cameron Bernstein

From the off-Broadway hit “Fiddler afn dakh” to Daniel Kahn’s YouTube sensation “Hallelujah” af yiddish to the trending Yiddish Mean Girls, we are witnessing a rise in familiar pop culture being rendered into Yiddish with great success.

In this interactive workshop, participants will be introduced to resources and strategies for the translation of pop culture texts into Yiddish. Sample texts from popular culture, song, and meme will be provided and participants will have the opportunity to practice the process of pop culture translation in small groups. 

Participants will leave the workshop with strengthened skills to translate unconventional texts into Yiddish, which will prepare them to create Yiddish responses to present and future trends in pop culture across a variety of social media and live platforms.

This workshop will be conducted in English. To facilitate participation and collaboration in the interactive Yiddish translation exercises, it is recommended that participants can skim Yiddish texts for basic meaning and can produce full sentences in Yiddish without significant assistance from textbooks or dictionaries.