In honor of Yiddish culture, the Friends of Yiddish here at FAU will be hosting a series of events celebrating Yiddish culture and its development throughout history. With “KULTUR in the 21st Century” as its theme, the Friends of Yiddish series will include lectures, readings and musical performances. Both local and national scholars and performers will stage these performances.
Based at FAU’s S.E. Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus, the Friends of Yiddish have always been dedicated to the continuing study of Yiddish culture at FAU. Its mission has always been to support Yiddish scholarly endeavors, as well as provide information to local, national and international communities.
The popular KULTUR series has drawn in patrons from the university as well as the surrounding communities. Since it first started in 2002, the attendance for the KULTUR series has consistently grown. In past years, the KULTUR series has drawn in tens of thousands of dollars in donations for the continued research, performance, and development of Yiddish culture at the Boca campus.
The Yiddish tradition has existed for close to a thousand years. At present, only a small fraction of today’s young Jewish population can speak the Yiddish language, also known as “Mama Loshen.”
Although there may not be as many Yiddish speakers as there once were, the language is far from dead. “Despite the diminishing number of Yiddish speakers, there is still a global interest in the creative expression of this culture,” says Aaron Kula, the director of music collections at FAU libraries and chairman of KULTUR. According to Kula, modern interpretations of Jewish ideology, Klezmer music and a growing “resurgence of interest” in Yiddish as a spoken language have all contributed to Yiddish’s survival.
Those interested in seeing what Yiddish culture has to offer can visit one or more of these events starting on Wednesday, Oct. 25. There will also be events on Wednesday, Jan. 24, and Wednesday, Feb. 21. Each day’s events will begin promptly at 3 p.m. in the Majestic Palm Room in the University Center (UC) of the Boca campus. All programs are free to the public. Please come early because seating is limited.
For more information concerning the KULTUR series or to join the Friends of Yiddish call the FAU libraries hotline at (561) 297-2116, or visit the Web site at www.library.fau.edu, or e-mail [email protected].
