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The Workmen’s Circle plays a central role in the world-wide rejuvenation of Yiddish arts and culture, preserving and celebrating the traditions of Eastern European Jewry while encouraging contemporary creativity. We present exciting music festivals and public concerts, art exhibitions, conferences and workshops, as well as educational opportunities for children and adults in our centers across the continent.

Classes for Children

The Workmen’s Circle’s unique Jewish supplementary schools (in Yiddish, shules) teach positive Jewish cultural identity, Yiddish language skills, Jewish music and dance, and progressive secular Jewish values.  Our schools are staffed by professional educators and inspired practitioners in Jewish arts and culture.  Parents and community members administer the schools, working with innovative curriculum developed by WC/AR educators.  Each child’s shule experience culminates in a unique Bar/Bas Mitsve celebration that reflects a personal approach to Jewish culture and social justice. Learn more

Adult Learning

We offer classes, lecture series and seminars for adults of all ages, ranging in topic from cultural study of Jewish traditional texts, to the history of Jewish progressive movements, to Yiddish language and literature and conversation groups. Yiddish classes serve all levels of proficiency.  Whether you’re seeking an introductory conversation class or advanced language instruction, you’ll feel at home in our lively community of mameloshn enthusiasts. Tuition varies, with discounts for Workmen’s Circle members.  See In Our Regions to learn more. 

Choruses and Klezmer Workshops

Workmen’s Circle choruses perform Yiddish music that is vital, innovative and socially-engaged. Boston’s A Besere Velt (A Better World) intergenerational community chorus is 80 voices strong and appears to acclaim in concert halls, folk festivals, and on the picket line.  In Los Angeles, our two Workmen’s Circle choruses offer opportunities to sing social justice or Yiddish song, and Philadelphia’s choir maintains a busy calendar of rehearsals and performances.

Instrumentalists may learn and perform klezmer music in several Workmen’s Circle regions across the country – from New York’s workshops conducted by internationally acclaimed musician Jeff Warschauer to Cleveland Workmen’s Circle Big Band under Norm Tishler to Boston’s acclaimed monthly coffee house sessions. 

See In Our Regions to learn more. 

Yiddish Music Festivals

Since 1969, WC/AR has produced free summer concerts in public parks and major venues across the country. Each year, these events highlight the most current creative trends in the world of Jewish music and the rich legacy of Yiddish performance in America. New York Concerts have featured Yitzhak Perlman, Fyvush Finkle, Mandy Patinkin, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, the Klezmatics, Claire Barry and others.  Cleveland’s Cain Park Yiddish Concerts are highlights of the Midwest summer music calendar. Toronto Workmen’s Circle co-sponsors the bi-annual multi-stage Ashkenaz Festival at The Harborfront Centre and Workmen’s Circle in Los Angeles co-produces cutting edge cross-cultural performances with Yiddishkayt L.A.

Contact your local Workmen’s Circle office for a schedule Yiddish music festivals.

A Bisl Yiddish

Click here for our Yiddish page.

WC/AR Publications

We are proud to publish and distribute essential resources for Yiddish education on all levels. The Workmen’s Circle publishes Yiddish textbooks for college level language study, including Yiddish I and Yiddish II by Sheva Zucker (textbooks plus CD ROM), and we act as distributing agent for the YIVO Institute’s essential Yiddish publications, College Yiddish by Uriel Weinreich and The English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary by Max Weinreich. These Yiddish language resources may be purchased at our book center www.jewishbookcenter.com.

Workmen’s Circle publishes the seminal series of Yiddish song books by Chana and Joseph Mlotek, including complete melody notations, Yiddish lyrics, transliterations and translations, and historical notes for hundreds of songs in the four volumes: Mir Trogn A Gezang, Pearls of Yiddish Song, From Generation to Generation and We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust. Workmen’s Circle also produces its own CDs including Mir Trogn a Gezang, Pearls of Yiddish Song and In Love and Struggle: Songs of the Jewish Labor Bund feature top Yiddish performers in a wide-range of styles under the musical direction of Zalmen Mlotek. Our Boston A Besere Velt Yiddish Community Choir has produced a CD of its own social justice repertoire. The Workmen’s Circle publishes Jewish Currents, a journal of political discourse, cultural ideas, explorations in Yiddish culture and Jewish secularism. For more information on the magazine, or to request a complimentary issue, please visit www.jewishcurrents.org.

The Jewish Book Center

The Workmen’s Circle’s Jewish Book Center offers an extensive catalogue of books, music, and Judaica, from contemporary Jewish history, literature, fiction and non-fiction to art and photography books, to a comprehensive collection of resources for religious scholarship. We also carry a comprehensive catalogue of Jewish music CDs from around the world, and a wide range of Jewish ritual objects for the home, T-shirts and novelties, historic poster art, jewelry, toys and gifts for the Jewish holidays. Shop at www.jewishbookcenter.com or if you are in New York, browse in person at The Jewish Book Center in the Workmen’s Circle’s national headquarters at 45 East 33rd Street, midtown Manhattan, open Monday through Thursday, 10:00 – 6:00, Friday 10:00 – 3:00.

Support our cultural programs with your tax-deductible contribution.