In 2023, the Workers Circle worked vigorously to deepen people’s interest in Yiddish and strengthen their connection to Jewish culture. We offered a panoply of year-round programs that welcomed participants of all ages and Jewish backgrounds.

Below is a sample of some of our accomplishments during the year.

Our programs are designed to preserve Yiddish, make Jewish culture accessible and inspire increased interest in Yiddish.

• During the year, Yiddish music played a central role in our programs to make Yiddish meaningful and relevant to new generations. From workshops that highlighted Yiddish resistance songs, through New York Sings Yiddish at SummerStage in Central Park, to programs showcasing Brazilian Yiddish songs, we attracted new audiences and deepened the appeal of Yiddish worldwide.

  In addition to featuring Yiddish songs in our Yiddish language classes, we offered courses in learning Yiddish through song, examined the complexities of Yiddish melody construction, explored Hasidim and Yiddish Nigunim and Klezmer music, and studied the intense passions captured in Yiddish love songs.

  At our online Winter in Yiddishland event, people from around the world celebrated a day of Yiddish music and concluded the program with two joyful concerts.

• We launched the Yosl and Chana Mlotek Yiddish Song Collection at the Workers Circle (yiddishsongs.org, a digitized Yiddish song collection that features music and songs from historical Workers Circle songbooks. We provided English translations and transliterations of the songs to welcome all people, regardless of their level of Yiddish. This treasure trove of Yiddish music is attracting thousands of listeners from around the world and successfully bringing Yiddish melodies directly into peoples’ homes.

Our Yiddish programs offer entrance to the Yiddish world, and for many people, their first encounter with Yiddish language and Yiddish tradition. 

• In the summer, for the first time, a group of fifteen college students from our College Network attended Trip to Yiddishland, our annual week-long immersive Yiddish retreat in Upstate New York. These young people study at different colleges, but have all been participating in year-round Workers Circle social justice activities. The students learned and socialized with Yiddishists throughout the week, including participating in the Yiddish-only tables during meals. These young people were first drawn to Workers Circle activities through their interest in social issues, and now were curious and eager to learn about Yiddish culture and the Jewish values that are intrinsic to all our work.

• Through our Yiddish language classes, we are successfully building a global network of engaged Yiddishists. Our classes connected people from around the world who share a common interest in Yiddish, yet have differing degrees of familiarity with the language. We served students from as far afield as Oregon, Tennessee, and Russia, providing them with a Yiddish learning resource that otherwise would not be available. Over 60 percent of students who take one of our courses in Yiddish return to take further studies with us and a solid majority advance to take more than one course at a time.

Since our founding, our priority has been to make Yiddish culture and traditions part of peoples’ daily lives.

• During the year, pupils at our Jewish schools for ages three to 13, explored their Jewish identity and put their Jewish values into action. They learned basic Yiddish and Hebrew, Jewish history and tradition, and explored their Jewish heritage. Pupils regularly engaged with their home communities, taking part in projects that benefited their neighborhood.

• Not only did we celebrate Jewish holidays and significant events in Jewish history, but we also provided programs to deepen an understanding of these events. We celebrated Purim at our schools, and we offered an online program for adults in which a scholar traced the history of the Purim Shpiel. Through videos, photographs, and artistic representations, the public was taken on a journey that traced the evolution of the Shpiel from the Renaissance to the present. A large audience of over 420 adults attended this program and developed a more nuanced appreciation of this earliest form of Yiddish theater.

The Workers Circle is committed to cherishing our rich Yiddish heritage and passing this on to successive generations. Our goal is to make Jewish culture compelling, and with your continued support, we will continue to provide a pathway to learning Jewish values and following Yiddish traditions.