We are proud to highlight a new addition to Brown University’s linguistic and cultural landscape: Yiddish Club. Starting this semester, the club has been meeting weekly to celebrate yidishkayt [Jewish way of life] and enrich members’ understanding of the language.

The driving force behind this initiative is Julia Dubnoff, a first-year student pursuing double concentrations in Statistics and Linguistics. “Yiddish holds the key to so much of my family’s history and my Jewish culture,” Julia explains. “I wanted to start this group to explore Yiddish in all its linguistic and cultural glory with others who shared the same passion!” The timing of the club’s formation coincided perfectly with the arrival last fall of Chaya Nove, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Linguistics, who is a native speaker of Hasidic Yiddish and has dedicated the past decade to its study. Supported enthusiastically by Rabbi Jason Klein—who sometimes attends meetings—and co-sponsored by the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life, the Yiddish Club has quickly found its footing.

Whether you’re fluent in Yiddish, a complete beginner, or just curious about it and wanting to hang out with a group of like-minded individuals, Yiddish Club welcomes you! It is a supportive space to begin your exploration of Yiddish or to deepen your connection to it, a place where echoes of the various dialects of mame-loshn [mother tongue] inspire new connections. Under Julia’s leadership and Chaya’s expertise, club members engage in discussions, readings, and playful activities, rediscovering, in all its splendid diversity, the language that holds centuries of history, humor, resilience, and wisdom. 

Meetings are held every Tuesday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM in Page-Robinson Hall, with the room number announced in advance.

Please email julia_dubnoff@brown.edu to be added to the listserv and receive information about upcoming meetings.