Yiddish Spring

CANADIAN LANGUAGE MUSEUM, APRIL – JUNE 2019

From April 4 to June 27, 2019, the Yiddish kheyder enjoyed a second run as part of a larger exhibition called “Yiddish Spring at the Canadian Language Museum.” 

To accommodate the new space, the kheyder design received a makeover: taking advantage the larger space, we redesigned the exhibition and created a makeshift “classroom,” complete with Yiddish hopscotch! To make it even more fun, we enlarged illustrations from the classic Yiddish children’s primer Yidishe kinder (New York, 1959), so the children travelled with visitors through the exhibition.

We invite you to explore the exhibit and encourage your questions and comments. 

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“Yiddish Spring” was a multimedia exhibition presented by the Ashkenaz Festival that, in addition to the visual kheyder material, include a sound installation by the brilliant Berlin-based musician Paul Brody. Brody drew on his work with both contemporary Jewish music and radio documentaries to create “The Music of Yiddish Blessings and Curses.” Brody interviewed eight Yiddish speakers and recorded their voice-melodies as they recited blessings and curses, later composing a 17-minute, five-part suite that mirrored and played upon those melodies. “I became fascinated by how my interviewee’s voice-melody often shifted from conversational to a melodic, almost singing voice, through the uttering of a blessing or a curse,” said Brody.