Naye farbindungen (new connections): online yiddish study and community during covid [?the pandemic was very good for yiddish,? Asserted the subhead for an OP-ED by andrew silow-carroll on july 20,…

This Project Grant award from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) under the Promotion of the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access program (CFDA 45.149) will support the "NAYE FARBINDUNGEN (NEW CONNECTIONS)" project led by the National Yiddish Book Center. The $150,000 project, with a performance period from August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2027, will document the surge in online Yiddish language study and community building that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to understand the role these online Yiddish spaces played during the pandemic's social isolation and collective anxiety, as well as the broader impacts on the diasporic Yiddish language community. The National Yiddish Book Center, a non-profit organization focused on preserving and promoting Yiddish language and culture, will lead this effort through its ongoing Wexler Oral History Project, collaborating with relevant community partners and a board of expert advisors.

Naye farbindungen (new connections): online yiddish study and community during covid [?the pandemic was very good for yiddish,? Asserted the subhead for an OP-ED by andrew silow-carroll on july 20, 2022. Why? How could this be when the majority of native yiddish speakers?the memory keepers of secular yiddish culture silow-carroll was referring to?are over 75, and elders died at accelerated rates during the covid-19 pandemic? This project?led by the yiddish book center?S ongoing wexler oral history project with input from relevant community partners and a board of expert advisors?will document one aspect of this phenomenon of cultural resilience in difficult times: the surge in online yiddish-language study and community building during the covid-19 pandemic. We will aim to answer questions such as ?what purpose did online yiddish-speaking spaces play in a period of widespread social isolation and collective anxiety?? And ?what are the impacts of this phenomenon on the diasporic yiddish language community?? [edited by staff]]