In an abundance of caution and in light of rapidly changing information about COVID-19, the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies will be postponing our upcoming events through April 2, 2020. We will reevaluate other upcoming spring events as the situation evolves.  When we have rescheduled dates we will reach out to you and honor your current ticket options. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to iijs@columbia.edu

Join us for The Naomi Prawer Kadar Annual Memorial Lecture with Miriam Udel.

The first decades of the twentieth century marked a period of political upheaval and possibility across the Yiddish-speaking world, which coincided with the increasing centrality accorded to childhood throughout the West. By addressing children directly through a new literature meant specifically for them, Yiddish cultural leaders forged a novel pathway toward building a modern Jewish nation. How did they imagine a secular yet Jewishly rooted collectivity? What portrait of Jewish boyhood and girlhood emerges from these lively texts?

6:30 pm - Reception

7:30 pm - Lecture

Supported by the generosity of the Naomi Foundation.

Miriam Udel is associate professor of German Studies and Jewish Studies at Emory University, where her teaching focuses on Yiddish language, literature, and culture. She holds an AB in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, as well as a PhD in Comparative Literature from the same institution. Her first book, Never Better!: The Modern Jewish Picaresque (University of Michigan Press, 2016) won the National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Honey on the Page: An Anthology of Yiddish Children’s Literature is slated to appear in October 2020 with New York University Press. She is currently working on a critical study of Yiddish children’s literature and translating Khaver Paver’s Labzik: Stories of a Clever Pup as a Translation Fellow at the Yiddish Book Center.

The Naomi Prawer Kadar Annual Memorial Lecture provides an opportunity for the public to explore topics of Yiddish language and linguistics, the history of Yiddish, Yiddish children’s literature and education. The lecture is supported by the Naomi Prawer Kadar Foundation, Inc., which is dedicated to reimagining education. The Naomi Foundation champions Yiddish, Naomi’s lifelong passion, as a vibrant, rich, and contemporary language. The Naomi Foundation advances the teaching and learning of Yiddish, particularly in academic and scholarly settings.