We’ve made it.  The hardest part of our summer is now behind us.  Supported by your donations our Massey Ferguson 540 combine performed just as it should have, harvesting thousands of pounds of wheat and spelt for next year’s matzos.

Even more impressive, we’ve taken a group of 8 students, many of whom arrived with little to no Yiddish knowledge and turned them into Yiddish speakers.

Our students take the skills they learn here home, where they continue both their Yiddish studies and their Yiddish friendships, connecting with a wider network of Yiddish Farm alumni.

Our students leave the farm with a level of fluency and historical background both to build upon their Jewish identities and continue to use Yiddish as a means of communication, learning and exploration.

No one disputes the value of learning Yiddish as a key to accessing Jewish history.  1000 years of Jewish history was and continues to be lived in the Yiddish language.  The question we want our students to be asking is: how they personally will be moving into the future, especially now that they have Yiddish as a go-to means of communication.

Prior to their arrival on the farm our students were asked to bring their favorite children’s books along. As part of our Yiddish II program they worked studiously to translate these works, among them many English classics, into a idiomatic Yiddish.  These are far from just dry translations.  Our students were instructed to both taytshn (translate) andfarbesern (improve upon) these books though introducing Jewish themes to classic English stories.

Here at the Yiddish Farm we seek to prepare our students to become a creative force.

This translation project was just the beginning.

We are impressed and inspired by our students’ progress and proficiency.  While their time on the farm has come to a close, the impact of the program and the role of Yiddish in their lives continues.

Yisroel Bass, Farm Director

P.S. Join us Labor Day, September 5th for a fun Family Farm Day!  Click the button below for more information.