Yiddish Buffet – דער ייִדיש־בופֿעט
Theatre, Writing, Life Histories & More (in Yiddish)
(טעאַטער, שעפֿעריש שרײַבן, לעבנס־געשיכטעס און נאָך (אויף ייִדיש

August 1 - 8, 2026; unstructured (free) day: August 4
3 - 6 p.m. | intermediate & advanced Yiddish speakers

with Tamara Micner, Jake Schneider, Asya Vaisman Schulman & Adrien Smith

This new three-hour workshop will be conducted entirely in Yiddish and is for intermediate and advanced Yiddish learners. It aims to put their language skills to use while developing creative and practical skills over seven days of varied activities and instructors.

Through hands-on, embodied language learning, Yiddish Buffet complements the other Yiddish language classes offered by YSW. Yiddish Buffet is associated with the Yidish-Hoyz program, where residents live together in Yiddish for 10 days (alternatively, one weekend) during the festival. If you’re not yet ready for that level of immersion, Yiddish Buffet offers a supportive, all-Yiddish environment for part of each day. If you’re a resident of Yidish-Hoyz, the Buffet is an ideal way to expand your linguistic range in new, creative directions within a YSW-style workshop structure.

 The individual sessions include:

• Make your entrance on the Yiddish stage with playwright & performer Tamara Micner, who co-leads The London Shpilers (London’s first Yiddish theatre troupe in decades). 

• Write your first Yiddish poem in a series of guided writing exercises led by the Berlin-based poet Jake Schneider, stretching your creative muscles in a new language.

• Learn and practice oral-history interview techniques with Adrien Smith, a Yiddish professor at the University of Texas and instructor at the Yiddish Book Center, and use these techniques to interview your classmates about their lives.

• Transform your Yiddish reading practice with Asya Vaisman Schulman, director of the Yiddish Language Institute at the Yiddish Book Center, through dynamic group activities that invite closer listening, richer interpretation, and more confident discussion.

• Take an excursion to nearby Erfurt with the residents of Yidish-Hoyz and explore the city’s extraordinary medieval Jewish heritage, recently recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, including the Old Synagogue, the mikve, and a stone with a 14th-century Yiddish inscription.

During the week, we will also welcome a few special guests from the Yiddish Summer Weimar faculty. Since Yiddish Buffet is a 3-hour workshop, you’re free for the rest of the day to take advantage of the rich offerings of Festival Week – concerts, theatre, the Late-Night Cabaret, and more. You’ll leave the workshop with inspiration, greater confidence and skills in Yiddish, and new Yiddish-speaking friends

Please note! This is a 3-hour workshop. It can be booked separately or in combination with another 3-hour workshop taking place during the same period but at a different time of day (Master Class with Sasha Lurje).
The fee for two 3-hour workshops is the same as for a standard 6-hour workshop.

 

Workshop fee (3h):
265 € Standard / 212,50 € Reduced / 370 € Sponsor / 90 € Under 18