Rad Yiddish offers several event series including the Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz (Conversation Practice); the Leyenkrayz (Radical Reading Circle); the Zingerayn (Radical Song Circle); Radical Yiddish Games; the Queer Yiddish Camp Intensive; and Cabaret Fundraisers. We also put on one-off events through the year as part of our regular programming.
Queer Yiddish Camp Intensive
Queer Yiddish Camp is a multi-week Yiddish language and cultural intensive program taught by an all-queer faculty of Yiddish teachers, artists, scholars, and cultural organizers. The next Queer Yiddish Camp is October 27 – November 10, 2024.
Leyenkrayz | Radical Reading Circle
With a rotating cast of staff and guest facilitators, we read texts (and sometimes visual art) with lefty content from poetry to short stories, song lyrics, newspaper articles, letters, and more. Attendees take turns reading in Yiddish and engaging in thought-provoking discussion on the texts. Texts are provided in Yiddishe oysyes, Yiddish transliteration, and English translation to be accessible to all levels!
Zingeray | Radical Song Circle
A Zingeray is a fun Yiddish sing-along led by talented singers and musicians. All lyrics are provided in Yiddishe oysyes, Yiddish transliteration, and English translation to be accessible to all levels of Yiddish! We focus on workers’, activist, and other historic and contemporary songs with social justice intent. Our past Zingerayn have been led by the riveting Linda Gritz and Pauli Katz of the Boston Workers’ Circle, bringing historic and newly-written Yiddish songs (and new stanzas to old songs).
Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayzn | Conversation Practice
Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz is a conversation practice circle for 2SIAQTBLG+ & Questioning Yiddishists and Yiddish learners, with peer-facilitated breakout rooms for all levels from zero Yiddish to fluent.
- Build values-aligned Yiddish community
- Learn how to speak about issues we care about in Yiddish
- Co-create contemporary Yiddish culture while improving (and improvising) our Yiddish
Radical Yiddish Games
Radical Yiddish Games are another chance for Yiddishists and Yiddish learners of all levels to engage in Yiddish language or Yiddish cultural knowledge practice through fun group games like Codenames, Jeopardy, Karaoke, Cards against humanity, Guess the proverb, Chain story, and more. Our Radical Yiddish Purim Games in particular are paired with a Yiddish leftist costume party!
Cabaret Fundraisers
Our beloved annual cabaret fundraisers bring together an entertaining line-up of musicians, poets, burlesque artists, theatre-makers, comedians, and other amazing performers to raise funds for Rad Yiddish. It’s a real community event with our diverse members of our community showcasing their talents for a memorable event, sure to impress! Our past cabarets have been led by the magnetic Rokhl Weston, and the dynamic comedic duo Sorke Schneider and Willow Rosenberg. Our past guest performers have included