freygl gertsovski (fae/faer pronouns) is a queer, nonbinary, multiply crip/mad, first-generation, white, immigrant-settler, post-Soviet, Ashkenazy Jewitch whose people are from present-day Moldova. fae is a writer, artist, cultural worker, and community organizer living, dreaming, working, co-creating, praying, and healing north of Tkarón:to/toronto and online. freygl has published a 5-chapbook series called Growing Roots, Healing Wounds (2016-2019), has performed spoken word since 2012, and was a feature at Glad Day’s Emerging Writers Reading Series for trans and nonbinary writers in 2020. fae has participated in several community-devised political theatre pieces including the queer Yiddish musical Tevyes Farlozene Kinder (2018). freygl has spent the last 5+ years studying Yiddish language and history, reclaiming suppressed cultural heritages, and collectively building the radical Yiddish world we wish for, through Rad Yiddish, Queer Yiddishist Shmueskrayz, and other community projects..
NYC native Sarah Schneider is a pillar of the Ithaca, NY Yiddishist scene. She plays with the local klezmer ensemble, teaches Yiddish dance (when such a thing is possible), and studies Yiddish with a small but enthusiastic group. She also serves on the board of Ithaca’s contra dance organization, volunteers at a bike rescue, plays in several Middle Eastern bands, and somehow finds the time to hold down a completely unrelated day job. Sarah has volunteered with Yiddish New York for a number of years, and loves the behind-the-scenes planning that goes into any successful cultural event. Sarah dreams of a world where everyone feels free and supported to explore and meld their passions, interests, and identities in new and exciting ways.
Originally from Québec City, Asa Brunet-Jailly resides in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal and is an English Literature and Jewish Studies student at McGill University. She is passionate about exploring the intersections of Anglo-Jewish and Yiddish literature, and has studied Yiddish for three years, both at McGill and at the Yiddish Book Center as an intermediate student. Asa’s poetry and prose have appeared in Niv Mag, Half a Grapefruit Magazine, The Veg, F Word, and The McGill Tribune Creative Supplement. She has interned at KlezKanada for over two years and has recently begun organizing Yiddish events with Rad Yiddish and Queer Yiddish Shmueskrayz. In both her research and community organizing, Asa aims to help amplify lesser-heard voices and promote intercommunity solidarity.
Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Sarah Biskowitz works at the Yiddish Book Center as the 2021-2022 Richard Herman fellow in bibliography and exhibitions. A 2021 graduate of Smith College, she has written for In geveb and Hey Alma, and has volunteered for Yiddish New York, KlezKanada, and the Paris Yiddish Center Medem Library. Her passions include exploring feminist Yiddish history and literature, planning and facilitating Yiddish events, and creating accessible and dynamic new Yiddish content. She aspires to draw from the Yiddish cultural tradition to build a more inclusive and vibrant Jewish community and a more equitable world. https://twitter.com/SarahBiskowitz
