Contacts | Minor Program in Yiddish Studies | Summary of Requirements: Minor in Yiddish Studies | Courses

Minor Program in Yiddish Studies

Students in any field may complete a minor in Yiddish Studies. A combination of six language and literature/culture courses are required for the minor, which should be designed in consultation with the program coordinator: Jessica Kirzane, jkirzane@uchicago.edu.

Six courses are required for the minor, typically: 

  • YDDH 10100-10200-10300 Elementary Yiddish for Beginners I-II-III
  • Three additional courses, which may include:
    • YDDH 20100 Intermediate Yiddish I and YDDH 20200 Intermediate Yiddish II: Archival Skills
    • YDDH 21001 Advanced Yiddish I: Yiddish One-Acts 
    • YDDH 22321 Advanced Seminar in Yiddish: Lamed Shapiro
    • YDDH 23421 Advanced Seminar in Yiddish: Representations of Race and Racism
    • Yiddish literature/culture courses

Students who elect the minor program in Yiddish Studies must meet with the program administrator before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor and must submit the Consent to Complete a Minor Program form to their College adviser.

Courses in the minor may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors and may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality grades, and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.

Summary of Requirements: Minor in Yiddish Studies

Six courses are required for the minor, typically:

YDDH 10100-10200-10300Elementary Yiddish for Beginners I-II-III300
Three additional Yiddish courses300
Total Units600

Yiddish Courses

YDDH 10100-10200-10300. Elementary Yiddish for Beginners I-II-III.

The goal of this sequence is to develop proficiency in Yiddish reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Touchstones of global Yiddish culture are also introduced through song, film, and contemporary Yiddish websites.

YDDH 10100. Elementary Yiddish I. 100 Units.

The goal of this sequence is to develop proficiency in Yiddish reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Touchstones of global Yiddish culture are also introduced through song, film, and contemporary Yiddish websites.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kirzane     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 20300

YDDH 10200. Elementary Yiddish for Beginners II. 100 Units.

In this course, students will extend basic Yiddish speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, students should have a basic understanding of regional Yiddish variations in pronunciation and spelling, be able to understand and participate in a conversation in an increasingly comfortable and complex way, read simple texts with ease, have experience tackling more complex texts with the aid of a dictionary, and write short compositions with grammatical complexity. In the course of language study, students will also be exposed to key topics in the history of the Yiddish language and culture.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kirzane     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): YDDH 10100
Equivalent Course(s): YDDH 37400, JWSC 20400

YDDH 10300. Elementary Yiddish III. 100 Units.

In this course, students will acquire intermediate Yiddish speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, students should be able to conduct a conversation on a wide range of topics, be comfortable tackling complex texts with the aid of a dictionary, and write short compositions with grammatical complexity. In the course of language study, students will also be exposed to key topics in the history of the Yiddish language and culture. Students will also be introduced to basic Yiddish research skills.

Equivalent Course(s): YDDH 37500, JWSC 20500

YDDH 21724. Jewish Civilization III - Mothers and Motherhood in Modern Jewish Culture. 100 Units.

Jewish Civilization is a three-quarter sequence that explores the development of Jewish culture and tradition from its ancient beginnings through its rabbinic and medieval transformations to its modern manifestations. Through investigation of primary texts-biblical, Talmudic, philosophical, mystical, historical, documentary, and literary-students will acquire a broad overview of Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness while reflecting in greater depth on major themes, ideas, and events in Jewish history. The Spring course in 2022 will focus on mothers and motherhood in modern Jewish culture. From sentimentalized keepers of Jewish tradition to objects of ridicule burdened by stereotypes of overbearing, guilt-inducing behavior, Jewish mothers hold a prominent role in Jewish self-representations. Writing alongside or against these stereotypes, Jewish mothers themselves have struggled with the obligations and expectations of Jewish motherhood. Engaging with a variety of literary, theological, historical, and pop culture texts, this class explores Jewish feminisms in relation to motherhood, Jewish fictions of motherhood, and the role of motherhood in Jewish religious life and thought. This course includes material from a variety of different contexts for modern Jewish life, but places particular emphasis on American Jewish history and culture.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kirzane     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Students who wish to take this course for Civilization Studies credit, must also take Jewish Civilization I and II. The course may also be taken as an independent elective.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22013, GNSE 16004, JWSC 12004

YDDH 22323. Advanced Yiddish: Shikage literarisher khoydesh zshurnal. 100 Units.

In this course we will make our way through issues of Shikage literarisher khoydesh zshurnal, the monthly organ of Yiddish Chicago of the 1930s. Each class we will examine a different piece - poetry, prose, essay, etc. as well as exploring its historical context and drawing out linguistic nuances from the literature we read. Students will be expected to compose weekly response papers in Yiddish discussing the items they read in the journal.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kirzane     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 27652, YDDH 32323

YDDH 25524. Advanced Yiddish: Miriam Karpilove. 100 Units.

In this course, we will examine the Yiddish reportage, humor writing, short stories, and novels of pioneering popular Yiddish writer Miriam Karpilove in the context of labor politics, gender politics, literary realism, and the middlebrow. We will consider Karpilove's narrative strategies, ask questions about narratorial perspective, use of irony and pedagogical sense of judgement in Karpilove's work - published fiction and nonfiction as well as personal correspondence. Students will read Karpilove's published writing in newspapers and books and also be challenged to read some of Karpilove's work in handwritten manuscript form. The course will be conducted as a literature seminar, and students will be asked to produce three short analytical papers in Yiddish over the course of the quarter.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kirzane     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 27653, YDDH 35524


Contacts

Undergraduate Primary Contact

Assistant Instructional Professor in Yiddish
Jessica Kirzane
Cobb 501

Email