Press

In Geveb: “Exhibition ‘NATO In Yiddishland’ in Berlin Gets Viewers Asking Illuminating, If Uncomfortable, Questions” (article by Jordan Lee Schnee, 2024)

“In the exhibition NATO in Yiddishland, [Yevgeniy] Fiks used Yiddish as a lightning rod to examine the contested geopolitical past and present, while also illuminating Yiddish’s complex non-nationality. The show was on display at Galerie Zeitzone, just a stone’s throw away from the old route of the Berlin Wall […] It was organized by the group Yiddish.Berlin. […] Later in the week, the local [Shmues un Vayn] group, a biweekly gathering to speak Yiddish organized by Jake Schneider, met for the 60th time in the gallery and held an open stage.”

In Geveb: “Yiddish and Berlin: A complex yet fruitful relationship?” (article by Anne-Christin Klotz about the Parataxe symposium Hebrew? Yiddish? Berlin?, which I co-curated with Mati Shemoelof, 2024)

“Yiddish culture is experiencing a steady revival in the city. Although Berlin may still be on the periphery of Yiddishland, its importance is undeniable, and it has been steadily growing over the past decade. In a way, Berlin is returning to its role as a meeting place for Yiddish writers, journalists, kultur-tuer, political activists, and intellectuals, that it once held during the Weimar Republic.”

Forverts: “A post-post-vernacular Yiddish conference” (article in Yiddish by Leyzer/Alec Burko about the German Yiddish studies conference, at which I presented, 2024)

“In one talk, the Berlin Yiddishist Jake Schneider coined an apt new term: ‘post-post-vernacular.’ Our readers are probably familiar with the term ‘postvernacular,’ popularized by the scholar Jeffrey Shandler in his book Adventures in Yiddishland. This refers to the way Yiddish lives on after people have stopped speaking it, often with a symbolic role. … But although Berlin’s Yiddishists aren’t usually native Yiddish speakers, they can speak it very decently. … They have already passed the stage of post- … and become post-post.”

Deutschlandfunk Kultur: “Hebrew? Yiddish? Berlin?” (radio interview in German with the writer Mati Shemoelof about the symposium of the same name that the two of us co-curated, 2024)

Forward: “You can now hear people speaking Yiddish in bars all over Berlin” (Article about the Yiddish social club I coordinate, Shmues un Vayn, 2024)

“Founded by translator Jake Schneider through the loose cultural collective Yiddish.Berlin, the group offers an opportunity to speak Yiddish casually, outside of formal classes. … One of the most striking effects of these get-togethers is its influence on members’ casual use of Yiddish in everyday life — something that’s rare now outside of the Hasidic community and small Yiddishist circles.”

Forverts: “A Yiddish Weekend in the English Countryside” (Article in Yiddish by Osian Evans Sharma about the UK Yiddish Sof-Vokh retreat, for which I also served on the organizing committee, 2023)  

“A lecture about ‘Queer Yiddish’ sparked surprise and laughter when the presenter [Jake Schneider] demonstrated that a scene from the well-known film The Dybbuk also has a queer subtext.”

Afn Shvel: “Only the Melody Remained: Scheunenviertel, Berlin’s Jewish Neighborhood” (Article in Yiddish by Sheva Zucker, Winter 2022–23 issue)

“Our tour guide Jake Schneider … had warned us that on this tour we would need … to imagine the unseen for ourselves. And indeed with his well-researched narration, with pictures and with music, he brought that neighborhood and that era to life for us.”