{"id":860947,"date":"2026-03-30T18:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860947\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:48:20","slug":"a-summer-of-yiddish-planned-for-london-the-jewish-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860947\/","title":{"rendered":"A summer of Yiddish planned for London &#8211; The Jewish Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Since word of the festival has started to go round, he said:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve already got 100 people interested in coming. Even people abroad have written asking for more details. I\u2019m very heartened and encouraged by the number who have volunteered to help run it. Some have offered money to help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Classes at beginners, intermediate and advanced stages are planned as well as cultural workshops and performances. \u201cI\u2019ve got three of the finest Yiddish teachers in London to run the course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are now putting together a klezmer worship for eight to 18-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although not a native Yiddish speaker himself, he heard his parents speak it from time to time at home and among friends. Now 78, he is at the \u201cbeginner\u2019s stage\u201d but added: \u201cIt\u2019s getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Martin, Yiddish\u00a0represents not just\u00a0a language but an entr\u00e9e into a whole culture. While \u201cit evokes memories of a lost world\u201d, it remains \u201ca living culture \u2013 I don\u2019t want people to dismiss it as old-fashioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, he says:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m amazed by the interest in Yiddish among the culturally curious. There is a lot of potential to revive interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, HGSS isn\u2019t the only place running a Yidish programme this summer. Later in the month, the Jewish Music Institute\u00a0(JMI) is holding a Yiddish Culture Weekend between August 28 and 31, which will include a day of language\u00a0classes\u00a0and workshops on August 30. There will also be talks, screenings\u00a0and klezmer concerts.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"p-smartembed\" data-attr-caption=\"Martin Kaye\" data-attr-credit=\"\" data-attr-has-caption=\"true\" data-attr-has-credit=\"true\" data-attr-q=\"0.3\" data-attr-w=\"400\" data-onecms-id=\"contentid\/1q2o07y7x4ouir65wrr\" data-onecms-type=\"image\" href=\"javascript:throw new Error('React has blocked a javascript: URL as a security precaution.')\" polopoly:contentid=\"contentid\/1q2o07y7x4ouir65wrr\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/etgar2 (2).jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\"   alt=\"Martin Kaye\"\/>Martin Kaye[Missing Credit]<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The popularity of klezmer is one indication of its attractions, says Martin.\u00a0\u201cI have a nephew who is trained in violin, who loves playing klezmer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Yiddish, he believes, is \u201cmuch nicer\u201d than spoken Hebrew. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautifully soft language and very easy to express yourself in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As an example of its expressiveness, he cites a euphemistic phrase for \u201cpremarital sex\u201d, which translates into English as \u201ceating before praying\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>To sign up for the HGSS Yiddish course, click<a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/7d2uNU5VvyRxShxYA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the course being run by JMI, go to jmi.org.uk or click <a href=\"http:\/\/jmi.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since word of the festival has started to go round, he said:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve already got 100 people interested in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,245102,245104,46789,257,16,15,245103],"class_list":{"0":"post-860947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-hampstead-garden-suburb-synagogue","12":"tag-jewish-education","13":"tag-languages","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-yiddish"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116319624227846364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}