News from YIVO: Fall 2025
- YIVO’s Centennial Kickoff at the Neue Galerie
- Riverdale Temple Celebrates YIVO’s Centennial
- Marlene Meyerson JCC Tikkun Celebrates YIVO’s Centennial
- YIVO Participates in a Teacher Training Program in Lithuania
YIVO’s Centennial Kickoff at the Neue Galerie
On February 27, we had the opportunity to kick off YIVO’s centennial at our former home on Fifth Avenue and 86th Street. Now the Neue Galerie, the building was YIVO’s home for 40 years. Many of us have fond memories of the building—its beauty and its endearing quirks. Guests were treated to a performance by Eleanor Reissa and YIVO’s own Lorin Sklamberg.
Riverdale Temple Celebrates YIVO’s Centennial
The Riverdale Temple has long held a YIVO Jewish Culture Series which draws its presenters from the extensive network of scholars affiliated with the YIVO. Open to a broad public, these events are curated and produced by the indefatigable Yiddish cultural activist Yvette Marrin. (Marrin is the daughter of the Yiddish poet, Malka Lee, whose archival collection resides at YIVO in RG 367). To celebrate YIVO’s centennial year, Marrin coordinated a panel on the afternoon of June 8 featuring YIVO’s Jonathan Brent, Stefanie Halpern, Alex Weiser, and Lorin Sklamberg. Brent, Halpern, and Weiser discussed YIVO’s history and its current activities and initiatives. Sklamberg performed songs that are documented in YIVO’s archives and discussed the collections that contain them. The celebration was complete with a generous reception including a birthday cake labeled “Celebrating 100 Years of YIVO!”
Marlene Meyerson JCC Tikkun Celebrates YIVO’s Centennial
The Paul Feig z"l Tikkun Leil Shavuot festival at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan hosts thousands of visitors each year for a free, all-night marathon of study, film, music, dance, food, and conver- sation in celebration of Shavuot. The 2025 festival took place on June 1, 9pm to 5am and featured presentations celebrating YIVO’s centennial. Stefanie Halpern, the Director of YIVO’s collections, gave a powerpoint “show-and-tell” sharing rare and striking items from YIVO’s vast collection, drawing from YIVO’s centennial coffee table book, 100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Alex Weiser, YIVO’s Director of Public Pro- grams, led a concert-lecture featuring music around the theme of “Yiddish Songs of New York” with performances by Kristin Gornstein and Paul Kerekes.
YIVO Participates in a Teacher Training Program in Lithuania
On June 12 and 13, YIVO Executive Direc- tor & CEO Jonathan Brent and YIVO Chief of Staff Shelly Freeman traveled to Vilnius to lead a teacher training pro- gram to teach Lithuanian educators how to use the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum in their classrooms. The first exhibition, Beba Epstein: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Girl, was translated into Lithuanian by the Lithuanian Government in September of last year for use in Lithuanian schools. The second exhibition, Yitskhok Rudashevski: A Teenager’s Account of Life and Death in the Vilna Ghetto, is scheduled for translation later this year. This training initiative was organized in partnership with the International Commission and generously supported by the Good Will Foundation, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, and the City of Vilnius. Over 40 teachers from across Lithuania participated in the program that provided them with the tools to teach Lithuanian Jewish history using hundreds of primary source materials from YIVO’s archives. By providing Lithuanian students with a deep understanding of Jewish history and the Holocaust through authentic primary sources, the program aspires to nurture future generations of Lithuanians grounded in truth and committed to combating the evils of antisemitism.