YIVO Press Releases

Jerry Lewis, art by Drew Friedman. Courtesy of Drew Friedman. New York, NY (February 11, 2016) – The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research's newest exhibition, Professional Jokers: Jewish Jesters from the Golden Age of American Comedy. Professional Jokers opens at 6:00 pm on Monday, February 29, at YIVO (located at 15 ...

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Samuel Kassow as the 2016 Jacob Kronhill Visiting Scholar in East European Jewish History.

Judith Berkson presents arrangements of cantorial music from YIVO’s sound archives, including unreleased and rare recordings. Frank London (trumpet), Cleek Schrey (Hardanger d'amore fiddle), and Lana Cencic (with Berkson on, Farfisa and Viscount vintage analog organs, vocals and effects) are the ensemble.

YIVO’s newest exhibition, Jewface: “Yiddish” Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley, looks at the ways in which early 20th century entertainment mocked Jews, engaged Jews, and developed Yiddish-accented English for comic effect.

As part of the YIVO Jewish Culture Series, Dr. Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Dr. Steven M. Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy, Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute for Religion, and Rabbi Thomas A. Gardner of Riverdale Temple, address widespread concerns about the state of American Jewry today.

Former Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus of Harvard University, Summers, discusses the growing concerns of anti-Semitism on college campuses amidst the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents the world premiere of the film No Asylum: The Untold Chapter of Anne Frank’s Story. Based on recently-discovered letters by Otto Frank in YIVO’s archives, No Asylum interviews Anne Frank’s surviving family, Buddy Elias and Eva Geiringer-Schloss, about the family’s last efforts to seek refuge in America before going into hiding in 1942. The Frank family was discovered and arrested in 1944.  

Two legends come together at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’s 13th Annual Heritage Gala: Theodore Bikel and Sholem Aleichem. Theodore Bikel – world-renowned actor, singer, author, and activist – was honored with YIVO’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his commitment to popularizing Yiddish culture. YIVO also announced the creation of the Sholem Aleichem Family Legacy Collection donated in memory of Bel Kaufman, Sholem Aleichem’s granddaughter, by her children, Thea and Jon Goldstine. The collection includes rare family treasures.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research receives a generous anonymous challenge grant of $1,160,000. The challenge grant, the single largest gift in YIVO’s 90 year history, will provide funds over the next 5 years to support the creation of The YIVO Vilna Collections project. The anonymous donor will match all contributions, 1:2, up to $1,160,000.

The Lithuanian Government-designated joint commission, bringing together various governmental officials and Jewish representatives from the Lithuanian Jewish Community and international Jewish organizations, held its first meeting in Vilnius. Topics addressed were the protection and preservation of Jewish cemeteries and mass graves of Holocaust victims, the restoration of synagogues and other Jewish heritage sites, the education of Lithuanian children about the history of Lithuanian Jewry, and the gaps in Lithuanian law on private property restitution and its subsequent implementation.