YIVO Press Releases

Given the extraordinary circumstances of the current moment and to ensure the safety of our students and faculty YIVO will conduct the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture online for summer 2020 (June 29-August 7). In light of this change, the deadline for submitting applications and financial aid requests has been extended to May 29, 2020.

YIVO announces a new initiative to collect first-hand accounts of the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Jewish life.

On Friday, May 1, 2020, YIVO will launch the fourth class in the Shine Online Educational Series, A Seat at the Table: A Journey into Jewish Food.

YIVO is pleased to announce Fantastic Journeys, a free new online course taught by Executive Director Jonathan Brent, starting April 20, 2020.

All of YIVO’s online courses are free effective today. As restrictions continue to be imposed to help mitigate the spread of COVID19, “YIVO wants to help keep our spirits lifted and provide content to sustain our minds and soul.”

On Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 7:00pm. YIVO will host Why the Far Right Kills, a discussion between researcher Chip Berlet and journalist Talia Lavin, exploring why the far right political faction, compared to others, is so violent—and what drives them to kill again and again?

More than 150 people attended YIVO’s gala honoring award-winning documentary filmmaker Roberta Grossman and leading Holocaust and Jewish history scholar Dr. Samuel Kassow.

The recently appointed President of the Republic of Lithuania H.E. Gitanas Nausėda and First Lady Diana Nausėdienė visited the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York.

On Wednesday, July 31, 2019, YIVO presents a rehearsed reading of Leon Kobrin’s 1912 play Breach of Promise—a tragicomic slice of tenement life in New York City. 

Jonathan Brent, the Executive Director and CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, was conferred the Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania by H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania.