The Ashkenazi Jews of Mexico

Yiddish Civilization Lecture Series See all lectures » Admission: Free Watch the video

Adina Cimet | Delivered in Yiddish.

The Ashkenazi Jews of Mexico are a relatively small community through which one can observe the Jewish ideological battles of the 20th and 21st centuries. This talk will feature a description of the birth of the Jewish Ashkenazi community in Mexico in the 20th century; a discussion of the community’s structural development and expansion; and an exploration of the ideological variety, richness, and effervescence of its communal life. The lecture will include a particular focus on Jewish-educational efforts within the community as well as the Yiddish language as a marker of identity and communal affiliation.

About the Speaker

Adina Cimet was born in Mexico City to Eastern European parents. Cimet grew up in a Yiddish speaking home and attended Jewish Day school receiving a trilingual education in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish. Cimet has degrees in Sociology from UNAM University in Mexico City, the London School of Economics, and Columbia University. Cimet has written a variety of academic articles on power differentials, language fights, cultural asymmetries, and political tensions. She is the author of Ashkenazi Jews in Mexico; Ideologies in the Structuring of a Community (SUNY Press) and Jewish Lublin, A Cultural Monograph (Marie-Curie Sklodowska University Press). Cimet has also served as a docent for The Jewish Museum in New York, Director of the EPYC (Educational Program of Yiddish Culture) for YIVO, Director of web page  "When these streets heard Yiddish", for YIVO, and Director Consultant (temporary) for Yiddish Pop. Cimet has lectured at UNAM Mexico, Drexel University, and served as an instructor at Columbia University for their Contemporary Civilization Course.