Yiddish taught at U of M

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This article was published 21/08/2002 (8533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PROFESSOR Myroslav Shkandrij isn’t overly surprised at the early interest being shown for the new Yiddish program at the University of Manitoba.

The approximately 1,000 year old language has, after all, being going through something of a revival in North America and parts of Europe in the past few years, notes the head of the university’s department of German and Slavic Studies.

“We’ve had a steady stream of callers expressing interest,” says Shkandrij, adding the program will begin this fall as a full credit course. “The person we’ve hired to teach the course has access to the Yiddish language library at the Asper (Jewish Community) Campus and Yiddish films will be used as a resource.”

The program is being funded through the I.L. Peretz School Trust Fund, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg-Combined Jewish Appeal and private funding, notes Laurie Mainster, a member of the board of governors of the Peretz School Trust Fund.

“This is a dream of ours to have this kind of an educational opportunity,” he says, adding that the Trust Fund was set up with the money gained from the sale of the former Peretz School — a Jewish parochial school — on Jefferson Avenue.

Rachela Secter, who will be teaching the Yiddish course, says Yiddish was her first language.

“My parents were Holocaust survivors, and I was born in a Displaced Person’s camp in Saltzburg, Austria,” she says, adding that her parents eventually moved to Montreal. “I spoke Yiddish at home till I went to Peretz School (in Montreal) full-time. I continue to use the language with my mother.”

Sector says she’s currently working on a grant translating and cataloguing the core collection of Yiddish books that were transferred from the old Jewish Library on Main Street in West Kildonan to the Kaufmann-Silverberg Library at the Asper Campus.

“I’m very pleased that they’ve brought Yiddish back into the academic community,” she says, pointing out that Yiddish is far more connected to English than Hebrew is, in terms of vocabulary and Germanic background.

“Winnipeg is following in the steps of major centres across the world. I’ll be teaching basic Yiddish language. Obviously, I’m going to do a little bit of historical context. No prerequisite is needed.”

Adds Shkandrij, “We’ll be using our state of art language lab which includes a multi-media facility.”

For further information, call 474-6605 or 474-9370.

PHOTO MIKE DEAL/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Rachela Secter is teaching a new Yiddish language course this fall at the U of M.