Summer Internships in Yiddish Available; College Students Urged to Apply

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janet Kannel, Internship Coordinator (413) 256-4900, x131

AMHERST, MA – January 2, 2008 – The National Yiddish Book Center, a nonprofit Jewish cultural organization, is now accepting applications for its annual Steiner Summer Internship in Yiddish Studies. The Book Center will select 18 students for seven weeks of immersion in Yiddish language, history and culture. Interns study the Yiddish language, the Jewish culture and history of Central and Eastern Europe and America, pursue a research or translation project, and work with the Yiddish Book Center's comprehensive collection of modern Yiddish literature.

Each intern is awarded a stipend and provided with free housing, and receives undergraduate college credits for two courses. The Steiner Internship program runs from June 11 to July 30, 2008, and is open to all full-time university students. Detailed information and an application form can be found online at www.yiddishsummer.org. The application deadline is February 1, 2008.

The Steiner Summer Program faculty reflect a wide range of interests in contemporary Yiddish scholarship and a variety of disciplines and knowledge. Among the faculty members teaching in 2008 are: Michael Alpert, a pioneering figure in the current renaissance of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, who is internationally known for his performances and award-winning recordings with Brave Old World, David Krakauer, and other artists; Samuel D. Kassow, the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and author of the recently published Who Will Write Our History? ; Ellen Kellman, assistant professor in Yiddish Language and Literature at Brandeis University and an expert in the history of Yiddish print culture; Jeffrey Shandler, associate professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University, where he teaches classes on modern Yiddish literature and culture, American Jews and the media, and shtetl life; David Shneer, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver and author of Yiddish and the Creation of Soviet Jewish Culture; Jeff Warschauer, an internationally renowned mandolinist, guitarist, Yiddish singer and teacher; and Michael Wex, Canadian novelist, playwright, lecturer, performer, scholar and author of books on language and literature. His book, Born to Kvetch, was a surprise bestseller in 2005.

Of the 18 interns chosen for summer study, two will be named Fellows in the Cowl Jewish Leadership Program. Cowl Fellows will implement Yiddish programming on their own college and university campuses during the academic year. The National Yiddish Book Center will provide financial support to each Cowl Fellow as well as mentorship in programming, event planning, outreach, and publicity.

The National Yiddish Book Center is a 30,000-member organization dedicated to rescuing and distributing Yiddish and other Jewish books and opening their contents to the world. Its headquarters in Amherst, MA, houses the Jack and Ruthe B. Cowl Center for Jewish Culture, the Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, and a range of other cultural and educational resources. For more information about the National Yiddish Book Center, visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org.

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