First day of class

Today was our first day of classes at the Yiddish Institute - certainly a change of pace from our honeymoon in Italy! There are 12 students in my Yiddish 1 class and about 10 in Jessica's Yiddish 4 class, and these students are from all around the world (England, Canada, Israel, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, etc.). In Yiddish 1, we reviewed the alphabet (alef-beis) and in Yiddish 4, Jessica's class went over several Yiddish poems (you can see the difference, can't you?). My homework: Write three sentences. Jessica's homework: Write three pages (though she has one extra day). Let's just say I'm glad I'm in my own class!

This afternoon, we watched a film called Ivan and Abraham, which depicted Jewish-Polish relations in the 1930s. I thought the acting was a bit flat, but the imagery and character development were fascinating, giving a taste of pre-WWII life for Jews and non-Jews alike (or at least the retrospective view of that life from the early 1990s). This is the first of several films that we'll be viewing, and I'm as excited to see the content as to learn about the perspective of the filmmakers that gave birth to these stories. More on those as we get to them!

I'm very impressed by the other students that I've met. Most I've spoken with do not identify as Jewish but are nonetheless interested in studying Jewish language, culture, and history. Students have come for any number of reasons with such a variety of stories - I'm endlessly interested to learn each person's story and to see the world though his or her eyes. I'm so looking forward to getting to know everyone better!