Shabbat Service and Cultural Program
Our Shabbat service, in-person.
Our Cultural Program:
Yiddish Women Writers in New York
A talk by Ellen Cassedy
Award-winning translator Ellen Cassedy will talk about the remarkable women who wrote in Yiddish in New York – and about New York. She’ll focus in on the work of Blume Lempel, Kadya Molodowsky, and Rashel Weprinsky, and discuss what they have to tell us about women, about the human condition, and about our city.
For Ellen, translating women who wrote in Yiddish is a passion, a cause. It’s about reclaiming the words of silenced people who broke through the silencing. For these writers, the Yiddish language was a precious portable homeland, and their attachment to “mama-loshn” (“mother tongue”) was fierce, defiant, and loving.
Blume Lempel, who wrote the amazing story “Oedipus in Brooklyn,” wrote: “I lift my eyes to the heavens and hear God answering me in Yiddish. The birds, real and imagined, speak Yiddish, and the wind at my window speaks Yiddish.”
Ellen Cassedy is a translator from Yiddish, with a special focus on women writers. Her translations include Blume Lempel’s Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories (with co-translator Yermiyahu Ahron Taub) and Yenta Mash’s On the Landing and Other Stories. She is the author of the award-winning memoir, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust, an account of her journey into the land of her Jewish forebears and an exploration of how Lithuania today is (and is not) exploring its Jewish heritage. She lives in New York City. Visit her website at www.ellencassedy.com.
We will be streaming this in-person service!
Watch live on our youtube channel.
Important!
For events taking place at NYFA, visitors are required to complete the one-time waiver below. Please review, complete, and bring this document with you the first time you attend an event at NYFA.
We will also have copies to be completed at check-in.
NYFA COVID restrictions
NYFA visitor waiver
Important!
For events taking place at NYFA, visitors are required to complete the one-time waiver below.
Please review, complete, and bring this document with you the first time you attend an event at NYFA.
We will also have copies to be completed at check-in.
NYFA COVID restrictions
NYFA visitor waiver
In person RSVP
The City Congregation is a volunteer led organization, much of our programming relies directly on our members.
To suggest a cultural program, click here.
To donate and help support us financially, click here.