Keeping the civilization of Eastern European Jewry alive and telling its stories.

Dear Friend,

What is the true story of shtetl life behind its romanticized mythology? Why did the democracy of the Weimar Republic collapse? How is the Holocaust remembered in Poland today? Why did most Jews stop speaking Yiddish to their children— in America, in the Soviet Union, in Israel? How did the music of the Yiddish theater help shape the sound of American musical theater? What makes a joke Jewish?

These are not antiquarian questions. They are questions that define who we are—as a people, as citizens of a democracy, as inheritors of a civilization that was almost entirely destroyed in living memory. And they are among the many questions that have animated YIVO public programs this past year.

YIVO is the world’s preeminent center for the study of Jewish history and culture. Our archives and library contain 24 million documents spanning six centuries of Jewish life—the most comprehensive record of the Ashkenazic Jewish world in existence. For a century, YIVO has supplied not merely facts and footnotes but the context and environment in which those facts can matter. That mission is at the heart of everything we do.

Our public programming—more than fifty events each year—is one of the primary ways we fulfill it. From book talks and lecture series to film screenings, concerts, and theatrical performances, YIVO brings the world’s leading scholars, writers, artists, and thinkers into conversation with audiences hungry for substance and depth. We hold ourselves to the highest standard of quality every time we put a program before the public.

And we don’t work alone. Our partnerships with Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the United Nations, and the Smithsonian Institution, among others, reflect a conviction that Jewish history and culture are not niche concerns—they are integral to understanding the human story. When YIVO participated in Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound festival, exploring the journey of klezmer and Yiddish music into the American mainstream, we were not merely offering a Jewish perspective on American culture. We were helping to tell America’s story.

The reach of our work extends further than any single auditorium. YIVO’s YouTube channel has grown to over 150,000 subscribers and more than five million views—a global audience drawn to exactly the kind of serious, illuminating programming we offer. A viewer in Warsaw, Buenos Aires, or Tel Aviv can watch a YIVO lecture on the history of Yiddish theater and find themselves connected, perhaps for the first time, to a living tradition they thought had vanished.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, most of our programs are offered free of charge or at minimal cost. But the work of building and sustaining them—identifying the right scholars and artists, developing the programming, reaching new audiences—requires real resources. Your contribution makes it possible for YIVO to continue doing what no other institution in the world can do as well: keeping the civilization of Eastern European Jewry alive and telling its stories.

Please make your gift today and help sustain YIVO’s vital work. The questions we ask are not only about the past—they shape our understanding of who we are and where we are going. With your support, YIVO can continue preserving, studying, and sharing this knowledge for generations to come.

!לשנה טובֿֿה – אַ גוט יאָר

Happy New Year!

Best regards,

Jonathan Brent Executive Director & CEO

Alex Wieser Director of Public Programs

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