 YIDDISHKAYT IS LOOKING FOR ITS NEXT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Yiddishkayt (www.yiddishkayt.org) is a small cultural nonprofit in Los Angeles founded in 1995. We strive to ensure the survival of the endangered thousand-year legacy of Yiddish language, culture and history. Originally a producer of the largest Yiddish festivals in the country, we have evolved into a full-service nonprofit organization.
With groundbreaking language, education and cultural programs, inventive partnerships, large-scale events, and innovative online communications, Yiddishkayt promotes and celebrates Yiddish as a profound pathway to Jewish identity.
Yiddishkayt seeks an Executive Director who will be committed to its mission and lead the organization to a new level of capacity and sustainability. The ideal candidate is an experienced visionary and collaborative leader capable of guiding the organization and providing supervision to its staff and volunteers, in cooperation with our Board of Directors. Our current staff includes one full-time and two part-time members.
The Executive Director will:
- Act as the face of Yiddishkayt and promote, maintain and develop relationships within the Yiddish and Jewish community at large.
- Lead strategic fund development and financial development in keeping with Yiddishkayt's needs and priorities.
- Develop an annual strategic plan and implementation of its goals.
- Lead and supervise staff and volunteers in carrying out the multifaceted work of Yiddishkayt, which includes a fellowship program, language education and large and small cultural events.
- Oversee the bi-monthly e-newsletter "Yidbits," which goes out to approximately 6,000 members of our community.
- Help develop the Board of Directors by assisting in recruitment of members who possess the optimal skills needed to strengthen and support our mission.
- Prepare an annual budget.
- Initiate, organize and promote programs that enhance Yiddishkayt's visibility, relevance, and effectiveness.
- Act as staff liaison for Board of Directors and the local community.
- Communicate Yiddishkayt's mission and programs with staff, volunteers and community.
The Executive Director will have the following skills and qualities:
- Minimum of Bachelor's Degree in relevant field
- A minimum of 5-7 years experience in a leadership position within the nonprofit or academic realms with one or all of the following: fundraising, community organization, program development, communications, financial management and staff management.
- Outstanding leadership, interpersonal and team building skills.
- Demonstrated fundraising capabilities.
- Ability to assume independent responsibility, take initiative, and manage numerous responsibilities simultaneously.
- Experience with management and supervision of staff.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills; ability to communicate Yiddishkayt's mission to the media and public.
- Deep engagement with the historic and contemporary Yiddish world.
- Connections to the national Jewish community and/or Los Angeles Jewish community.
- Possess an entrepreneurial drive.
Application Instructions
- Please email resume and cover letter to info@yiddishkayt.org. Hard copies will not be accepted. Please send as .doc or .pdf.
- Applications will be accepted until position is filled. We would like to fill the position as soon as possible.
- Salary is $50-$60K, with benefits, commensurate with experience.
- For questions, please call 213-389-8880 or email info@yiddishkayt.org
A sheynem dank for your interest.
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The Triangle Fire Poetry Contest (via Forverts)
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Quick: The Jewish Daily Forward/Forverts is running a Yiddish and English poetry contest -- entries due 2/14/11 --
click here for the entry form
 A century ago, 146 workers - mostly immigrant women - died as flames engulfed the floors where they worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City. The ensuing public outcry against unsafe work conditions was covered in detail in the pages of the Jewish Daily Forward by poet Morris Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld's portrayal of the brutal effects of employee exploitation led to a trial of the factory's owners, a greater push to unionize the garment trade and the establishment of new labor laws designed to protect workers. But did these events eradicate sweatshops? Lead to equality of opportunity for women? Change attitudes toward immigrants? End exploitation of the poor? The Forward is accepting  original, unpublished English and Yiddish poems that address these questions or reflect upon the tragic fire's meaning and legacy. A distinguished panel of judges will select a winning poem in each language to receive a $500 cash prize and to be published in the Forward. The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. EST on February 14, 2011. Read the complete rules, terms and conditions for participation in the Forward and apply!
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KEHILE - COMMUNITY CALENDAR
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| To have your event considered for the Yidbits Kehile Calendar, please submit your event to events@yiddishkayt.org at least two weeks prior and include all information in the body of the e-mail (no attachments, except for pictures).
NAHMA SANDROW AT THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR YIDDISH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE (CIYCL)
Yiddish Theatre Expert and Playwright DR. NAHMA SANDROW Speaking about "Love on the Yiddish Stage (and Backstage)" Sunday, February 6, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at the Yiddish Culture Club 8339 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA Admission: $8 Members, $12 General, FREE for Students For reservations and information, contact Miriam Koral (310) 745-1190 | miriam@yiddishinstitute.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------
LOOKING FOR A YIDDISH BABYSITTER
"My name is M ax Kellerman. I work on-air for HBO, CNN and now ESPN Radio LA, for whom my pregnant wife, two year old daughter Esther and I just moved to Los Angeles from NYC. I am conversant in Yiddish though my wife is not. We are looking for babysitting, and thought it would be great if that babysitter could speak Yiddish with Esther.
A friend from Yugntruf's "Yiddish Vokh" recommended that I contact Yiddishkayt. Any push in the right direction would be greatly appreciated."
If this sounds like you, send an e-mail with 'Yiddish babysitter' in the title to info@yiddishkayt.org.
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Who Do You Think You Are? Researching European and Jewish Ancestry at the SkirballThursdays, February 10, 17, and 24, and March 3, 1:30-3:00 p.m. (4 sessions)
Interested in exploring your roots and documenting your family history? Want to learn more about your immigrant ancestors and the lives they led, and build a family tree going backward (and forward) in time? It's easier than you think! This course will teach you how to get started even if you have very little information to go on. Learn how to access documents and vital records in the United States and overseas, including census and naturalization records and passenger manifests from the nineteenth century onwards. Also discover how Internet resources and online databases, as well as library and microfilm research, on-site archival research, and family tree software, can all help you reveal more about your ancestry.
$100 General; $80 Members; $60 Full-Time Students More information and sign up by clicking here
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Orange County's All Things Yiddish Festival Planning
A Program Grant from Jewish Federation & Family Services, Orange County is helping to launch the first OC Yiddish Festival to take place on September 18, 2011 at the Asa Learning Center at Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton. Yiddishkayt is encouraging people in the Southland to get involved.
If you are interested in helping Ann Nanes plan this program or to offer your insight, contact her at 714-680-4101 or via e-mail: realtorann@adelphia.net. |
| Der Vortsman |
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The Vortsman, meaning "man of his word," brings you the story of a different Yiddish word or phrase each month.
Written by Hershl Hartman, long-time Yiddishkayt Board Member and Education Director at the Sholem Community
Talk about confusion! (As we say in Yiddish: farmishn kashe mit borsht - mixing up buckwheat groats with beet soup.) Many times, the Anglicized children of Yiddish-speaking parents mis-hear and/or mis-remember what their parents say. Passing years do nothing to improve the situation. Cases in point: Reader Linda asked about three remembered words/phrases that had "stumped a Yiddish-speaking scholar." The Vortsman can sympathize with said scholar, given the nature of the memories. Stumper No. 1, as Linda recalled it and guessed at its transliteration, was "shmayah brya," which her family used to describe someone running about but accomplishing little. The actual phrase, beclouded by imprecise recollection, turns out to be a farshmayete bri'e, correctly rendered by the YIVO Standard. The adjective farshmayet (feminine: farshmayete) means "busy, bustling." Bri'e is a Hebrew-origin word that Yiddish uses, negatively, for "a creature, a being," although its original meaning is "creation, the world." Put them both together, you get "a bustling creature" (most definitely not a "busy world"). Linda also asked about, using her spelling, "koffe leffel." That meant, she recalled, "a whiner, complainer," and she was confused that Yiddish-English dictionaries defined kokhlefl as "a busybody." We can't surmise where the confusion may have arisen in Linda's family - or her memory - but kokhlefl has nothing to do with whining. Literally, it's a cook (kokh) spoon (lefl). Since the kitchen implement gets into all the pots, it's clear that Yiddish folk-speech applied the term to someone who gets into everything. The word that stumped the Vortsman (es zol zikh nit makhn vi es makht zikh - it shouldn't happen but it does) seems to be a family usage for "a mess." The word is "miggis," more accurately rendered as migis. No Yiddish or Hebrew dictionary nor even the Yiddish Thesaurus contains the word. A wild guess might point to Lithuanian as a point of origin, since Linda's family are litvakes all - emigrants from Lithuania in the early 1900s. Finally, a confusion of the Vortsman's own making. Feeling a bit put out by the cool smartphone users whose email messages end with "sent from my Blackberry," we decided to coin the Yiddish word shvartsyagde - combining black and berry. In a more sober moment, we recalled that "blackberry" is a real fruit and that it has a Yiddish name, o-zhe-ne with its accent on the first syllable, probably indicating a Slavic origin. So, the next time you're inclined to misuse your telephone (lit., distance speaker) for sending a message in script to the Vortsman, sign off with opgeshikt fun mayn ozhene.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Have a question for the Vortsman? Send him an email and ask the meaning of a favorite, or confusing, word or phrase. |
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3780 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1000 | Los Angeles, CA | 90010
Telephone: 213.389.8880 | Fax: 213.365.0702 | info@yiddishkayt.org
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