Yiddish graduate program

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN YIDDISH STUDIES

The goal of Columbia's graduate program in Yiddish Studies is to train future researchers and university teachers of Yiddish language and literature. Additionally, graduates will be able to serve the needs of museums, archives, schools, community centers, other cultural and communal institutions worldwide. Finally, knowledge acquired in the program may also provide the basis for creative endeavors by writers, translators, musicians, singers, and actors.

Columbia University offers the M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in Yiddish Studies. Students are admitted to one of the participating departments, usually the Department of Germanic Languages (other participating departments are History, Middle East Languages and Cultures, and Religion). Students are required to satisfy degree requirements set by the departments as well as those set by the Interdepartmental Committee on Yiddish Studies; in Germanic Languages, only the Interdepartmental Committee's requirements must be met. Financial aid is available to qualified students.

For admission, students are expected to have a high degree of proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking Yiddish and English; previous work in Hebrew, German, and a Slavic language is highly recommended, though not required.

Applicants are admitted as candidates for the M.A. degree and as potential candidates for the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. Continuation of study beyond the M.A. degree is not automatic, but must be authorized by the Interdepartmental Committee. The M.A. degree may be earned through a program of part-time study. Students complete eight courses and an essay based on original research that is approved by the faculty. In addition to completing the advanced Yiddish course, a reading knowledge of Hebrew or German is required.

For the M.Phil. degree, students complete an additional two years of study beyond the M.A. Such study includes completion of the core Yiddish Studies graduate courses, as well as electives, and extensive training in related outside fields. In addition, a reading knowledge of both Hebrew and German must be demonstrated. After completing the course work, the student must pass written examinations in the general field of Yiddish Studies, in an area of specialization within Yiddish Studies, as well as in one of the following fields: modern Hebrew literature, east European Jewish history, German language and literature, comparative literature, or religion. The student must also demonstrate fluency in speaking and writing Yiddish, since all students are potential future instructors of Yiddish language and culture.

After completing all requirements for the M.Phil. degree, the student must present and defend a prospectus for a dissertation topic agreed upon by the adviser and by a subcommittee of the Interdepartmental Committee. The student must then write and succes sfully defend a dissertation in Yiddish Studies.

Work by recent Ph.D.'s and advanced graduate students has focused on areas as diverse as Yiddish literary criticism and history, American Jewish social and cultural history, and intellectual currents among Eastern European Jews. Recent graduates from the program, their research topics, and their current employment, include:

  • Andrew Sunshine, Ph.D. 1991, "Opening the mail: Interpersonal aspects of discourse and grammar in Middle Yiddish letters." Assistant Dean, Columbia College, and Co-editor and Research Associate, The Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry.

  • Ori Kritz, Ph.D. 1993, "The poetics of anarchy: David EdelshtatUs revolutionary poetry." Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, Emory University.

  • Daniela Mantovan, Ph.D. 1993, "Der Nister and his symbolist short stories (1913-1929): Patterns of imagination." Yiddish translator and instructor, Heidelberg.

  • Jeffrey Shandler, Ph.D. 1995, "While America watches: Television and the Holocaust in the United States, from 1945 to the present." Annenberg scholar, University of Pennsylvania.

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