Lectures, Classes, and Tutoring with Rokhl Kafrissen

“Elul Days in a Rebbe’s Court in Galitsiye” by Menashe Unger Originally published in "Der Tog-Morgn Zhurnal" (New York City) September 1, 1957  translation by Rokhl Kafrissen Writing in 1957, Menashe Unger looks back on his childhood days in the shtetl of Zhabne/Zabno , in what was then Austro-Hungary. He was probably around 10 years old at the time of the events he recounts, so that would make it somewhere around 1910. Writing about hasidim and the hasidic world was Unger’s bread and butter as a working writer, and this essay is an excellent example.   I've used this piece to teach about Elul for the last two years. I love sharing it with students because it brings us right into Unger’s world: the tastes, smells, and sounds of Elul seem to waft off the page. I also love it for the delicious juxtaposition of the seriousness of the season next to the hijinks of Unger and his pals. There is the indoor, spiritual world of Unger’s father, the Rebbe, and the o...

On May 26 I had the great honor and delight to be part of the opening night event for the latest YIVO exhibit: Jews are Magic: Occult Practices from Palmistry to Professional Psychics . If you haven't seen it already, this wonderful exhibit is up at the Center for Jewish History through December 2026.     The full video of the opening event is now available to watch online:  

Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic – The Demons of Summer Wednesday afternoons: July, 15th, 22nd, and 29th at 2pm EST. ($125). All sessions are recorded and available to watch afterwards. To sign up, send an email to cjcrokhl@gmail.com   Summer school is in session You are warmly invited to join me for the newest edition of “Introduction to Everyday Ashkenazi Magic," summer session.    What is Everyday Ashkenazi Magic? We often associate Jewish magic with kabbalists and wonder working rabbis, men who study the Zohar and who use their mastery of sacred names and mystical techniques to write amulets and perform miracles. But what about everyone else? What about that 50% of the population (at minimum) who did not, and could not, study those sacred texts? Everyday Ashkenazi Magic is our frame for finding the magic wielded by  everyone else , especially women. Our primary source texts are mostly in Yiddish, the language of everyday life, rather than Hebrew-A...

Rooster in the Cradle (Part Two): A Brief History of the Evil Eye and Yiddish Anti-Demonic Technologies You are warmly invited to join us for Rooster in the Cradle (Part Two) on Tuesday evenings, July 14, 21 and 28 at 7pm EST. ($100)   To register, send an email to cjcrokhl@gmail.com   Everyone is invited to this class, even if you haven’t taken Part 1. If you’ve ever put a red ribbon around a crib, or uttered a kinehore ( keyn ayin-hore , Yiddish for “no evil eye”), you have drawn on a rich tradition of embodied, apotropaic (anti-demonic) magic  going back thousands of years.   In many Eastern European towns, you could find Jewish men and women who specialized in exorcising the Evil Eye: the (op)shprekher(ke)s . Where a specialist wasn’t available, ordinary mothers and fathers had their own techniques for lifting bewitchments. When I say this was an embodied magic, I mean it quite literally. Even the simple act of “poo poo poo-ing” drew on the power...

Rooster in the Cradle :  A Brief History of the Evil Eye and Yiddish Anti-Demonic Technologies Thursdays, June 11, 18 & 25 at 7pm EST (online) Belief in the Evil Eye has been with us for 5000 years and is found all over the globe. Disease, sudden death, bad luck, sleeplessness, crop failure, and impotence have all been blamed on the power of a malevolent human gaze. Jewish belief in the Evil Eye ( ayin-hore ) appears in core rabbinic texts, as well as in Jewish folk cultures around the world. If you’ve ever put a red ribbon around a crib, or uttered a  kinehore  ( keyn ayin-hore , Yiddish for “no evil eye”), you have drawn on a rich tradition of apotropaic (anti-demonic) magic that goes back thousands of years. But the history of the Evil Eye, and the Jewish defense against it, goes far beyond red ribbons and kinehores . Indeed, in many shtetls and towns, you could find Jewish men and women who specialized in exorcising the Evil Eye.  Where a specialist wasn’t av...

This June I am offering a new leyenkrayz : six short stories from Found Treasures over six weeks.  (Six consecutive Wednesdays starting June 10 at 7pm)  This is really a hybrid- leyenkrayz . Each week we will read the story in English translation ahead of time. I send out the Yiddish text and in class, we read selections from the Yiddish out loud, along with a class discussion of the story in English.  This new leyenkrayz is coming after the success of my first leyenkrayz over April-May. We read the wonderful new translation of Rokhl Faygenberg's 1905 memoir, The Winding Road . Each week we read part of the Yiddish and for week 4, we had a visit from the translator, Tamara Helfer .  This hybrid format turned out to be perfect for Yiddish learners who aren't ready to read an entire Yiddish novel on their own. Reading the English ahead of the Yiddish aids comprehension tremendously. It also allows beginner and intermediate students the opportunity to think about t...