Lectures, Classes, and Tutoring with Rokhl Kafrissen

  A Holy Man with a Psychic Nose and the First Yiddish Fan-Fic: Two New Classes in April Six Week Reading Circle/ Leyenkrayz with   The Winding Road by Rokhl Feygenberg .  This will be a hybrid, Yiddish-English  leyenkrayz .  We will read the entire book using the new English translation. When we meet, the discussion will be in English and we will read selected passages out loud in Yiddish. (You’ll read as much or as little as you feel comfortable with.) Participants  will be assigned Yiddish passages in advance so they can practice ahead of time.  All levels of Yiddish reading are welcome. Participants will get valuable experience reading an older Yiddish publication which uses pre-YIVO standardization spelling. (Don’t worry, we’ll go over it together.) Reading the English translation simultaneously will also make working on the Yiddish a lot easier, especially for hesitant readers. The Winding Road is Rokhl Feygenberg's memoir of her childho...

New Mini-Class for Passover!  Elijah in Jewish Folk Culture The Prophet Elijah is one of the most intriguing figures in the Bible. Instead of dying, he was taken directly up to heaven in a flaming chariot. Not quite dead, not quite alive, his liminal status set him up to become a beloved, omnipresent character in Jewish folk cultures around the world.     In this new mini-course, we'll learn about this Elijah, a multi-faceted entity who might show up to reveal the hidden mysteries of the cosmos or... to save you from falling out a window. Long after the biblical period, Jews have called on him to exorcise the evil eye ( poo poo poo ) and thanked him for his aid in establishing new communities.    And then there's that mysterious fifth cup of wine at the Seder. We'll learn about the weird story behind that, as well. I hope you'll join us on this wild, flaming chariot ride through the many incarnations of Eliyahu hanovi - Elijah the Prophet.   Wednesday...