Lectures, Classes, and Tutoring with Rokhl Kafrissen

I just received this lovely testimonial from one of my wonderful b'nei mitzvah students. One-on-one teaching has been such an honor and a blessing. Whether you're 12 or 32, it's always the perfect time to start learning about Ashkenaz and working on your Yiddish. Drop me a line and let's start learning together! Rokhl seamlessly weaves between pop culture references, cross-cultural religious texts, heady university journal publications, found media footage, and more, in pursuit of helping her students fully appreciate the point she is making.  She truly sees me as a student in a rare and special way-- without any kind of judgement. She has a knack for accurately assessing where my current base of knowledge is so that she can meet me at my level and then help me raise the bar. She has a rare teaching strength in assigning homework that genuinely enhances my comprehension of the lessons.   In Rokhl's classes, I learn not only about fascinating core content-- I feel li...

Apotropaic (Anti-Demonic) Technologies in Yiddish   illustration by Rokhl 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 available, ordinary mothers and fathers often had their own techniq...

I think we can all agree, the best Purim costume possible is tiny kids in paper crowns and coordinated tunics. (Please click over to Your Roots in Poland to enjoy more adorable pictures of kids in paper Purim crowns and such.) The custom of donning costumes and masks on Purim is relatively recent in Jewish history, starting in Europe in the late 15th century. In my mind, I imagined older Purim "masks" to be like bedazzled eye shields, the kind worn in movies with bored aristocrats attending decadent balls. Or maybe a Harlequin mask. What I wasn't expecting was this terror- This is from the Rothschild Foundation "Judaica Index". It's a  19th century papier-mache Purim mask from Moravia . I haven't had a good night's sleep since I saw it, and now you won't, either. I mean, it's just slightly less terrifying than the original Irish Jack o'lantern, made from Old World turnips: Turnip Jack O'Lantern - Image from the Carnegie Museum of Nat...

About Rokhl ... Rokhl Kafrissen is a journalist, teacher, playwright, and 2022 winner of the prestigious Adrienne Cooper "Dreaming in Yiddish" prize.  Since 2017, her " Rokhl’s Golden City ” column has appeared monthly in Tablet magazine, covering the length and breadth of Yiddish culture.  For the past two years, she has brought her fan favorite Ashkenazi Folk Magic and Ritual classes to the Yiddish Book Center: “Between Heaven and Earth: Yiddish Women's Folklore, Rituals, & Magic” (Fall, 2023) and "Sacred Time and Liminal Space: Ashkenazi Folk Magic at the Threshold" (Fall, 2024). In 2024, she offered a series of classes on "Everyday Ashkenazi Magic" through the Congress for Jewish Culture . In addition to classes and lectures on Ashkenazi magic, she teaches Yiddish language and culture for private students in a one on one, personally tailored Jewish education experience.   Her Ashkenazi Heritage Tutoring package is a pe...