More than Days and Dates: Yiddish Calendars as Cultural Agents, 1870-1914
Nathan Cohen (U Bar Ilan)
- Beginning:
- Monday, 15 June 2026 16:15
Abstract:
From the end of the eighteenth century, Jewish calendars, originally a small and very focused publication, developed into a “cultural omnibus” that offered useful information regarding many aspects of everyday life. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and until the First World War, alongside Hebrew calendars, the number of Yiddish calendars continually grew and their contents expanded far beyond basic calendrical information. The political, social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred during this period had significant implications for Jewish society. Publishers, editors, and authors, driven by Maskilic and utilitarian motives, and subsequently by new and challenging socio-cultural or political ideas, used the accessible and widespread calendar-form to impart to the Yiddish reading public new literary content and instructive insights in various fields of knowledge, transforming it into a condensed encyclopedic publication. Simultaneously, Yiddish itself was “evolving” from a ridiculed “zhargon” into a legitimate tool for composing belles lettres, scientific, and educational compositions. This paper will present and review some aspects of this fascinating genre, until now largely neglected by the scholarly literature.
Cooperation:
Professur für Slavisch-Jüdische Studien
Venue:
GS OSESUR, Landshuter Straße 4, 93047 Regensburg, Room 017 (ground floor)