Good news, UT Austin: after a ten year hiatus, Yiddish is back on the curriculum.

The Daily Texan reports that Yiddish folklorist and Forward/Forverts editor Itzik Gottesman will be retuning to the campus to teach this coming fall, and a “two-semester intensive sequence will allow students to fulfill the foreign language requirement for most majors in one year.”

Says Kit Belgum, Germanic studies associate professor: “There is a very long tradition of Yiddish being offered in the department of Germanic studies at UT, until about 10 years ago. The idea to revive Yiddish at UT arose precisely because Dr. Gottesman was able to come back to UT. Under his guidance the program thrived in the 1990s and we expect it to be successful again.”

The interest in Yiddish has shifted since it was last taught at Austin—current students are less likely to have Yiddish-speaking relatives—but Gottesman is confident that enrollment numbers will be solid.

Zol zayn mit mazl!

The post Yiddish Returns to UT Austin appeared first on Jewcy.