Yiddish isn’t dead and for more proof, look no further than Richmond Yiddish Week, which will bring together artists, scholars and community members for a citywide celebration of all things Yiddish.

Samantha Shokin and Danny Kraft, the organizers of Richmond’s first-ever festival devoted entirely to Yiddish language, culture and history, aim to prove that Yiddish art and culture is flourishing by presenting a tiny window into a vast and vibrant living tradition. The festival’s logo shows a clarinet player set against one of Richmond’s iconic train bridges.

While there’s never been a Yiddish festival in Richmond — or even Virginia — there’s a growing international movement of people like Shokin and Kraft (Yiddishists) who are committed to the study and promotion of Yiddish culture, which is known as Yiddishkayt.

“With Yiddish Week, we’re building on the legacy of international festivals like KlezKanada and Yiddish Summer Weimar, which for years have challenged tired old stereotypes about Yiddish language and culture,” says Shokin. “We both saw a need for it. This is our way of continuing this long chain of transmission and renewal right here in Richmond.”

Americans of all backgrounds use Yiddish frequently, often without realizing that they’re doing so. Think of words like schlep, klutz, or bagel, a food that originated in Poland’s Yiddish-speaking communities.

Yiddishkayt has also shaped American humor and entertainment in profound and often intangible ways. Comedians like Mel Brooks and Rodney Dangerfield honed their craft performing for the Yiddish-speaking audiences of New York’s Borscht Belt, a popular resort region in the Catskills. Stella Adler, the influential acting teacher whose students included Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro and Salma Hayek, was born into a Yiddish theater dynasty, and spent her early years as a child actress in New York’s Yiddish theater scene.

The programming for Yiddish Week kicks off with a concert Saturday at the Gold Lion Café featuring klezmer music performed by local bands My Son the Doctor and the Vulgar Bulgars, two bands known for bringing the good times with them.

Sunday’s Yiddish Storytime at the Main Library is an opportunity for children and families to encounter Yiddish language and culture in a welcoming, kid-friendly way. Through children’s books that celebrate Yiddish and bilingual, Yiddish-English readings of beloved stories, kids of all ages can connect with Yiddishkayt. “We wanted to ensure that Yiddish was not just presented as a heritage for grown-ups, or as a dead tradition we commemorate but don’t pass on to the next generation,” explains Shokin.

On Monday, Studio Two Three will host a Yiddish Dance and Instrumental Klezmer Music workshop with Ilya Shneyveys and Sarah Myerson. Yiddish dance is the folk-dance tradition that developed in tandem with klezmer music and the duo has taught these traditions at festivals around the world. Dance participants will learn a variety of Yiddish dance styles while instrumentalists learn to play klezmer music for dancing. Best of all, the workshop is open to participants of all levels.

The centerpiece of the week is a concert at Reveler Experiences Tuesday by Shneyveys and Myerson, the duo known as Electric Rose. In their immersive lo-fi performance, they reimagine the obscure songs of Rose Cohen, a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine who brought her family’s unique repertoire of Yiddish ballads, Jewish prayers and Slavic folk songs to the New World at the turn of the 20th century. “Using wildly electric, multi-instrumental flair, Sarah and Ilya depict Cohen’s stories of love and loss, work and immigration in unexpected ways,” says Shokin.

On Wednesday, “SHTTL,” a Ukrainian French film depicting a Yiddish shtetl in Ukraine on the eve of the Nazi invasion will be screened at the Virginia Commonwealth University Commons Theatre. The film follows Mendele, a filmmaker who returns from Kyiv to reunite with the love of his life, disrupting the balance of the entire town. Shot in a single take and featuring nearly all Yiddish dialogue, “SHTTL” captures one final day in the life of the shtetl before its disappearance

Kraft will teach two lecture/workshops. The first, “The Struggle with God in Modern Yiddish Poetry,” happens Thursday, Jan. 8 at Quarry in Carytown. In that session, Kraft will lead attendees in reading and discussing great Yiddish poems. “We’ll use English translations, so no knowledge of Yiddish required,” he says. “The translations present complex experiences and yearnings, and we’ll consider their relevance to our own spiritual journeys.”

For those wondering where the Yiddish language came from, or how Yiddish culture developed into one of the 20th century’s most dynamic and diverse diasporic traditions, there’s Friday’s Pre-Shabbos Nosh & Learn: “What is Yiddishkayt? An Introduction to Yiddish Language and Culture” at the University of Richmond.

Shokin is clear that anyone and everyone interested in Yiddish culture, from total newcomers to seasoned Yiddishists, are welcome at Richmond Yiddish Week. “The festival is open to folks of all ages,” says Shokin. “But we’re especially hoping to attract young people to our events.”

Organizing the festival has not been without its challenges, particularly navigating pushback from some pockets of the Jewish community during a very fraught political moment. “People are understandably skeptical of any new initiative, especially one that’s completely independent,” Shokin explains. “The question on everyone’s mind is, what’s their stance on Israel? This isn’t about that.”

For now, Shokin and Kraft are thinking of turning Richmond Yiddish Week into a year-round event series. But if the festival is a hit and there’s demand for it, they’d consider doing it again, hopefully with more resources. Those wishing to support Yiddish programming in Richmond can do so by making a tax-deductible donation via their fiscal sponsor at this link.

Kraft insists that Yiddish still matters in 2026 because it’s one of the world’s great diasporic cultural inheritances. Yiddish has never belonged to any particular state or been beholden to any government.

“At a time of rising ethnonationalism, Yiddish offers people of all backgrounds a model of how to make vibrant, diverse, meaningful art and culture in complicated and unfriendly political environments,” he says. “It’s about how to keep traditions alive across national borders, through all the upheavals and violence of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

Richmond Yiddish Week will be held at various locations from Jan. 10 – 16. Learn more and find tickets and registration at their website.