Yiddish in Sydney

Plus61JMedia and the Jewish Museum of Australia
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2020 has signalled a new dawn for Yiddish. Hit Netflix series Unorthodox has beamed the language into millions of loungerooms for the first time. Video conferencing platforms have connected Yiddish speakers – from beginners to advanced –living in lockdown. A Yiddish translation of Harry Potter sold out in days.But in Sydney – the city that hosted Australia’s first ever Yiddish theatrical performances and was once home to the much-loved Yiddish Entertainment Group – the language has been on a long, slow decline. This two-part podcast investigates what became of the city’s small but passionate Yiddish community. And whether Zoom, streaming services and a renewed interest in the past, might hold the key to its future.

Episodes

  1. 10/22/2020

    Part 2: 2020 and beyond

    In our second and final part, we meet Sydney’s last remaining formalised Yiddish group – the Sunday group – who meet once a month for a schmooze and bagel. Numbering around 30, these babyboomer women (and a small number of men) are passionate about the language’s survival. For them, Yiddish evokes childhood memories; speaking it is a tribute parent’s generation and a commitment to keep their memory alive. But when they too pass on, who will be left to foster Yiddish? Do streaming services, language apps, streaming services and Zoom meetings hold the key to Yiddish’s future in the 21st century? Yiddish language researcher and teacher, Professor Rebecca Margolis of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, shares her vision for Yiddish-speaking communities in Sydney and beyond.

  2. 10/12/2020

    Part 1: the post-war period to today

    In Part 1, we meet three women (Carla, Rosa and Rosita) who grew up in vibrant post-war Jewish Sydney, among a community of Yiddish speakers, Bundists and performers. The women recall a time when the Folk Centre, a small club house for Yiddish speakers located in Bondi Junction, bustled with newly arrived refugees and migrants.   Central to this period was Salo Sperling – the Singing Barber of Bondi. Sperling, born in the Yiddish-speaking heartland of Chernowitz (then Romania, today Ukraine), survived the Holocaust and arrived in Sydney in 1948. A talented tenor and actor with an emerging performance career in pre-war Europe, he began organising Yiddish concerts with a number of famous actors and singers. Over many decades Sperling and his group performed to capacity audiences at venues across the Sydney. Despite his best efforts, the language never grew beyond the fringes of the Jewish community. And when Sperling passed away at the age of 102, the Yiddish music died with him.

  • 2 Episodes

About

2020 has signalled a new dawn for Yiddish. Hit Netflix series Unorthodox has beamed the language into millions of loungerooms for the first time. Video conferencing platforms have connected Yiddish speakers – from beginners to advanced –living in lockdown. A Yiddish translation of Harry Potter sold out in days.But in Sydney – the city that hosted Australia’s first ever Yiddish theatrical performances and was once home to the much-loved Yiddish Entertainment Group – the language has been on a long, slow decline. This two-part podcast investigates what became of the city’s small but passionate Yiddish community. And whether Zoom, streaming services and a renewed interest in the past, might hold the key to its future.

Information

  • Creator
    Plus61JMedia and the Jewish Museum of Australia
  • Years Active
    2020
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Plus61JMedia
  • Show Website
    Yiddish in Sydney