Yiddish San Francisco: Keeping Culture Alive

The history of San Francisco Jewry tends to be told in terms dominated by the experience of successful Jews from German-speaking lands who settled in California in the era of the Gold Rush. Less attention is given to the lives of Yiddish-speaking Jews from Eastern Europe who began arriving in significant numbers in the late nineteenth century. This presentation will focus on how the language they brought with them found expression in San Francisco’s cultural and political life in the first half of the 20th Century. 

Howard Freedman has served since 2009 as Director of the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco. A longtime educator, he has taught in a wide variety of settings. He has written the Off the Shelf column on books in J. The Jewish News of Northern California since 2012.