Yugntruf – Youth for Yiddish () is an organization of young Yiddish-speaking adults that is dedicated to the spread of the Yiddish language through various programs and events. It was founded by David Roskies, Gabi Trunk and Faye Ran under the guidance of the late Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter in 1964.
Name
Yugntruf () means “call of [the] youth” and “call to youth”.
It combines the words (, “youth; the young”) and (, “call”, cognate of German ). Translation: “A small comment about the name Yugntruf: Many have asked us what a "truf" is. The name comprises the two elements yugnt and ruf, which means ‘a call to [the] youth’ (a ruf tsu der yugnt).”
Activities
It hosts events such as the Yidish-Tog (“Yiddish Day”), a day in New York in which programs are run in Yiddish. the Svive Project, in which groups of Yiddish speakers come together to read and discuss in Yiddish. () means “environment”. the week-long Yidish-Vokh (“Yiddish Week”) retreat, held in Copake, New York, in which participants spend an entire week conversing completely in Yiddish.
In addition, Yugntruf sponsors a literary magazine as well as the publishing of books for children in Yiddish. Many members of Yugntruf have decided to raise their children as Yiddish speakers.
References
External reference