🕎Yiddishייִדיש

Read your grandmother's letters.

Name: Lashon
Price range: $$

Yiddish tutors are extremely rare online. We're one of the few. And we're the only one who teaches dialect-aware Yiddish with real cultural context from Jerusalem.

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Last verified: April 2026

How can a Yiddish tutor help with genealogy and family document translation?

We read grandmother's letters with you, live—explaining handwriting, idioms, and cultural references. Dialect-aware instruction for Lithuanian, Polish, or Hasidic Yiddish.

Yiddish tutors are extremely rare online. We're one of the few.

Sound familiar?

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Duolingo's Yiddish course confused Lithuanian and Hasidic dialects so badly that native speakers couldn't recognize it

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The only textbooks available are from the 1970s and teach a standardized Yiddish nobody actually speaks

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You found very few tutors online — and many only teach reading, not speaking

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Every resource assumes you either want academic YIVO or Hasidic conversational — never both

Who this is for

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Heritage speakers & reconnectors

Your grandparents spoke it. Your parents understood it but didn't pass it on. You hear echoes of it at family gatherings. You want it back — not as a museum piece, but as a living language.

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Academic & literary Yiddish

You want to read Sholem Aleichem in the original. Or I.B. Singer. Or the vast Yiddish press archives. Or the Hasidic literature that's still being published today.

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Hasidic community engagement

You work with, live near, or are part of a Hasidic community. You need practical Yiddish — not YIVO standardized, but the real spoken language of Williamsburg, Bnei Brak, or Mea Shearim.

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Researchers & genealogists

You're tracing family history through Yiddish documents, letters, and records. You need reading proficiency and the ability to recognize handwriting conventions.

Your learning path

Structured, dialect-aware, and culturally grounded.

Stage 1Weeks 1-3

The Alef-Beys & Sound System

Master the Yiddish alphabet (different from Hebrew!), vowel system, and choose your dialect track: Lithuanian, Polish, or Hasidic.

Stage 2Weeks 4-8

First 400 Words & Basic Grammar

Core vocabulary, Germanic grammar foundations, basic conversation. Where Yiddish diverges from German.

Stage 3Weeks 9-14

Hebrew-Aramaic Component

The loshn-koydesh layer: Hebrew and Aramaic words that make Yiddish unique. How to read them, pronounce them, and use them.

Stage 4Weeks 15-24

Reading Fluency & Literature

Read real texts: newspapers, short stories, letters. Navigate between dialects. Understand the Yiddish literary tradition.

Stage 5Weeks 24+

Advanced Conversation & Culture

Idiomatic Yiddish, humor, proverbs, cultural context. Be able to speak with native speakers in any community.

Tools built for Yiddish

Dialect-Aware

Lithuanian (Litvish), Polish (Galitzianer), or Hasidic? We teach each dialect properly — not a confused hybrid like every other resource.

Root Explorer: Hebrew-Aramaic Layer

Yiddish contains hundreds of Hebrew and Aramaic words. Our Root Explorer shows these connections, so your Hebrew learning reinforces your Yiddish (and vice versa).

Real Texts, Not Textbook Dialogues

Read actual Yiddish literature, letters, newspapers, and modern Hasidic publications — not invented classroom conversations.

Living Language Focus

Yiddish is spoken daily by 500,000+ Hasidic Jews worldwide. We teach it as a living language, not a dead one.

Cross-Language Bridge

Your Yiddish vocabulary is 15-20% Hebrew-Aramaic words. Learning Yiddish unlocks parts of Hebrew and Aramaic — and vice versa.

Extreme Scarcity = Extreme Quality

Yiddish tutors are extremely rare online. We offer something few others can: genuine, dialect-aware Yiddish instruction from a native Jerusalemite with deep roots in the language.

"My grandmother spoke Yiddish but my parents didn't pass it on. I tried every resource I could find. Yaacov is one of the few Yiddish tutors online. I can now read my grandmother's letters. I cried the first time I understood a full paragraph."

Rachel K. — United States

A world worth remembering

These masterworks capture the Yiddish-speaking world — its prayer, study, warmth, and community. Learning the language is how you keep this world alive.