Gala | Programs | Education | Exhibitions | Publications | Study Tours
For 100 years, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has preserved the legacy of one thousand years of Ashkenazi Jewish life. Through our treasured collections and robust programming and educational initiatives, YIVO tells the story of what we have cherished, what we have endured, and how we have persisted. It is the story out of which the future of the Jewish people will be built. As the destination for knowledge of Yiddish language, culture, civilization, and its evolution throughout the world, YIVO is essential for keeping this story alive.
YIVO is celebrating our Centennial Anniversary. This powerful moment marks the celebration of a historic century of perpetuating Jewish culture. We will mark this milestone with events and announcements throughout the year. Visit this page regularly for the latest updates on events, classes, exhibitions, new products in the YIVO store, and so much more.
Join us in 2025 as we celebrate our first one hundred years and look forward to starting YIVO’s second century.
YIVO’s Centennial Gala
November 19, 2025 | 6:30pm ET | In person at Tribeca 360 (NYC)
Please join us for an evening celebrating a century of preserving and perpetuating Eastern European Jewish language, history, and culture honoring historian Sir Simon Schama and philanthropists Ruth and David Levine.
Treasures from the YIVO Collections
YOUTUBE SERIES
Every Friday throughout 2025, YIVO will release a new video highlighting a book, object, or artifact from its collections. Each short video features a YIVO staff member discussing an item and explaining its historical significance. Subscribe to YIVO's YouTube Channel.
The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language
ANNUAL NUSAKH VILNE MEMORIAL PROGRAM | PERFORMANCE
September 18, 2025 | 7:00pm ET | In person at YIVO
September 21, 2025 | 1:00pm ET| In person at YIVO
Join YIVO for the world premiere production of The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, a new chamber opera with music by Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Weiser and libretto by Ben Kaplan, which tells the remarkable true story of Yiddish linguist Yudel Mark’s unfinished effort to create a comprehensive Yiddish dictionary.
100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute
BOOK TALK
October 30, 2025 | 6:00pm ET | In person at the Grolier Club (NYC)
Join YIVO Director of Collections Stefanie Halpern for a discussion that highlights how 100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research traces the organization’s role in documenting key moments in modern Jewish history and culture through its 100 years of collecting.
YIVO Centennial Celebration
PANEL DISCUSSION
November 11, 2025 | 7:00pm ET | On Zoom
Join YIVO for a Yiddish evening celebrating our 100th anniversary, featuring Samuel Kassow, Cecile Kuznitz, Zalmen Mlotek, David Roskies, and others. This program will take place in Yiddish.
100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
BOOK TALK
November 18, 2025 | 7:30pm ET | In person at the 92NY (NYC)
Stefanie Halpern, Eddy Portnoy, and Jonathan Brent discuss YIVO’s latest publication, a gorgeously illustrated coffee table book that highlights unique manuscripts, photographs, objects, and other ephemera from YIVO’s collections.
YIVO Learning and Media Center
The YIVO Learning and Media Center (YLMC) is a new learning lab dedicated to bringing Jewish history, archival education, and cultural enrichment from The YIVO Institute’s vast collections to visiting groups from high schools and universities. The YLMC offers a welcome vestibule highlighting photographs and objects from YIVO’s storied history; artifact displays from YIVO’s Archives and Library; interactive activities like a poster-making station and a touch-screen map featuring hundreds of photos of Old-World Jewish shtetls; an intimate open-stacks library with Yiddish and English books; multimedia stations for listening to sound recordings and watching videos from YIVO’s collections; and a classroom for lessons that utilize rare archival materials. The YLMC is now open by appointment for visiting groups.
YIVO and the Oyneg Shabes Archive: A Centennial Reflection
MINI-COURSE
Sundays, starting October 19, 2025 | 11:00am–12:00pm ET | On Zoom
The mini-course, organized by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, will explore the historical connection between YIVO and the Oyneg Shabes Archive – the secret archive organized by Emanuel Ringelblum in the Warsaw Ghetto.
YIVO at 100
On view June 22, 2025 – December 31, 2025
In honor of its centennial, YIVO presents three landmark exhibitions that illuminate the extraordinary stories preserved in its world-renowned collections. These exhibitions highlight the passion, courage, and dedication that built the world’s foremost archive of Eastern European Jewish life.
- Hail to the Zamlers! YIVO’s Collections at 100
- The Paper Brigade: Smuggling Jewish Treasures in Nazi-Occupied Vilna
- The Strashun Library: Rare Books Rescued from the Ashes of Vilna
100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Publication Date: June 2025
Delve into Jewish history through 100 unique objects from the YIVO Archives and Library. This gorgeously-illustrated coffee table book contains images and essays which represent modern Jewish history and culture through YIVO's one hundred years of collecting. The volume highlights a variety of manuscripts, photographs, ritual objects, and other ephemera.
2025 Study Tour of Northern Italy
EXCLUSIVELY FOR YIVO
September 1-14, 2025
Join YIVO on a journey of discovery across northern Italy, exploring the fascinating, troubled, and glorious history of Italian Jews in the northern tier, unfamiliar to most of us.