On May 24-25th, 2017 the regional seminar "Yiddish and Jewish Culture in the XXI Century" was held in Resistencia, a city in Chaco Province located 935.3 km north to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This event is a result of fruitful cooperation of WJC Yiddish Centre and IWO foundation in Argentina. Some seventy people, mostly youngsters from Argentina and Paraguay, actively participated in the seminar. The workshops and talks met their goals in promoting awareness of Yiddish language and culture among a diverse audience.

The opening speech was delivered by Engineer Simon Lewinson, President of the Jewish Community (Kehila) of Resistencia, who welcomed the audience, greeted the IWO team, thanked WJC YC for its support and expressed his pleasure to host the seminar.

Professor Abraham Lichtenbaum, Director of IWO in Buenos Aires, emphasized the Institute's role f IWO in preserving and communicating the values of Jewish and Yiddish culture. Dr. Leon Grabov, President of the IWO committee for the provinces, spoke about the history of IWO since its creation in Vilna in 1925.

Professor Ester Szwarc coordinated the session "Making Memory" on the rescue of IWO Archives and Library after the AMIA bombing in 1994. After screening the film "The youth that rescued our memory" Prof. Szwarc highlighted the youngsters' role in rescuing the IWO bibliographical and documentary treasures and focused on the importance of Ashkenazi culture and its contribution to Jewish and world culture.

Singer and composer Zulema Benveniste performed "Yiddish and Hebrew Tango" - a concert show with traditional and new songs.

The second day began with a workshop for university students titled: "Music, Yiddish and Judaism". Prof. Lichtenbaum explained key concepts of Jewish music including taamei hamikra, Gregorian chant, ma-yofes, klezmer music and Jewish wedding songs by Yiddish poets of Yiddish literature. He illustrated the talk with audio fragments.

In his talk "Yiddish and Jewish culture in the XXI Century" Prof. Lichtenbaum explained the shaping of Ashkenazi identity as a construction of ethical thought and daily life practices as reflected in the modern Yiddish literature.

Zulema Benveniste delivered a closing concert with traditional Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino folk music. The audience's sing-along participation was its major part.

The closing evaluation was extremely positive. Following lively debates the present expressed their interest in hosting a new edition of this Regional IWO seminar next year.