135 youngsters from the Russian cities of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Saratov and Penza, aged from 18 till 27, took part in the Yiddish seminar on June 26, 2016.

The Rodnya (Kinsfolk in Russian) project is a creative educational program which gives the chance for Jewish youth to get acquainted with the family history in the context of history and heritage of Jewry of the Russian Empire. The project is realized with assistance of Genesis foundation on the basis of the Jewish youth organization "Hillel" in Russia and Israel.

WJC Yiddish center was represented by Dr. Valentina Fedchenko. She talked about Yiddish literature, theater and humor, about the people who spoke Yiddish in Renaissance and those who speak Yiddish now, about what literature and is created in Yiddish, about where it is now possible to hear the jokes in Yiddish, some of which are used in our everyday life.

Valentina Nemirovskaya, program director Hillel Russia, said:

"We received very positive feedback form of the participants, they told it was interesting and informative. According to them, in Russia they don't have chances to get acquainted with Yiddish culture. That basically was the first time they dipped their toes in it."

The Rodnya project team thanked WJC Yiddish center for such unique opportunity to obtain some knowledge of Yiddish and expressed a wish to continue our cooperation. Julia Shlimak, director of the project, wrote us:

"Dear colleagues, I would like to express my deep gratitude for providing us with the lecturer Dr. Valentina Fedchenko, who gave brilliant and fascinating lectures on the seminar of the "Rodnya" project in Saint Petersburg. Thank you very much, Yiddish Center, for your cooperation and for giving students from different parts of Russia the incredible opportunity to hear and learn about the Yiddish language and culture from such a high class lecturer. The "Rodnya" is an international project, which is provided by the Am HaZikkaron institute. With the support and funding of Genesis, it is based on the Hillel organizations in Russia and Hillel Israel. In the name of our entire team I thank you and look forward to our future cooperation!