Ocean Parkway
Jewish Languages of Brooklyn: A Walking Tour is your chance to experience the music, food, and communities that embody the many (and often endangered) Jewish languages that have made a home in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is a global center for endangered Jewish linguistic diversity. Though usually related to non-Jewish languages, Jewish languages are distinct and rooted in the varied circumstances of diasporic Jewish life over the past two millennia. Today Jewish languages with origins everywhere from Morocco to Yemen to Azerbaijan are still remembered and to some extent used in an area of the borough stretching from Midwood to Brighton Beach.
This unique walking tour focuses on a core zone around Ocean Parkway, featuring encounters with speakers of several Jewish languages and glimpses of Ashkenazi, Syrian/Levantine, North African, and Juhuri (Judeo-Tat) community institutions, including food and music.
Jewish Languages of Brooklyn: A Walking Tour is presented in partnership with The Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life, Endangered Language Alliance, and Jewish Language Project.
The tour will be led by the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), an independent non-profit based in New York City and the only organization in the world focused on the immense linguistic diversity of urban areas. Many of the New York area’s estimated 800 languages are highly endangered; for many, New York is a major center. ELA documents and describes little-known and endangered languages, educating a larger public and collaborating with communities.
Through events, social media engagement, curriculum, and exhibits, the HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project promotes research on, awareness about, and engagement surrounding the many languages spoken and written by Jews throughout history and around the world.
