[NFBJ] Yiddish braille and Yiddish theater! Program with Matthew Shifrin this week

[Daveed Mandell]

Shalom, Chevre:

This is very interesting and exciting. I would love to get Yiddish titles in refreshable Braille, and I wish they were also available in hardcopy. 

I studied Yiddish back in 1962, 1963 and 1964. Thanks to a wonderful braille transcriber in  Pennsylvania, Mrs. Just. Just. Lowenthal, I was able to obtain my textbooks in Yiddish Braille. I'm very interested, therefore, in knowing why there was a need for a separate Yiddish Braille code, especially because Yiddish Braille was being transcribed back in the 1960s. Unfortunately, not much Yiddish was being produced, but there was some braille available, including The Yiddish Teacher and the first edition of College Yiddish.  

I don't know about many other texts, but it will be interesting to find out more about the evolution of Yiddish Braille. I hope that JBI will be providing much more Yiddish Braille in the future. I understand that the  Braille code was devised through the assistance of the Yiddish Book Center and the Workers Circle. I also understand that there was an effort by Duxbury Systems to devise such a code. It will be interesting to see the code in action, and I hope that material will be provided, not just through the iPhone, but through JBI itself. I am looking forward very much to this program.

I hope in the future, we will hear from blind Separdic Jews about their need for Braille material in various languages, such as Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino, Turkish, Greek, and others. 

Kol tuv,

Daveed Mandell




On Nov 10, 2025, at 8:52 AM, Jill Rothstein via NFBJ <nfbj at nfbnet.org> wrote:

please join us for a virtual program this Thursday with Matthew Shifrin, co-creator of Yiddish braille, musical composer, disability activist, and CEO of Bricks for the Blind. He will be leading us in a conversation about how Yiddish braille was founded. It's sure to be an interesting conversation. If you are able to share this with anyone who may be interested, more information and registration is below. Thank you.

Welcome Matthew Shifrin! Yiddish Lyricist and creator of Yiddish Braille
Thursday, November 13 at 4:30pm ET
Virtual (Zoom), FREE
We're thrilled to welcome Matthew Shifrin, creator of the Yiddish braille code, founder of the nonprofit Bricks for the Blind, Yiddish performer, podcaster, and disability advocate.  He will lead us in a program about the foundations of Yiddish braille and how to learn it yourself using a smartphone and a braille display. He will also share how to access Yiddish braille titles and give us a taste of his one-man English and Yiddish musical!

Register: https://jbilibrary.org/programs-events/general-events/yiddish-braille-with-matthew-shifrin

please spread the word to your networks too
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