Help us Bring Yiddishland to its new Home: La Paz, MX

Yiddishland California is a non-denominational traveling cultural center and museum created by the non-profit organization Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA), registered in the State of California. People of all ages and backgrounds are invited to attend our programs. Yiddishland California’s mission is to expand awareness of the beauty and joy of Yiddishkeit and to preserve and advance Yiddish language and culture within the US and worldwide.

Since our departure from La Jolla, CA, our beloved collection—antique furniture, rare Yiddish books, paintings by Jewish artists, and precious Judaica—has been in storage in Ramona, California, awaiting a new home. These items are more than artifacts; they are carriers of memory, identity, and resilience. They’ve survived generations of upheaval, and now they await their next chapter: breathing life into a new Yiddish cultural center in Mexico.

Thanks to the generosity of many people who helped us in this difficult year of transition, we were able to keep going and had a fulfilling year full of special in-person programs in San Diego, California, as well as online activities celebrating Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) Jewish heritage. We also delivered traveling talks across the United States, Spain, Poland, and Mexico, all of it while restlessly looking for a new physical location. We were honored to introduce Yiddish and Yiddishland to new audiences around the world, from Phoenix to Marbella, and we are looking forward to organizing more traveling talks in the future. We could not have done all this schlepping without your support, we are most grateful!

After a year of wandering, dreaming, and searching for a new home, Yiddishland California is finally planting roots again—this time in the heart of La Paz, Baja California Sur. We are moving early next month (August 2025) and need your help to bring our treasures with us.

Our new home in downtown La Paz will be more than a physical space. It will be a sanctuary for mame-loshn (the mother tongue), and a vibrant center delivering cultural programs in person for locals and tourists, as well as virtually. It will be a place where Yiddish culture is not only preserved—but lived, loved, and shared. We are also looking forward to expanding our Sephardi and Ladino cultural involvement, learning from the local community. We will simultaneously maintain our traveling programs across the United States, Europe, and Mexico.

But before the doors can open, we must move the whole Yiddishland!

We are asking for your support to cover:

✅ Safe international transport and handling of fragile items
✅ Customs and legal fees for moving cultural property across the border
✅ Initial exhibition infrastructure to make our collection accessible to the public again

Goal: $6,500 USD to move and reinstall the entire collection in August!

With your help, we will build a new Yiddishland that is sunny, multilingual, welcoming, and grounded in history.

Make a gift today, and become part of this historic transition. Whether it’s $18 or $1,800, every donation is a gesture of love for our shared heritage. Together, we carry the legacy forward.

The Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America (YAAANA) is a registered nonprofit in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the IRC as Yiddish Arts and Academics of N America INC. Our EIN is 85-2064877. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

*Donations on GoFundMe are fee-free; enter “0” for the tip.

A groysn dank! Mersi muncho! Muchas gracias! Thank you!