Yiddishland California

Healing Hearts - Yiddishland Support Group
2026-07-09 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Healing Hearts – Yiddishland Support Group
Join Meaghan Fitzsimmons for an hour of guided meditation and energy healing rooted in Jewish spirituality and timeless wisdom. This session focuses on healing trauma and reclaiming your narrative to create a healthier, more grounded context for daily life. Together, we will cultivate inner harmony and share a collective sense of compassion and hope within a Jewish communal framework.
When: 2nd Thursdays of the month — July 9, August 13, September 10,October 8
12–1 p.m. PT / 2–3 p.m. CT / 3–4 p.m. ET / 9–10 p.m. CT / 10–11 p.m. Time in Israel
Where: Online (Zoom)
Cost: Suggested Donation: $5–$36 (sliding scale)Options: $5, $18, $36
Guide: Meaghan Fitzsimmons
Our Coach’s Bio: Meaghan Fitzsimmons holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and currently serves as a professional mental health care and lifestyle coach here in La Jolla Village. Her experience in the international field of disaster trauma and group counseling facilitation allow her to support this local Jewish community to share, grieve, and empower each other through these radical times of terrorism, war, and social upheaval.
As a means of giving back and creating a sense of commitment, a $5 – $25 sliding scale donation is requested. Please complete your registration and donation through Humanitix. Your receipt (screenshot or electronic) is requested at the beginning of the meeting. If you cannot make this donation, one will be made on your behalf.

Yiddish For Kids
2026-07-13 19:00 - 19:45 (America/Los_Angeles)
Yiddish for Kids

Join us at Yiddishland for a fun, interactive journey into the Yiddish language and culture! Through songs, games, movement, and storytelling, children will discover the sounds, words, traditions, and stories that are part of a rich and vibrant cultural heritage. Our classes welcome children of all ages and backgrounds in a warm, inclusive, and joyful environment. No prior knowledge of Yiddish is needed. Everyone is welcome to learn, sing, play, and explore together.
Únase a Yiddishland en una experiencia divertida, creativa e interactiva para acercar a niñas, niños y familias al idioma y la cultura yidis.A través de canciones, juegos, movimiento y cuentos, las y los participantes descubrirán palabras, sonidos, historias y tradiciones que forman parte de una herencia cultural viva. La clase está pensada para niñas y niños de todas las edades y orígenes, en un ambiente cercano, alegre y acogedor.No se necesita conocimiento previo de yidis. Todas las familias son bienvenidas a aprender, cantar, jugar y compartir un primer encuentro con esta cultura.
When: Mondays, June 8, 7:00 p.m. PT-7:45 p.m.
Where: Yiddishland La Paz (exact location available upon RSVP)
Teacher: Jana Mazurkiewicz

Jews and Jazz – a Talk by Yale Strom
2026-09-20 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Denver) | Zoom
This will be a lecture that includes photos and music.
When: Sunday, September 20, 2026, 11:00 a.m.– 12:30 p.m. PT / 1:00–2:30 p.m. CT / 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Online (Zoom)
Cost:
Early bird pricing: $20 per lecture (if registered before September 6, 2026)
Regular pricing: $25 per lecture
Register for this event
Artist Name: Yale Strom
Artist’s Bio:
Yale Strom (violin) is one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. With a master’s degree in Yiddish Studies, he has conducted extensive ethnographic research across Eastern Europe on Jewish and Romani musical culture.
His fieldwork shaped the repertoire of his klezmer band Hot Pstromi and informed his work directing 10 award-winning documentary films, including The Last Klezmer (Oscar short-list).
Strom has written 15 books and two award-winning audio dramas, recorded 20 CDs, and presented numerous photo exhibitions in North America and Europe. His latest documentary, Recordially Yours: Lou Curtiss (2023), explores the life of San Diego audiophile-ethnomusicologist Lou Curtiss; he is currently developing a musical on Marc and Bella Chagall. Strom was Artist-in-Residence in Jewish Studies at San Diego State University (2006–2020). He now teaches in the Music Department and previously taught at New York University. His first historical novel, The Autobiography of the Offenbacher, will be published in 2026.

Forging Survival: Operation Bernhard and the Holocaustv
2026-11-08 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom
Jeremy Stern will talk about Operation Bernhard, a German scheme to counterfeit British bank notes during World War II. Jewish prisoners were forced to become counterfeiters for the Nazi state. The Nazis hoped to use forged British paper money both to finance their agents across Europe and to undermine the British economy. Skilled Jewish captives were ordered to operate a makeshift forgery factory at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Their only choice was to produce convincing counterfeits for the SS, or to die. The conscripted forgers made astonishingly close copies of British notes, with only a few subtle errors. The prisoners faced a deadly dilemma: risk finishing the work and face certain death, or play for time and risk the SS deciding the scheme was no longer worth the trouble. Finally, the operation fell to pieces as the German war effort failed, leaving the forgers’ fate hanging on the decisions and self-interest of the scheme’s SS commander.
When : Sunday, Nov 8, 2026, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. PT / 1–2 p.m. CT / 2–3 p.m. ET
Where : Zoom
Cost :
Early bird : $18 (if registered before Sunday, October 25, 2026)
Regular admission : $25
Register for this event
About the Speaker :
Jeremy A. Stern, Ph.D. is an independent historian, writer, and history educator. In addition to consulting on educational standards and content across the country, he has written and spoken for both popular and professional audiences on a wide range of historical subjects. He has long been intrigued by the story of Operation Bernhard, especially since he acquired an original forged Bernhard note – a rare direct physical trace from the Nazi camps.
