Benna Kessler

Benna grew up speaking Yiddish at home with her mother. She has studied Yiddish at the YIVO Intensive Yiddish Summer Program and, most recently, at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish in Paris. She has a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan, where she focused her studies on social work with older adults. She is currently a licensed clinical social worker who runs one of the activity departments at a Jewish retirement community in Chicago. She also teaches Yiddish for Chicago YIVO on the side.