“”

Sunny S. Yudkoff is Associate Professor of Yiddish Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

A Hasidic homily from the eighteenth century by R. Aaron of Karlin. The message is simple and speaks to the heart of Hasidic thought: sadness may have some limited utility, but depression is always a destructive force that inhibits spiritual growth.

Sasha Hoffman is a Yiddish teacher and carpenter apprentice, holding a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan.

Jessica Kirzane is the associate instructional professor of Yiddish at the University of Chicago. She is the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.

Raphael Koenig is Assistant Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut, and affiliated faculty of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life.

Sarah Ponichtera is the Assistant Dean for Special Collections & the Gallery at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ.