Kalman (Keith) Weiser
Associate Professor
Silber Family Chair of Modern Jewish Studies
Office: Kaneff Tower, 754
Phone: 416-736-2100 Ext: 33561
Email: kweiser@yorku.ca
Professor Kalman (Keith) Weiser is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Humanities and History. His research focuses in the area of modern Jewish history and culture, specifically about language issues in Jewish life.
Professor Kalman (Keith) Weiser graduate training focused in two areas: Yiddish language, linguistics, and culture and Jewish history. Since then, he has expanded his field of knowledge to include antisemitism, Holocaust and Israel Studies. His research focuses in the area of modern Jewish history and culture, specifically about language issues in Jewish life. His first book explores the rise and fall of the nationalist movement on behalf of Yiddish in Russia and Poland until WW II. His current research examines the role of refugee scholars from Nazi-controlled Europe in creating the fields of Yiddish Studies and Jewish Studies more broadly in England and North America.
Degrees
PhD, Columbia UniversityMA, Columbia University
BA, Yale University
Research Interests
- Workmen\\\\\\\'s Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professorship in Eastern European Jewish Studies, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research - 2019
- Fellow, Frankel InstituFellow, Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan - 2010
- Scholar in Residence, Congregation Kol Ami, Toronto - 2019
- Canadian Jewish Book Award - 2012
- Reconceptualizing Key Terminology and Concepts in Antisemitism Reconceptualizing Key Terminology and Concepts in Antisemitism Studies, SSHRC Insight Development Grant - 2014
“Vilna on the Saint Lawrence: Montreal as the Would-be Haven for Yiddish Culture,” in David Koffman, ed. No Better Home?: Canada, Its Jews, and the Question of Home (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021), 56-69.
.“Coming to America, Choosing Yiddish: Max Weinreich and the emergence of YIVO’s American center,” in Lara Rabinovitch, Shiri Goren, and Hannah Pressman, ed. Choosing Yiddish: New Frontiers of Language and Culture. Wayne State University Press, 2012, 233-252
Marc Volovici, German as a Jewish Problem. The Language Politics of Jewish Nationalism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020. (The Journal of Jewish Languages 9 (2021): 1-6).
Jess Olson, Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. (The Marginalia Review, 17 July 2013, http://themarginaliareview.com/archives/3147)
Simeon D. Baumer, Sacred Speakers. Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006. (Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIV (2010) : 228-230)
David E. Fishman. The Emergence of Modern Yiddish Culture. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005 (AJS Review 31/2, November 2007: 401-403)
Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists In Poland. University of Toronto Press, 2011
“The Debate Concerning Standard Pronunciation in Yiddish Secular Schools in Eastern Europe” (in Yiddish), Yidishe shprakh XXXIX (2013): 17-43
“The Jewel in the Yiddish Crown: Who Will Occupy the Chair in Yiddish at the University of Vilnius?” Polin 24 (2012): 223-255
'A Tale of Two Pryluckis: On the Origins of the Yiddish Press in Warsaw.' Gal-Ed 22 (2009/10).
'The Yiddishist Ideology of Noah Prylucki.' Polin 21 (2009): 361-400.
'Language and Ideology: the Orthodox Orthography of Solomon Birnbaum.' Studies in Contemporary Jewry XX (2004): 275-295.
Czernowitz at 100: the First Yiddish Language Conference in Historical Perspective. Ed. K. Weiser and J. Fogel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010.
“Mother-tongue, Mame-loshn, and Kulturshprakh: The Tension between Populism and Elitism in the Language Ideology of Noah Prylucki,” in Joshua Fogel and Kalman Weiser, ed. Czernowitz at 100: the First Yiddish Language Conference in Historical Perspective (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010), 55-74
With Eleazar and David Birnbaum and Jean Baumgarten. New edition with introductory essays and an expanded bibliography of Solomon A. Birnbaum. Yiddish: a Survey and a Grammar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014)
“Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar in its historical and cultural context,” in K. Weiser, J. Baumgarten, E. Birnbaum and D. Birnbaum, ed. Second, revised edition of Solomon Birnbaum. Yiddish: a Survey and a Grammar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 44 pages, manuscript
“Saving Yiddish, Saving America Jewry: Max Weinreich in 1940s New York City,” Anita Norich and Joshua Miller, ed. The Languages of Jewish Cultures, 21 pages, manuscript, 2014
“The Capital of Yiddishland,” in Glenn Dynner and Francois Guesnet, ed. Warsaw. The History of a Jewish Metropolis, 31 pages, manuscript, 2014
'Coming to America?: the relations between YIVO-Vilna and the Amopteyl, 1939-1940.' Choosing Yiddish: Studies on Yiddish Literature, Culture, and History. Ed. Lara Rabinovitch et al. Wayne State University Press, 2011. Forthcoming.
Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists In Poland. University of Toronto Press, 2010. Forthcoming.
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/HIST3860 6.0 | A | Modern History of the Jews | ONLN |
Professor Kalman (Keith) Weiser is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Humanities and History. His research focuses in the area of modern Jewish history and culture, specifically about language issues in Jewish life.
Professor Kalman (Keith) Weiser graduate training focused in two areas: Yiddish language, linguistics, and culture and Jewish history. Since then, he has expanded his field of knowledge to include antisemitism, Holocaust and Israel Studies. His research focuses in the area of modern Jewish history and culture, specifically about language issues in Jewish life. His first book explores the rise and fall of the nationalist movement on behalf of Yiddish in Russia and Poland until WW II. His current research examines the role of refugee scholars from Nazi-controlled Europe in creating the fields of Yiddish Studies and Jewish Studies more broadly in England and North America.
Degrees
PhD, Columbia UniversityMA, Columbia University
BA, Yale University
Research Interests
Awards
- Workmen\\\\\\\'s Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professorship in Eastern European Jewish Studies, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research - 2019
- Fellow, Frankel InstituFellow, Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan - 2010
- Scholar in Residence, Congregation Kol Ami, Toronto - 2019
- Canadian Jewish Book Award - 2012
- Reconceptualizing Key Terminology and Concepts in Antisemitism Reconceptualizing Key Terminology and Concepts in Antisemitism Studies, SSHRC Insight Development Grant - 2014
All Publications
“Vilna on the Saint Lawrence: Montreal as the Would-be Haven for Yiddish Culture,” in David Koffman, ed. No Better Home?: Canada, Its Jews, and the Question of Home (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021), 56-69.
.“Coming to America, Choosing Yiddish: Max Weinreich and the emergence of YIVO’s American center,” in Lara Rabinovitch, Shiri Goren, and Hannah Pressman, ed. Choosing Yiddish: New Frontiers of Language and Culture. Wayne State University Press, 2012, 233-252
Marc Volovici, German as a Jewish Problem. The Language Politics of Jewish Nationalism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2020. (The Journal of Jewish Languages 9 (2021): 1-6).
Jess Olson, Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. (The Marginalia Review, 17 July 2013, http://themarginaliareview.com/archives/3147)
Simeon D. Baumer, Sacred Speakers. Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006. (Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIV (2010) : 228-230)
David E. Fishman. The Emergence of Modern Yiddish Culture. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005 (AJS Review 31/2, November 2007: 401-403)
Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists In Poland. University of Toronto Press, 2011
“The Debate Concerning Standard Pronunciation in Yiddish Secular Schools in Eastern Europe” (in Yiddish), Yidishe shprakh XXXIX (2013): 17-43
“The Jewel in the Yiddish Crown: Who Will Occupy the Chair in Yiddish at the University of Vilnius?” Polin 24 (2012): 223-255
'A Tale of Two Pryluckis: On the Origins of the Yiddish Press in Warsaw.' Gal-Ed 22 (2009/10).
'The Yiddishist Ideology of Noah Prylucki.' Polin 21 (2009): 361-400.
'Language and Ideology: the Orthodox Orthography of Solomon Birnbaum.' Studies in Contemporary Jewry XX (2004): 275-295.
Czernowitz at 100: the First Yiddish Language Conference in Historical Perspective. Ed. K. Weiser and J. Fogel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010.
“Mother-tongue, Mame-loshn, and Kulturshprakh: The Tension between Populism and Elitism in the Language Ideology of Noah Prylucki,” in Joshua Fogel and Kalman Weiser, ed. Czernowitz at 100: the First Yiddish Language Conference in Historical Perspective (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010), 55-74
With Eleazar and David Birnbaum and Jean Baumgarten. New edition with introductory essays and an expanded bibliography of Solomon A. Birnbaum. Yiddish: a Survey and a Grammar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014)
“Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar in its historical and cultural context,” in K. Weiser, J. Baumgarten, E. Birnbaum and D. Birnbaum, ed. Second, revised edition of Solomon Birnbaum. Yiddish: a Survey and a Grammar (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 44 pages, manuscript
“Saving Yiddish, Saving America Jewry: Max Weinreich in 1940s New York City,” Anita Norich and Joshua Miller, ed. The Languages of Jewish Cultures, 21 pages, manuscript, 2014
“The Capital of Yiddishland,” in Glenn Dynner and Francois Guesnet, ed. Warsaw. The History of a Jewish Metropolis, 31 pages, manuscript, 2014
'Coming to America?: the relations between YIVO-Vilna and the Amopteyl, 1939-1940.' Choosing Yiddish: Studies on Yiddish Literature, Culture, and History. Ed. Lara Rabinovitch et al. Wayne State University Press, 2011. Forthcoming.
Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists In Poland. University of Toronto Press, 2010. Forthcoming.
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/HIST3860 6.0 | A | Modern History of the Jews | ONLN |
