Der Nister

01/23/2026

On Sunday, February 22nd, Der Nister will host a half-day meditation retreat by Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro, which explores attunement as a contemplative practice—learning to listen for what is already stirring within and gently lifting awareness toward presence. Through guided meditation, gentle movement, chanting, silence, and mindful eating, we cultivate inner listening as a way of making space for what is most alive and essential.

Vegetarian lunch is included and will feature challah from Challahdad and tea from Tea by Zev.

Link in bio

12/13/2025

Thank you all for coming to see and It was a pleasure to spend such a wonderful evening together.

12/04/2025

Vayishlakh, Isaiah Berlin and Pluralism

11/28/2025

Artist Yevgeniy Fiks is a leader in Yiddish contemporary art, and explores its boundaries not only in its aesthetic forms, but also in its self-definition as a political and cultural force. His exhibition “Himl un Erd” is a selection of the melding of the Yiddish language and mind to the Soviet space program — but this is only one glimpse of the Jewish relationship to imagination and power. Fiks also explores its failures, successes and blurring lines of the Soviet Birobidzhan project for a Jewish national home in the Far East.

A natural next step is to envision a post-national Yiddish art. As Fiks describes, “While rejecting the dictates of cultural imperialism, Yiddish contemporary art is at the same time open to everything progressive locally and globally.” This is a reference to his Yiddishland Pavillion project, a rebellion against the defined national boundaries of the Venice Biennale. The Pavillion is a series of Yiddish art that is scattered amongst various national exhibitions.

These polarities of Yiddish identification with the Soviet project, its elusiveness to be one with the state boundaries it is given, and a conscious rejection of those lines are, put together, a very thoughtful and artistically engaging contemplation on self and world.

Zach Golden .zach will interview Fiks on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern in what will be an eye-opening examination of art, the state, and Yiddishkeit itself. Register in bio

Biography:

Yevgeniy Fiks is a Moscow-born New York-based artist, author, and organizer of art exhibitions. Among his projects are “A Gift to Birobidzhan,” “Landscapes of the Jewish Autonomous Region,” and “Himl un erd (Yiddish Cosmos)” that have been exhibited at 2B Galeria, Budapest; Galerie Sator, Paris; 21ST.PROJECTS/Critical Practices Inc., New York; and CCI Fabrica, Moscow. Fiks’s performance pieces “Lily Golden, Harry Haywood, Langston Hughes, Yelena Khanga, Claude McKay, Paul Robeson, Robert Robinson on Soviet Jews” and “Red Kaddish” have been performed at the International Print Center New York and the Museum at Eldridge Street/A Landmark Synagogue Story, both in New York.

11/12/2025

Join us for Kabbalat Shabbat this Friday, November 14 at 6:30 PM!

Leaders from the secular Tel Aviv yeshiva BINA will present Sarah’s Legacy: A Feminine Reading of Jewish Continuity through Jacqueline Kahanoff, and Rabbi Zach Golden will lead the musical service. We'll be serving Moroccan salmon and chicken from Holy Grill, along with vegetarian dishes.

Jacqueline Kahanoff was an Egyptian-born Israeli novelist, essayist and journalist. Kahanoff wrote in English, although she is best known for a cycle of essays, “A Generation of Levantines,” that was published in Israel in Hebrew translation in 1959. These pieces lay out her notion of “Levantinism,” a social model of coexistence drawn from her childhood experiences in Egyptian cosmopolitan society in the interwar period.

Register here: https://dinners.onetable.org/events/5d5d8bb3-cd14-4c5b-adc4-1ff752fd7b3a/details?shared=true

11/11/2025

Join us for a lively Yiddish Class at the Central Library , instructed by Rabbi Golden. Whether you’re new to the language or reconnecting with it, enjoy an engaging introduction to Yiddish conversation, culture, and traditions, no prior experience needed.

Rabbi Zach Golden was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2020. He is the co-founder of Der Nister Downtown Jewish Center, and used to be Deputy Editor at the Forverts.

Class Schedule:
Meeting Room B: 11/18/25 and 3/17/26
Meeting Room A: 12/16/25, 1/20/26, 2/17/26, 4/21/26, 5/19/26, 7/21/26, 9/15/26, 10/20/26, 11/17/26, 12/15/26

To RSVP, please email [email protected].

11/10/2025

Check out LA Yiddish Day, Sunday Nov. 23 at Hebrew Union College. Learn more:

LA Yiddish Join us for LA Yiddish Day 2025. We celebrate Yiddish life, culture, and language. What is LA Yiddish? LA Yiddish serves as a central hub and gathering point for Yiddish culture, language, and community in Southern California — a region with one of the largest and most diverse Jewish po...

11/06/2025

Los Angeles gets its Yiddish Festival! Sunday, Nov. 23rd from 10 am to 5 pm at Hebrew Union College near USC will be a packed day of concerts, lectures, games and more. Hear from historian Caroline Luce about the radical women’s history of the city, play a game of Jeopardy! in Yiddish, and learn to dance the zhok and sher. Kids can come in the morning to make buttons and listen to stories from PJ Library. Register in bio!