On 2 July there is a webinar taking place about a Yiddish speaking patient at the Williard hospital. This webinar is sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.

Below a description of this special case at the Williard hospital and information on how to join the webinar.

Charles F. was a poor, Yiddish-speaking, Russian-Jewish immigrant tailor who, in 1946, was institutionalized at Willard, a psychiatric hospital in Upstate New York. He spoke Yiddish with his doctors and talked to ghosts in Yiddish. Like thousands of other patients, he had been abandoned by his family, and he arrived at Willard with all his worldly goods packed into three suitcases, which were taken away from him by the staff and stored in the attic. They remained there after Charles F. died in 1950. When Willard closed in the late 1990s, after almost 125 years, someone remembered the suitcases, and they ended up in a museum warehouse. What Remains is a combination of essay and photography by Ilan Stavans, with additional photographs by Jon Crispin. 

This live event will be presented via Zoom and will stream live on the Yiddish Book Center’s Facebook page. Space is limited. If you’d like to reserve a virtual seat in the Zoom audience, register via: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iJhKDi_hQ1WcGkzikFz-Og