Yiddish at Columbia

Yiddish Theatre > Purim shpiel

Shoye Shpil

c. 19th century

X893.2 M85

The genre of the “Purim Shpil,” a (usually farcical) play relating to the story of the book of Esther, which is read on the holiday of Purim, was very common in Ashkenazi Europe.  This particular version seems to have been written in a Jewish vernacular closer to German than to Yiddish. This manuscript has been digitized and is available via the National Library of Israel.

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