On November 1-5, 2017, two lectures about the Yiddish language and culture were provided at the seminar for Jewish youth leaders "Metzuda" in Krasnodar, Russia. That was a common project of the World Jewish Congress Yiddish Center and the regional branch of "Joint" in Rostov on Don.

The WJC YC representative, Ekaterina Dubrovskaya, gave two lectures about the Yiddish language and culture. After careful consideration, Ekaterina decided on the following topics: "Yiddish in Berlin in the 1920s and literary cafes" and "Yiddish in the context of jewish languages".

The first lecture was about Yiddish in Berlin in the 1920s. Young people were actively involved into the dialogue with the lecturer, kept asking questions on related topics, and showed their genuine interest in the lecture. Yet, it seemed that the topic was a bit complicated for the public. Before the seminar a lot of students had little or no connection with the Jewish tradition. Some of the students told the lecturer that the 1920`s were so long ago that it was hard for them to imagine the situation (it would have been easier with visual aids, though, but the organizers fixed the lecture on Shabbath). While talking about traditional Jewish wedding, Ekaterina discovered that they were exceptionally interested in that issue.

The second lecture was easier for the listeners, engaging more people into discussion. A lot of them knew nothing about Yiddish and/or other Jewish languages, but what aroused their interest, were the abundance of Jewish languages in the world and many options to learn Yiddish and study Yiddish literature.

The history of Yiddish language was extremely riveting for the public. The lecture lasted for 1,5 hours, yet the audience did not want to break up, keeping questions coming. After the lecture, the audience expressed their gratitude and delight.