Ashkenazi Women's Folk Magic - Zoom Lecture with Rokhl Kafrissen
Join the Melton Center for Jewish Studies at The Ohio State University for a Zoom lecture by Rokhl Kafrissen, journalist, teacher, playwright, and winner of the 2022 Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Prize. Drawing on her research into Ashkenazi women’s folk practices, Kafrissen will explore traditions of magic, spirituality, and religious expression through a close reading of the works of Yiddish writer Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn.
Dates: Thursday, September 15 and 17, 2026 Time: 12:45 PM - 2:05 PM Location: Zoom (virtual event)
Speaker Bio and Lecture Description:
Rokhl Kafrissen will share her research and teaching on Ashkenazi women’s folk practices, with a particular focus on magic and spiritual traditions. The lecture will explore themes including after-death communication, post-mortem excommunication, and women’s Yiddish prayers through a close reading of the short stories of the Yiddish writer Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn.
Kafrissen is a journalist, teacher, and playwright whose work has helped bring Yiddish culture and Ashkenazi spiritual traditions to contemporary audiences. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2022 Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Prize. From 2017 through 2024, her column Rokhl’s Golden City appeared 150 times in Tablet magazine, examining a wide range of topics across Yiddish culture. Her popular Everyday Ashkenazi Magic classes have developed a devoted online following, exploring subjects such as the evil eye, Yiddish incantations, spirit intercession, and the recovery of embodied spiritual practices from the shtetl.
