Coral Springs mourns the loss of Yiddish scholar and Columbia Professor Miriam Hoffman at 90
Coral Springs, Florida – Miriam Hoffman, a respected Yiddish scholar, Columbia University professor, playwright, and longtime newspaper columnist whose life’s work helped preserve and celebrate Yiddish language and culture, has died at the age of 90.
For decades, Hoffman dedicated herself to keeping Yiddish alive for future generations. Through teaching, writing, theater, and cultural programs, she became one of the most recognized voices in the effort to protect the traditions and stories connected to Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
Born Mirl Schmulewicz in Siberia in 1936, Hoffman’s early life was shaped by the hardships and uncertainty of the 20th century. She spent her first years near the Tobolsk slave labor camp before her family moved to Saratov, a Russian city near the border region. At only 9 years old, she joined a post-World War II refugee caravan traveling from Poland to the Hindenburg-Kaserne Displaced Persons Camp in Ulm, Germany.
Those experiences became a powerful influence throughout her life. The challenges she witnessed and the communities she encountered inspired a lifelong mission to preserve Yiddish not only as a language, but as a connection to history, identity, humor, and memory.
Hoffman’s academic journey began at the Sholem Aleichem Folkshul No. 21 in the Bronx. She later became a leading educator at Columbia University, where she taught Yiddish language and Jewish culture for 25 years. During her time at the university, she introduced thousands of students to Yiddish and helped bring renewed attention to a language that many feared was disappearing.
One of her most significant contributions to Yiddish education was her 700-page textbook, Key to Yiddish. The book became a widely used resource for teachers and students and helped make the language more accessible to new generations of learners.
Beyond academia, Hoffman was also an accomplished playwright and translator. Her creative work helped introduce Yiddish theater and literature to broader audiences. She translated Mel Brooks’ The Producers into Yiddish for a production in Montreal and adapted Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple into Yiddish for a production in Israel.
She also worked with longtime writing partner Rena Berkowicz Borow on the libretto for the bilingual musical Songs of Paradise. The production was presented by the Public Theater in 1989 under the leadership of Joseph Papp and was credited with helping spark renewed interest in Yiddish theater.
Hoffman’s influence extended into journalism as well. For more than 35 years, she wrote a weekly column for Forverts (The Yiddish Forward), where she published thousands of essays combining cultural commentary, humor, history, and Jewish folklore.
Through her writing, Hoffman often expressed optimism about the future of Yiddish. She once wrote, “Yiddish will never die because it contains too much life — too much argument, irony, and love — to vanish quietly.”
In recent years, Hoffman continued her mission by co-founding the nonprofit Yiddishkayt Initiative and its online platform, YILoveJewish.org, with her son Avi Hoffman, an actor, director, and producer. The organization worked to expand access to Yiddish education and cultural programs.
“My mother didn’t just teach Yiddish — she made the whole world fall in love with it,” Avi Hoffman said in a statement. “She survived the worst of the 20th century and spent the rest of her life making sure the language and the people who spoke it would never be erased and forgotten. Every joke, every lecture, every column was her way of saying, ‘We are still here.’”
Hoffman is survived by her sons, Avi and Benjamin; four grandchildren; one great-grandchild; as well as generations of students, readers, theater audiences, and cultural advocates who continue the work she dedicated her life to supporting.
A Shiva service will be held at Country Club Towers, located at 10777 W. Sample Road, Apartment 1105, in Coral Springs. Services will take place Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m.
In place of flowers, the family is requesting that tax-deductible donations be made to the Yiddishkayt Initiative, supporting the continued preservation and education efforts that represented Hoffman’s lifelong passion.
Through her teaching, writing, and creative work, Miriam Hoffman left behind a legacy that reached far beyond the classroom. Her efforts ensured that Yiddish remained not only a language of the past but a living expression of culture, storytelling, and resilience for generations to come.
