The Yiddish Book Center's

Wexler Oral History Project

A growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories about the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture offer a rich and complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

Celebrating Hanukkah in Sri Lanka

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Ilene Gelbaum remembers how she and her husband celebrated Hanukkah in Sri Lanka while in the Peace Corps by befriending the carpenter of the village.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Ilene Gelbaum.

This excerpt is in English.

Ilene Gelbaum was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946.

Other video highlights from this oral history

The Story of Rosita- Finding Family around the Globe

2 min 27 sec

Returning to Sri Lanka

52 sec

Feeling the call by John F. Kennedy to give service

3 min 10 sec

Saving coins in order to go to the Synagogue on the Indian Mainland

1 min 47 sec

First Experience as a Midwife

4 min 1 sec

"He was an activist teacher who fought for Yiddish"

2 min 19 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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