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.

"What constitutes Jewish culture?"

Watch now:

Jack Kugelmass, anthropologist and director of Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, questions the various interpretations of the world "culture" as it refers to Jewish knowledge and/or lifestyles.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jack Kugelmass.

This excerpt is in English.

Jack Kugelmass was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1950.

This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Entering Yiddish is Entering a Wonderful World

57 sec

How Jewish Studies has changed

1 min 5 sec

Growing up in a Protestant School District

1 min 14 sec

"An Encounter with a Completely Different Culture": Formative Experience at the Peretz school in Montreal

1 min 39 sec

The Crisis and Future of Yiddish

2 min 15 sec

Boundaries of American Judaism

2 min 56 sec

The YIVO Institute

2 min 57 sec

Yiddish Revival

2 min 12 sec

Jocularity of Jewish Culture

1 min 33 sec

What is current Jewish studies?

4 min 45 sec

Disdain for the American Bagel

1 min 9 sec