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.
Deconstructing the Notion of a "Dead Language"
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Tal Hever-Chybowski, historian and teacher of Yiddish and current director of the Paris Yiddish Center Medem Library, responds to the question of whether there is a Yiddish revival by criticizing the ideological premises inherent in the notion of what makes a language alive or dead. As a counter-example, he discusses how Hebrew was a dead language because it -- before the modern era -- wasn't spoken in the grocery store.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Tal Hever-Chybowski.
This excerpt is in English.
Tal Hever-Chybowski was born in Oakland, California in 1986.
This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.
