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.

Sholem Aleichem's Romance With His Future Wife

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Mitchell Waife, grandson of Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem, recounts the story of how Sholem Aleichem fell in love with his future wife, Olga, when she was his pupil.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Mitchell Waife.

This excerpt is in English.

Mitchell Waife was born in 1923. Mitchell died in 2015.

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This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

For The People: Sholem Aleichem Comes to America

2 min 11 sec

The Famous Sholem Aleichem

1 min 29 sec

“She Would Come With Her Umbrella”: My Grandmother, Olga Rabinovitz’ Fierce Commitment to Sholem Aleichem’s Legacy

2 min 59 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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