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.

Fear of the Black Hand Italian Mafia Between Kids at the Jewish Center

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Fay Webern, New York City native and writer of historical, literary non-fiction, talks about learning Hebrew at the Jewish Center and being to afraid of the Italian mafia's Black Hand to go to the bathroom.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Fay Webern.

This excerpt is in English.

Fay Webern was born in New York, New York in 1927.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Tragic Story of Her Namesakes in Ukraine

3 min 47 sec

My Mother's Protest to Get into the Lavanburg Homes

5 min 59 sec

Description of Lavanburg Homes, A Utopian Housing Co-operative in New York

3 min 40 sec

Speaking Yiddish as a Child

2 min 17 sec

My Parents' Arranged Marriage

3 min 56 sec

Stories About My Bobe: Sneaking Out of Shul to Skinny Dip, Making a Living Through Depression

2 min 39 sec

Song About Tsar Nikolai

2 min 7 sec

Popcorn and Fundraising at Intermission: Memories of New York Yiddish and English Theaters and Movie Houses

2 min 16 sec

Mizele, Mayzele: Yiddish Song for a Lost Baby Tooth

1 min 6 sec

"Kukh-aleyns”: The Jewish Summer Retreat for Those Who Couldn’t Afford the Catskills

1 min 23 sec

Mother Getting the Family a Cottage for the Summer

5 min 23 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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