Scroll down and click on links to browse some of the clips that have been featured from our oral history collection.

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 Collected Reflections on Grade and Vilne. Lekoved (in honor of) the Yiddish writer Chaim Grade, and following a successful educational weekend here in Amherst dedicated to his life and work, we've compiled several clips related to Grade and Vilna - the city of Grade's youth.(4/23/2012)

 From Paris to Auschwitz: You Just Have to Trust Me Lekoved (in honor of) Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Thursday, April 19), watch a powerful story from the great folk singer and actor Theodore Bikel.(4/16/2012)

 Pesakh Stories. Have you heard of opening the bathroom door for Elijah? making haroset in a meat grinder? Each Jewish family has its own Passover traditions-- its own matzo ball soup recipe and spin on the retelling of the story of the ancient Israelites liberation and exodus from Egypt. Watch a selection Pesakh stories from our collection. (4/9/2012)

 How I Learned Yiddish. This clip is in Yiddish (with English subtitles, don't worry)! Paul (Hershl) Glasser, Dean of the Max Weinreich Center at YIVO, shares a story about how he decided to learn Yiddish at age five. (4/2/2012)

 Singing a Nign From His Childhood. Hear musician and educator Sruli Dresner sing a nign (an improvised, wordless religious melody) that, despite collecting nigunim (melodies) his whole life, he only remembers ever hearing in his home. (3/26/2012)

 Kiddush at the Distillery. Cousins Albert "Booney" Dinner and Leonard Strear reminisce about the kiddush they used to attend at their family's distillery in Denver, Colorado. (3/19/2012)

 Growing into Judaism.  Artist Tine Kindermann, married to Klezmer musician Frank London, recalls the moment at KlezKamp that lead to her conversion. (3/12/2012)

 Life Beyond the Kibbutz: A Tel-Aviv Purim Party. Levoked (in honor of) Purim, the holiday of costumes and hamantaschen that celebrates the Book of Esther, Haim Gunner shares a story about the Purim Party he attended in Tel-Aviv in the 1950s. (3/6/2012)

 My neighbor, the country club. Jewish feminist, Martha Ackelsberg, tells a simultaneously delightful and poignant story about her dog and the country club that was directly behind her childhood house. (2/27/2012)

 Coney Island with Itzik Manger.  Lekoved (in honor of) the 43rd yortsayt (anniversary of the death) of Yiddish writer Itzik Manger, Norman Feinberg tells a sweet story about Manger, a friend of his father, Yiddish writer and journalist, Leon Feinberg.

 Meeting My Wife: "We took an immediate disliking to each other."  In honor of the not-so-Jewish Valentine's Day, here's a clip in which Haim describes meeting his wife within the youth movement of Hashomer Hatsair. (2/13/2012)

 Happy Tu B'Shvat!  In honor of the "new year" for the trees, listen to Sasha Lansky reflect on the connection between environmental activism and her Jewish identity.

 Have you heard stories of Yiddish Book Center interns who used to sort books in a dusty, hot warehouse each summer?  Hear Avia Moore (now a freelance theater artist based in Montreal) describe what it was like back when being an intern meant getting your hands dirty.

 A smoking rabbi.  Arthur Klein describes the chain-smoking Rabbi who taught him his Haftorah.

 What is it about Jews and Civil Rights?  Lekoved (in honor of) Martin Luther King Jr. Day, hear reflections from Jewish men and women about their activism during the 1960s in this week's clip from the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project.

 Lomir zingen!   Let's sing!   Listen to Chana Gonshor sing a light-hearted song about the "joys of Gypsy life" that she learned as a child in Poland before World War II.  

 "Why learn Yiddish?"   Teachers, students, scholars, and performing artists discuss their reasons, the joys along the way, and the access they gained to a new world through the language itself. 

 Did you go out to Chinese food this Christmas?  Professor Cecile Kuznitz remembers the effect love for Chinese food had on her kitchen growing up.

 Lomir zikh shpiln in dreydl!  Let's play dreydl!  In honor of Chanukkah, Harriet Bonfeld remembers playing dreydl with her father, Yiddish writer Leon Feinberg.

 "There was something very good about my Jewish students at the very beginning of my academic career."   Hear Eugene Orenstein, Emeritus Professor of Modern Jewish History at McGill University in Montreal, reflect on how his Jewish students’ knowledge of Yiddish has changed over the years. 

 What are you listening to while training for your ultra-marathon?  Why, Yiddish music, of course!   Listen to Charles Corfield, ultra-marathon runner and tech entrepreneur, discuss Yiddish music.

 How do Larry David and American TV give insight into the nature of American Jewish culture?   Hear Jack Kugelmass, Jewish anthropologist and Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, reflect on how the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm relates to his analysis of American Jewish culture.

 What do language and food have in common?   In honor of all those in the kitchen cooking Thanksgiving meals this week, check out this clip from Eve Jochnowitz, scholar of Jewish culinary history.   

 "A yidishe shiksah?" (A Jewish non-Jew?)  Listen to a funny story about the New York Yiddish theatre from Miriam Beinstock, co-founder of Atlantic Records, and supporter of the Wexler Oral History Project.  

 "[When my mother came] down the gangplank, they were very embarrassed!"  Hear Elaine Katz tell an unusual story about an Ashkenazi immigrant from Egypt.

 "I could do anything a cowboy could do."  Enjoy this clip from Albert "Booney" Dinner, a retired Jewish cattle rancher from Colorado.  

 How can a French cartoon and a Roman fable be an analogy for Jewish identity?  Micha Eisenstorg, the Yiddish librarian at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, explains how a French cartoon and a Roman fable are connected. 

 A kokhlefl, tumbalalayke, and tsibele-kikhlekh: Compilation of a Few Favorite Yiddish Memories.  Does the word kokhlefl remind you of YOUR brother? Have you ever eaten tsibele-kikhl? Hear the stories behind these words and other favorite Yiddish words, phrases, and songs collected at this summer's Paperbridge Arts Festival.