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.

Saving coins in order to go to the Synagogue on the Indian Mainland

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Ilene Gelbaum describes the journey from Sri Lanka to the Indian mainland to visit a Synagogue.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Ilene Gelbaum.

This excerpt is in English.

Ilene Gelbaum was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

Returning to Sri Lanka

52 sec

Feeling the call by John F. Kennedy to give service

3 min 10 sec

Celebrating Hanukkah in Sri Lanka

1 min 36 sec

First Experience as a Midwife

4 min 1 sec

"He was an activist teacher who fought for Yiddish"

2 min 19 sec

The Story of Rosita- Finding Family around the Globe

2 min 27 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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