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.

"Shul Number Eins": Memories From The First Yiddish School in New York

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Eugene Orenstein describes his childhood at the successor to Shul Nummer Eins, apparently the oldest Yiddish school in the city.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Eugene Orenstein.

This excerpt is in English.

Eugene Orenstein was born in Bronx, New York in 1945.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

How my Father Lost his Faith

2 min 20 sec

His Mother's Story

4 min 7 sec

From the Polish Army to Cuba

3 min

"A De-Judaized Yiddish"

2 min 31 sec

Camp Kinderland

3 min 29 sec

Jewish Students' Changing Relationship to Yiddish

2 min 13 sec

A Unique Jewish Community

2 min 15 sec

A Coop in the Bronx

1 min 35 sec

the importance of learning languages

3 min 24 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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