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.

Picking Out Live Chickens in Brooklyn

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Arthur Klein, z"l - Brooklyn-born Navy veteran, retired hairdresser and former Yiddish Book Center docent - describes the bounty of the outdoor market he went to as a child.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Arthur Klein.

This excerpt is in English.

Arthur Klein was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924. Arthur died in 2014.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

"What I Remember From The Great Depression"

2 min 13 sec

"I give Chai"

1 min 42 sec

Being Aware of My Jewishness in the Navy

2 min 55 sec

Why He Works at The Yiddish Book Center

1 min 35 sec

"I cash old clothes!"

1 min 41 sec

The Shvits (Shvitz - sauna) at Coney Island

3 min 15 sec

I Thought Heartburn Was a Natural Thing to Have

2 min 58 sec

Cut That Man Right Out of My Hair

2 min 23 sec

Running Phone Calls for Pennies

2 min 16 sec

Favorite Yiddish Phrase

59 sec

Childhood Adventures

1 min 45 sec

Yiddish-speaking grandpas

1 min 16 sec

Dragging Ice Home From the Dry Dock

1 min 45 sec

I Thought Heartburn Was a Natural Thing to Have

2 min 58 sec

Outgrowing Religion

4 min 28 sec

Murder Inc.

1 min 21 sec

Nose Job for Twenty-Five Dollars

1 min 50 sec

A Smoking Rabbi

1 min 36 sec

A Pool Room Scam

1 min 54 sec

Finding Out About the Bombing of Pearl Harbor

1 min 13 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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