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.

"There Are Still People There": Interviewing Soviet Jewry in the Small Shtetls

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Jeffrey Veidlinger, professor of Jewish studies, describes working on the AHEYM project, and points out that the AHEYM project is covering the same geographical locales that Ansky did during his famous ethnographic expedition at the beginning of the 20th century.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jeffrey Veidlinger.

This excerpt is in English.

Jeffrey Veidlinger was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1971.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Advice: Take Advantage of the Opportunities

2 min 34 sec

In Third Grade They Added Yiddish and French: Languages in My Bialik School

1 min 38 sec

That's When I Found Some Documents in Yiddish

1 min 45 sec

I Was Amazed There Were Still Yiddish Speakers in These Regions

3 min 8 sec

Stories of Survival: Interviewing for the AHEYM Project

2 min 22 sec

The Importance of Food

1 min

Maintaining a Sense of Jewishness While Living In A Small Town

2 min 41 sec

"What Are You Coming Back To?": Going Back to the Ancestral Town

2 min 23 sec

Jewish Education through the University

2 min 33 sec

Diversity in the Indiana University Classroom

2 min 19 sec

Yiddish is a Fast Growing Language

1 min 36 sec

Different Relationships with Yiddish in Different Countries

2 min 57 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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