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.

Memories from A Providence, RI Kheyder (Cheder)

Watch now:

William Robin - temple administrator and WWII veteran - describes his experience going to Cheder, learning from European men, and working with other immigrant children during his childhood in Providence, Rhode Island.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with William Robin.

This excerpt is in English.

William Robin was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1922. William died in 2021.

Jump to map

Other video highlights from this oral history

A Lot of Yiddish In My Home

2 min 33 sec

The Reform Synagogue from an Orthodox Perspective

1 min 8 sec

We Would Run Through the Irish Neighborhood

2 min 41 sec

Listening In On Conversations Of New Immigrants From Russia

1 min 52 sec

Orthodox Shul

1 min 11 sec

The Jew and Non-Jew

1 min 48 sec

Ham and Cheese Sandwich

1 min 55 sec

Being A Jew in the Army

2 min 59 sec

Food Memories

3 min 34 sec

No Dairy for Peysakh, Just Matzoh and Schmaltz

2 min 2 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

Themes: