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.

My Formal Yiddish Education: One Year With Mr. Gordon

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Robert Potash, historian, describes how his father hired a man from the local Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) to teach both him and his sister Yiddish.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Robert A. Potash.

This excerpt is in English.

Robert A. Potash was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1921. Robert A. died in 2016.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

1915: My Father's Involvement in New Jewish Organizations Supporting Those In the 'Old Country'

5 min 20 sec

My Mother's Passover Sandwiches

2 min 6 sec

Discovering Ladino in the Basement of the Widener Library at Harvard

3 min 7 sec

A Eureka Moment: Discovering My Sephardic Family Roots

2 min 29 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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