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.

Discovering Ladino in the Basement of the Widener Library at Harvard

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Robert Potash, historian, recalls taking a break from his senior thesis at Harvard by thumbing through the library stacks, an act that brought him into contact with Ladino for the first time.

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

My Mother's Passover Sandwiches

2 min 6 sec

A Eureka Moment: Discovering My Sephardic Family Roots

2 min 29 sec

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

5 min 20 sec

My Formal Yiddish Education: One Year With Mr. Gordon

2 min 10 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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