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.

A Different Context for Judaism

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Tony Michels, professor of American Jewish history, describes the challenge of contextualizing the Jewish culture of one hundred years ago for his current students.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Tony Michels.

This excerpt is in English.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

I Bought A Surfboard With My Bar Mitzvah Money

2 min 44 sec

Starting the Progressive Jewish Student Union at UC Santa Cruz

1 min 57 sec

Yiddish as an Avenue of Jewish Identity

1 min 32 sec

An Affinity for the Underdog

2 min 7 sec

A Legacy of the Labor Movement

4 min 20 sec

Academia as an Entry to Jewish Culture

2 min 14 sec

Yiddish is Central to American Jewish Culture

1 min 40 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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