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.

Becoming a Cantor at the Age of Eleven in Vilna, Lithuania

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David Botwinik, Vilna-born composer and Yiddish-language activist, explains how he became a khazn (cantor) at the age of eleven.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with David Botwinik.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

David Botwinik was born in Vilna, Lithuania. David died in 2022.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

David Botwinik Remembers Joining a Choir in Lithuania as a Young Boy

1 min 53 sec

Jewish Music Conservatory

3 min 21 sec

A Native Yiddish Speaker from Vilna's Thoughts on the Future of Yiddish

4 min 24 sec

Postwar Kibbutz in Lodz

4 min 14 sec

Working as a Music Copier

1 min 58 sec

"It Should Be Just Like a Photograph": Collecting Ghetto Songs with Shmerke Kaczerginski

2 min 46 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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