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.
Remembering Yiddish Radio and Newspapers
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Helen Kurzban remembers how a Yiddish radio program offered advice to its listeners and how fathers placed notices in the newspaper advertising the availability of their unmarried daughters.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Helen Kurzban.
This excerpt is in English and Yiddish.
Helen Kurzban was born in New York, New York in 1930.
Other video highlights from this oral history
Remembering Yiddish Radio and Newspapers
1 minute 26 seconds
Father enters U.S. under false identity
3 minutes 14 seconds
Fate of Family Members Who Remained in Europe
1 minute 47 seconds
"In a shlemazl darf men hobn mazl": How My Cousin Survived the Holocaust
1 minute 27 seconds
"American Children Speak English!": Discouraged from Using Yiddish
1 minute 19 seconds
What's Lobster in Yiddish?: Teaching Yiddish to Senior Citizens
4 minutes 38 seconds
Teaching about Jewish Humor
2 minutes 4 seconds
Teaching The Bintl Brief
1 minute 22 seconds
"I'm an American, I speak English... and by the way your Yiddish is terrible!": My Mother at 103
1 minute 15 seconds
Facing Anti-Semitism in Washington D.C.
3 minutes 15 seconds
Healthcare in the International Worker's Order
2 minutes 40 seconds
Consequences of Using Yiddish in a German Class
1 minute 10 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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Do you (or someone you know) have stories to share about the importance of Yiddish language and culture in your life?