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.

Working in An Aquarium: Modern Yiddish Culture in the Academy

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Marc Caplan - Professor of Yiddish Literature, Language, and Culture at Johns Hopkins University - describes two modern settings of Yiddish: Haredish communities and academia. He uses poet Avrom Sutzkever's analogy of an aquarium to describe the role of academia in transmitting Yiddish.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Marc Caplan.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

Marc Caplan was born in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1967.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Comparing Narewka to Louisiana

2 min 48 sec

Understanding the Importance of Jewish Identity

3 min 33 sec

Yiddish Literature, African Literature, and Modernism

5 min 59 sec

Yiddish in the Academy: The Advantage of Being on the Periphery

3 min 21 sec

"Dad, an Eel in Yiddish is a Venger"

2 min 8 sec

Suckling Pig With the Louisiana Jewish Community

4 min 18 sec

My Ancestor Fought in the American Civil War, Not on the “Right” Side

2 min 8 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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