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.

Yiddish For Secrets?

Watch now:

Ted Steinberg, Distinguished Teaching Professor at SUNY Fredonia, explains that his parents didn't use Yiddish or any foreign language to tell secrets, but recounts that his wife was often made to serve as translator for her friends, whose parents did just that!

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Theodore (Ted) Steinberg.

This excerpt is in English.

Theodore (Ted) Steinberg was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1947.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

An Auspicious Friendship

1 min 55 sec

Mendele and the Explosion of the Yiddish Literature

1 min 49 sec

Yiddish Literature Excluded From Anthologies

1 min 29 sec

Teaching, Delighting, and Doing the Right Thing: On Literature

2 min 41 sec

Yiddish LIterature as Part of Larger Western Tradition

1 min 33 sec

"Whatever Yiddish You Can Learn, Learn It"

1 min 20 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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