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.

My “So Called” Bar Mitzvah: A Secular Jewish Coming-of-Age

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David Simon, son of Yiddish author and Jewish educator Solomon Simon, describes how his father's non-traditional Bar Mitzvah assignment for David helped David explore Jewish tradition.

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

This excerpt is in English.

David Simon was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924. David died in 2019.

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This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

“Particularly Delicious And Unhealthy”: My Jewish Mother’s Cooking

2 min 28 sec

'Every One of Them Represented a Denture or Another Tooth': Solomon Simon's Dentistry and Ideals

3 min 6 sec

Following (and Not) in Solomon Simon's Footsteps

2 min 3 sec

The Story Behind Solomon Simon's 'Vortslen'

1 min 24 sec

Yiddish Writer Solomon Simon's Childhood Encounter with a Cossack

1 min 48 sec

'Oyf eygene drokhim' (On My Own Narrow Path): Solomon Simon's Spiritual Autobiography

6 min 24 sec

A “Way of Continuing As Secular Jews”: Why Solomon Simon Wrote Yiddish Stories for Children

2 min

No Butter with Meat, But Bacon in a Sandwich: The Paradox of Solomon Simon's Secular Jewish Eating

1 min 20 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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