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.

"The Fall-Back Plan": The Choice Was Between Being A Yiddish Teacher Or A Dancer

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Sheva Zucker, Yiddishist and Yiddish teacher, describes her decision to become a Yiddish teacher, and why she feels secular Yiddish education should be important to the Jewish community.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Sheva Zucker.

This excerpt is in English and Yiddish.

Sheva Zucker was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1951.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Yiddish Doesn't Need Saving

3 min 3 sec

In The Middle of 2nd Grade, They Changed the Hebrew Pronunciation from Ashkenazi to Sephardic

1 min 45 sec

Penmanship and Grammar in the Winnepeg Peretz Yiddish Day School

1 min 37 sec

"Holocaust was Not Taught...Baloney!": History at the Winnepeg Peretz Day School

2 min 52 sec

Back When A Yiddish Poet was Considered a Celebrity

1 min 56 sec

He Lived By His Own Principles: Sheva Zucker Reflects on Her Father

1 min 56 sec

"Lererin Esther": Sheva Zucker Remembers Her Favorite Yiddish Teacher from Winnipeg's Peretz School

1 min 57 sec

Yidish-Lige: The League for Yiddish and Afn Shvel, A Yiddish Journal

3 min 21 sec

Cultural Literacy: Yiddish as a Key to Understanding Our World

3 min 5 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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