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.

Klezmer: The Voice of Jewish Mourning

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Jerry Weinstein, former Education professor at University of Massachusetts in Amherst, describes the change in Klezmer style music which he has witnessed over the years.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jerry Weinstein.

This excerpt is in English.

Jerry Weinstein was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1930.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Saved By The Flute

1 min 23 sec

A Proud Father: Taking a Place In Our Family Jewish Band

1 min 20 sec

"A Neighborhood Celebration": Street Games and Passover in West Philadelphia

1 min 26 sec

"Accounting" For My Love of Literature

2 min 27 sec

1950s, Kentucky State College: Encountering Segregation in the South for the First Time

2 min 31 sec

Staying With Black Coal Miners in Appalachia

1 min 37 sec

"That's the Kind of Counselor I Was": Teaching Mambo at Camp Yeshiva

1 min 41 sec

Poking Fun At Anti-Semitism With Philip Roth and Saul Bellow

1 min 34 sec

Becoming Aware of White Privilege in T-Groups

3 min 12 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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