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.

"I Speak How I Speak": Shifting Among the Dialects of Yiddish

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Eleanor Reissa, singer, discusses how her years performing in Yiddish theater have caused her Yiddish to shift from her parents' Polish dialect towards the Southeastern dialect favored in performances.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Eleanor Reissa.

This excerpt is in English and Yiddish.

Eleanor Reissa was born in Brooklyn, New York.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"My Ego is in English, but My Heart is in Yiddish": Reflections on a Bilingual Career

2 min 57 sec

"It Ain't Your Bubbie's Yiddish Anymore": Eleanor Reissa Reflects on the Yiddish Artistic World Today

3 min 29 sec

Getting Cowgirls to Speak Yiddish: My Particular Brand of Activism

1 min 28 sec

"Remember That You Stand On The Shoulders of Other People"

1 min 44 sec

"Ver Iz Nishtu (Who is Not Here)": Growing Up as a Child of Holocaust Survivors

2 min 21 sec

Summers at the Bungalow Colony

2 min 24 sec

Reciting Kaddish For My Father From Onstage

1 min 12 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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