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

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Eleanor Reissa, singer, remembers how she was warned early in her theater career that performing in Yiddish would limit her options for roles. She speaks to her relationships with English and Yiddish, respectively, adding that Yiddish is the language in which she feels most comfortable.

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

This excerpt is in English.

Eleanor Reissa was born in Brooklyn, New York.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

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

2 min 21 sec

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

53 sec

Summers at the Bungalow Colony

2 min 24 sec

Reciting Kaddish For My Father From Onstage

1 min 12 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

More information about this oral history excerpt

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