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.

"It Was Buzzing With Activity": Sholem Aleichem Folk Shul #21

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Avi Hoffman, actor, recalls with fondness the many hours he spent as a boy at Sholem Aleichem Folk Shul #21 in the Bronx, remembering it as the center of creativity and innovation in the secular Yiddish community of Bainbridge Avenue.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Avi Hoffman.

This excerpt is in English.

Avi Hoffman was born in Bronx, New York in 1958.