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.

"We Can't Afford A Real Gate-leg Table": Moyshe-Leyb Halpern's Whimsical Household Art

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Isaac (Ying) Halpern, son of Yiddish poet Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, describes the art his father made with second-hand furniture in his childhood home. He gives the example of a broken table that his father painted to appear fixed.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Isaac (Ying) Halpern.

This excerpt is in English.

Isaac (Ying) Halpern was born in New York, New York in 1923.

This interview is part of the Beyond the Books: Yiddish writers and their descendants series.


Other video highlights from this oral history