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.

"They Don't Know That There's a Shelley on the Roof": A Carpenter-Poet's Craft

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Joe Esselin, z"l, playwright and son of Yiddish writer Alter Esselin, describes how his father found time to write poetry while working as a carpenter and speaks to the commitment with which he approached both his craftsmanship and his writing.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Joe (Yosl) Esselin.

This excerpt is in English.

Joe (Yosl) Esselin was born in Los Angeles, California in 1923. Joe (Yosl) died in 2016.