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.
Finding Yiddish through Women Writers
Watch now:
Zohar Weiman-Kelman, rising Queer Yiddish and poetry scholar, describes their journey to Yiddish. They explain their "crush" on Glückel of Hameln (a medieval woman diarist who wrote in Western Yiddish) which led to a Yiddish language class with Hanan Bordin, and finally finding Yiddish women's poetry.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Zohar Weiman-Kelman.
This excerpt is in English.
Zohar Weiman-Kelman was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1982.
This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.
Other video highlights from this oral history
Finding Yiddish through Women Writers
3 minutes 48 seconds
"Making Babies in Other Ways": Beyond Heteronormativity, Essentialism, Survival in Transmission
3 minutes
Speaking Directly to the Bubbies: Transmission Between Jewish Lesbian Writers and Yiddish Poetesses
2 minutes 32 seconds
"Look Through Yiddish at the World": Advice for Those Interested in Yiddish
1 minute 13 seconds
Inside or Outside: Closed Circles in the Yiddish World
2 minutes 30 seconds
Who is Irena Klepfisz?: Mentor, Lesbian Yiddish Poetess
2 minutes 19 seconds
Yiddish Rebelliousness, Pleasure, Corporeality of the Past
2 minutes 22 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
Themes:
Keywords:
About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
Tell Us Your Story
Do you (or someone you know) have stories to share about the importance of Yiddish language and culture in your life?