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.

Battling Ben-Gurion: Yiddish Activism in Israel

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Ze'ev Tsanin, son of Yiddish writer, journalist and activist Mordkhe Tsanin, describes his father's clashes with the Israeli government over the long course of his Yiddish activism.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Ze'ev Tsanin.

This excerpt is in English.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Adventures of a Bundist Yiddish Writer, Mordkhe Tsanin

2 min 46 sec

"I Felt Like an Outsider": Growing Up Without Yiddish in the Home of a Yiddish Writer

1 min 31 sec

From the Desk of Mordkhe Tsanin: Memories of Where My Father Worked on Letste Nayes, a Yiddish newspaper printed in Tel Aviv

2 min 38 sec

Not Dead or Alive, But Disregarded: The Current Status of Yiddish in Israel

1 min 28 sec

People, Not Banks: Organizing Family Reunions in "Letste Nayes"

1 min 37 sec

Leaving Warsaw for the Land of Israel

1 min 52 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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