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.

Yiddish: A Logical Choice?

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Alana Fichman, Steiner Summer Yiddish Program student, discusses how the typical reaction to them learning Yiddish is skepticism and how this reveals a lot about the ideology influencing linguistic and cultural study.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Alana Fichman.

This excerpt is in English.

Alana Fichman was born in Santa Rosa, California in 1991.

This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

A Steiner Student's Day

3 min 1 sec

"Before Our Eyes": Reconciling Past and Present with the Helix Project

3 min 53 sec

Embodied History: The Experience and Impact of the Helix Project

3 min 15 sec

Why Study Yiddish? Far Vos Nisht! (Why Not?)

3 min 45 sec

Reflections on Language and (Jewish) Peoplehood

2 min 59 sec

"Making a Space for Progressive Judaism": Yiddish and Queer Yiddishkayt Workshops at UC Berkeley

5 min 46 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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