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.

The Bridge to the Next Generation: The Transcendent Power of Yiddish Music

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Sara Klompus, singer and Yiddish enthusiast, explains why she sings Yiddish whenever she can, although she has received vastly different reactions in places from Poland to South Florida. She believes understanding Yiddish is significant to understanding Jewish heritage, and she keeps Yiddish songs to sing whenever she can.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Sara Klompus.

This excerpt is in English.

Sara Klompus was born in Washington, D.C. in 1949.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Saturday Night Bagels: My Family's Shabbos Routine

1 min 36 sec

A Second Home: Finding My Voice in the Synagogue

3 min 37 sec

My Singing Career: From Entertaining Soldiers with the USO to Performing Yiddish Songs

3 min 17 sec

Sara Klompus Sings a Connie Francis Favorite

1 min 23 sec

A Sukkah on the Shore

1 min 34 sec

Learning Yiddish to Sing It

4 min 22 sec

With My Grandmother on My Shoulder: Studying Yiddish in Vilna

3 min 23 sec

Trips to Eastern Europe and Jewish Identity

4 min 1 sec

The Girl From Pinsk: Roots Trips to Belarus

5 min 13 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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