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.

Songs for the Shul Klaper: Musical Parallels between Yiddish East London and Eastern Europe

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Rachel Weston, London-based singer with a particular interest in Yiddish song, describes her interest in historical Yiddish song in East London and thematic parallels between Yiddish diaspora in the UK and Eastern Europe in song. She sings an example of a song about shul klapers (those who would go around the shtetl reminding people to wake up for morning prayers) - one of a pair from Eastern Europe and East London she performs together.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Rachel Weston.

This excerpt is in English.