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.

Class Structure among Early Ashkenazi Jewish Immigrants in Mexico City's Centro

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Jaya Torenberg—the former director of the Colegio Israelita de Mexico, a Yiddish school founded in 1924 in Mexico City—discusses the class structure of early Ashkenazi Jews in downtown Mexico City in the 1920s and '30s.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jaya Elena Torenberg.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

Jaya Elena Torenberg was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1930.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Ashkenazi Jewish Immigrant Life in Mexico City in the 1920s and '30s

1 min 18 sec

The Foundation of the Ashkenazi Jewish Secular School System in Mexico

4 min 7 sec

Professor Abraham Golomb, an Influential Educator in Mexico City

1 min 55 sec

Jaya Torenberg on the Role of Jewish Food in Her Life

1 min 22 sec

My Husband's Communist Jewish Family

1 min 52 sec

Jaya Torenberg talks about her husband's family's stories.

2 min 16 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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