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.
"When They Opened the Department, People Came With Rotten Eggs": The Early Days of the Yiddish Department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
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Chava Turniansky, professor emeritus of Yiddish literature at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, discusses the unpopularity of studying Yiddish when she was younger and some of the troubles faced by the Yiddish department in Israel at the Hebrew University in the years after its founding.
This is an excerpt from an oral history with Chava Turniansky.
This excerpt is in Yiddish.
Chava Turniansky was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1937.
This interview is part of the Yiddish in the Academy: scholars, language instructors, and students series.
Other video highlights from this oral history
"When They Opened the Department, People Came With Rotten Eggs": The Early Days of the Yiddish Department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
1 minute 55 seconds
"They Went Back to Where She Came From": A Favorite Teacher and Her Library's Journey
2 minutes
Growing Up Jewish in Mexico
3 minutes 6 seconds
Glikl Has a Story for Everything: Translator and Expert Prof. Chava Turniansky Reflects
1 minute 52 seconds
"What's Worse than Before": Fewer Yiddish Books Are Published Now than Earlier in Israel
1 minute 18 seconds
Academics and Cultural Transmission
2 minutes 2 seconds
What Glikl of Hameln Reveals about Her Jewish Identity and Values
3 minutes 42 seconds
Today, There is an Extraordinary Interest in Yiddish: How Chava Turniansky Feels About Yiddish in Israel
4 minutes 17 seconds
Chava Turniansky's First Impressions of Israel
1 minute 45 seconds
Tensions Between Hebrew and Yiddish in Mexico City Started After 1948
2 minutes 40 seconds
Glikl of Hameln: Prof. Chava Turniansky Explains the Importance of the 17th Century Memoir Written By A Woman in Yiddish
2 minutes 31 seconds
How I Came To Re-Translate Glikl of Hameln into Hebrew: Prof. Chava Turniansky Reflects on Her Magnum Opus
2 minutes 29 secondsMore information about this oral history excerpt
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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