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.

Glikl Has a Story for Everything: Translator and Expert Prof. Chava Turniansky Reflects

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Chava Turniansky, professor emeritus of Yiddish literature at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, discusses Glikl of Hameln, the narrator of the autobiography Turniansky translated, and discusses the wide array of Glikl's stories.

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.

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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

Growing Up Jewish in Mexico

3 min 6 sec

Tensions Between Hebrew and Yiddish in Mexico City Started After 1948

2 min 40 sec

"They Went Back to Where She Came From": A Favorite Teacher and Her Library's Journey

2 min

Chava Turniansky's First Impressions of Israel

1 min 45 sec

"When They Opened the Department, People Came With Rotten Eggs": The Early Days of the Yiddish Department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem

1 min 55 sec

Glikl of Hameln: Prof. Chava Turniansky Explains the Importance of the 17th Century Memoir Written By A Woman in Yiddish

2 min 31 sec

What Glikl of Hameln Reveals about Her Jewish Identity and Values

3 min 42 sec

Today, There is an Extraordinary Interest in Yiddish: How Chava Turniansky Feels About Yiddish in Israel

4 min 17 sec

"What's Worse than Before": Fewer Yiddish Books Are Published Now than Earlier in Israel

1 min 18 sec

Academics and Cultural Transmission

2 min 2 sec

How I Came To Re-Translate Glikl of Hameln into Hebrew: Prof. Chava Turniansky Reflects on Her Magnum Opus

2 min 29 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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