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.

My Parents' Arranged Marriage

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Fay Webern, New York City native and writer of historical, literary non-fiction, discusses her parents' forced marriage, arranged because he needed money and she needed a husband.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Fay Webern.

This excerpt is in English.

Fay Webern was born in New York, New York in 1927.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

Tragic Story of Her Namesakes in Ukraine

3 min 47 sec

My Mother's Protest to Get into the Lavanburg Homes

5 min 59 sec

Description of Lavanburg Homes, A Utopian Housing Co-operative in New York

3 min 40 sec

Speaking Yiddish as a Child

2 min 17 sec

Stories About My Bobe: Sneaking Out of Shul to Skinny Dip, Making a Living Through Depression

2 min 39 sec

Song About Tsar Nikolai

2 min 7 sec

Popcorn and Fundraising at Intermission: Memories of New York Yiddish and English Theaters and Movie Houses

2 min 16 sec

Fear of the Black Hand Italian Mafia Between Kids at the Jewish Center

2 min

Mizele, Mayzele: Yiddish Song for a Lost Baby Tooth

1 min 6 sec

"Kukh-aleyns”: The Jewish Summer Retreat for Those Who Couldn’t Afford the Catskills

1 min 23 sec

Mother Getting the Family a Cottage for the Summer

5 min 23 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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