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.

"It Was the Language of My Grandparents": Why Yiddish was and is Important to Me

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Jonathan (Itsik) Sunshine—University Heights (Cleveland) native and head of the greater Washington, D.C. Yiddish club—explains why Yiddish is important to him, especially as a kid.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Jonathan (Itsik) Sunshine.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

Jonathan (Itsik) Sunshine was born in New Jersey in 1944.

Other video highlights from this oral history

Memories of the Workmen's Circle Third Passover Seder

4 min 43 sec

Searching for a Non-Religious Jewish Identity: How I Got Back into Yiddish

2 min 21 sec

What is Yidish-Vokh (Yiddish Week)?

4 min 23 sec

Yiddish in Washington D.C.

4 min 45 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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