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.

The Tree of Life by Chava Rosenfarb: A Synopsis

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Goldie Morgentaler, daughter of Yiddish writer Chava Rosenfarb, describes her mother's 3-volume novel about life in the Lodz Ghetto, entitled The Tree of Life.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Goldie Morgentaler.

This excerpt is in English.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

Getting a Job Teaching Yiddish by Knowing How to Say "Orange"

2 min 22 sec

"They Had No Sense That It Was a Language": American Jews' Dismissive Attitude Towards Yiddish

2 min 45 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's School Years in Lodz

3 min 52 sec

Parents' Experiences in the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz Concentration Camp

6 min 18 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's Talent for Painting, Murals, Sculpture, and Tapestry-Making

2 min 6 sec

"She Was a Beautiful Woman": Chava Rosenfarb's Physical Appearance

1 min 51 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's Social Presence and Dislike of Chitchat

1 min 34 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's Recreation of Her First Poems, Originally Destroyed by Nazis

3 min 56 sec

Throwing My Mother's Yiddish Writing Down the Incinerator as a Child

1 min 23 sec

Interactions with Yiddish Writers in My Childhood

2 min 49 sec

Chava Rosenfarb Was a Loving, Warm-Hearted Mother

2 min 7 sec

Getting to Know a New Side of My Mother, Chava Rosenfarb, Through Translating Her Works

5 min 10 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's Observant Grandparents' Reactions to Their Daughter Becoming An Atheist Bundist

2 min 3 sec

Chava Rosenfarb's Writing Style

2 min 48 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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