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.

"What Really Spoke was the Violin": Navigating Eastern Europe

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Yale Strom, musical performer, artist, and ethnographic collector of Yiddish music, discusses his first trip to Eastern Europe. At that point he spoke only English and Yiddish and a bit of broken Polish, but he doesn't view that challenge as an insurmountable barrier.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Yale (Yitskhok) Strom.

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

Racial Prejudice Within the Jewish Community

2 min 48 sec

Getting Involved in Music

8 min 43 sec

Memories from Shemini Atzereth and Simchas Torah

2 min 24 sec

Between Hashomer Hatsair and Hasidism: Yale Strom's Childhood in Detroit

2 min 29 sec

Stoliner Nign from Father's Family

3 min

The Beginning of Yale Strom's Ethnographic Career: An Old Age Home in Zagreb

6 min 21 sec

An Eyste from Yale Strom

3 min 30 sec

It's About the Derekh (The Path): Yale Strom on Religion

3 min 24 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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