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

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Yale Strom, musical performer, artist, and ethnographic collector of Yiddish music, shares his thoughts on religion. As a child, he attended shul with his father because it was a place to socialize and to argue with God, which had a profound effect on his approach to a deity.

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

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

6 min 21 sec

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

2 min 49 sec

An Eyste from Yale Strom

3 min 30 sec

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

More information about this oral history excerpt

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