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.

"Ver Bin Ikh (Who Am I)?": Arje Shaw on Feeling Like an Outsider in America

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Arje Shaw, z"l, Broadway playwright, describes how his struggle to understand his identity as an American and as a Jewish immigrant has informed his life and his work.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Arje Shaw.

This excerpt is in Yiddish.

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This interview is part of the Yiddish and the Arts: musicians, actors, and artists series.

Other video highlights from this oral history

"The Gathering" on Broadway: Arje Shaw's Theatrical Journey

3 min 55 sec

"Yiddish iz a Fargnign (Yiddish is a Pleasure)": Arje Shaw Reflects on 21st Century Yiddish Culture

2 min 43 sec

Surviving Starvation in Tashkent During World War II

1 min 35 sec

Forgetting Russian En Route to a New Beginning

1 min 45 sec

A Jewish Refugee's Journey From Tashkent to New York City

2 min 37 sec

Jewish Refugees Finding a Home on the Lower East Side

2 min 43 sec

Reflecting Yiddish Culture In Song: Arje Shaw Reflects on His Childhood

3 min 7 sec

English to Yiddish to English: Learning to Communicate in America

3 min 31 sec

I Knew I Was Not American: Reflecting on a Lifetime of Yiddish

1 min 58 sec

Memories of the Second Avenue Yiddish Theater

1 min 29 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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