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.

Becoming a Yiddish Teacher

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Shulamith (Shami) Kligman Zimmerman – Yiddish teacher and daughter of Yiddishist Joseph Kligman – describes her journey from high school English teacher to elementary school Yiddish teacher. She also shares a song she made up to help teach to verb 'zayn', or 'to be'.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Shulamith (Shami) Kligman Zimmerman.

This excerpt is in English and Yiddish.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

My Father, Yiddish writer and Activist, Joseph Kligman

2 min 16 sec

The Peretz School of Windsor, Ontario

3 min 34 sec

The Variations of Yiddish in Ontario

3 min 15 sec

Yiddish With My Grandkids

1 min 8 sec

My Father, The Rabbi, and Yiddish

1 min 11 sec

People Would Send My Father Yiddish Books to Review or Promote

2 min 8 sec

Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" in Published Yiddish

52 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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