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.

"Learning Yiddish Would Be a Waste of Time": Reactions to an Early Interest in Grandparents' Culture

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Diego Rotman - scholar and artist with a special interest in the Yiddish theater duo Dzigan and Schumacher - tells us of how his parents did not support him in learning Yiddish in his childhood, as they thought it had no future.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Diego Rotman.

This excerpt is in Spanish.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

"There are Ways": Complicated Status of Yiddish in Israel

2 min 44 sec

Jewish Life Growing Up in Buenos Aires

1 min 59 sec

Introduction to the Yiddish Duo Dzigan and Schumacher

2 min 47 sec

"I Wanted to Understand Them": An Early Interest in Yiddish

1 min 26 sec

Dzigan and Schumacher's Fight Against Yiddish Prohibition in Israel

2 min 6 sec

Deciding to Study Dzigan and Schumacher

1 min 34 sec

Dzigan and Schumacher's Theater Resonates in Israel

1 min 19 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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