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.

"My Dad Wanted to be a Cowboy": Philip Kutner's Normal Jewish Childhood

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Philip (Fishl) Kutner, founder of "Der Bay" a website for Yiddish networking information, describes his parents' differing ideas of how they should raise their children, which resulted in experiences with both an elderly Melamed and a family-run chicken farm.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Philip (Fishl) Kutner.

This excerpt is in English.

Philip (Fishl) Kutner was born in 1926.

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Other video highlights from this oral history

From Melons to Mafia: Adventures Working for the Railroad

3 min 28 sec

"I Never Forgot that Experience": Paying for Rutgers University through A Hodgepodge of Part-time Jobs

4 min 58 sec

"It Was a Total Disaster": The Chicken Farm Flood of 1955

3 min 45 sec

"Ergern Nisht (Don't Worry)": Learning Yiddish by Ear

2 min 56 sec

The Founding of the International Association of Yiddish Clubs

3 min 5 sec

"What Do You Know About Jewish Storytelling?": Reconnecting with Yiddish in Jonesboro, Tennessee

3 min 5 sec

Restoring the Workmen's Circle History

3 min 25 sec

Spreading Yiddish Through "Der Bay"

1 min 49 sec

"What Kind of Person is a Mentsh?": Preserving the Yiddish Language

2 min 26 sec

A "Pork and Beans Soldier" with a Kosher Kitchen: How My Parents Got Married

3 min 12 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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