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.

The Special Place of Yiddish in the Multilingual Belinki Family

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Karmela Belinki—journalist, academic, writer, and translator—explains the special uses of Yiddish in her childhood, particularly by her father. In particular, she recalls a story of how Yiddish helped her taste some of the first grapefruit juice that was available in the country.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Karmela Belinki.

This excerpt is in English.

Karmela Belinki was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1947.

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

Other video highlights from this oral history

“My Emotions are in Yiddish”: The Place of Yiddish in a Multilingual Jewish Life in Finland

3 min 29 sec

I Was a Wunderkind: Growing Up in a Multilingual Jewish Home in Post-WW2 Finland

2 min 50 sec

The Three Jewish Communities of Finland: Turku, Viipuri, and Helsinki

3 min 28 sec

Interviews I Conducted with Isaac Bashevis Singer

5 min 2 sec

Meeting Golda Meir

5 min 32 sec

A Roots Trip to the Baltics

8 min 13 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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