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.

"I Didn't Have the Language to Explain to Him What I Was Going Through": Abandoning My Path toward Becoming a Rabbi

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Marshall Forstein, psychiatrist, remembers how his realization that there wasn't room for his gay sexuality in the orthodox world conflicted with his desire to become a rabbi.

This is an excerpt from an oral history with Marshall Forstein.

This excerpt is in English.

Other video highlights from this oral history

I Saw Yiddish as Just Another Heritage Language in a Multicultural Context

4 min 33 sec

Each Immigrant Community Handled the Fear of Discrimination Differently

1 min 34 sec

Half of My Generation of Gay Men Died from the AIDS Epidemic: Gay Liberation and Health Crisis in the 1980s

2 min 33 sec

Adopting as a Gay Couple in the 1980s: Politics and Tribulations

6 min 40 sec

How Yiddish Helped My Gay Partner Connect with My Jewish Family

2 min 31 sec

Doing Good and Other Jewish Values

3 min 9 sec

“Do the Right Thing and the World Will Get Better”: Borrowing Life Advice from Spike Lee

2 min 24 sec

More information about this oral history excerpt

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