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.
Noami Leaf Halpern's Oral History
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Noami Leaf Halpern, Jewish dancer and centenarian, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on January 27th, 2017, in Woodstock, New York.
This interview was conducted in Yiddish.
Noami Leaf Halpern was born in 1914 in Jerusalem, Palestine.
Video highlights from this oral history
Losing the Gefilte Fish
1 minute 15 seconds
Dancing in Maurice Schwartz's Last Play
1 minute 29 seconds
Stories from the Road: A Jewish Dancer's 1930s European Tour
3 minutes 47 seconds
The Beauty of a Jewish Life
1 minute 18 seconds
Choreographing and Performing Dances about the Women of the Tanakh
1 minute 30 seconds
Find What Makes You Feel Good to Be Alive: Advice from a Centenarian
1 minute 10 seconds
Dancing in the Zeigfield Follies
1 minute 44 seconds
"They Knew A War Was Coming": Zionism At Home and Leaving Palestine Before World War Two
1 minute 29 seconds
It was Heaven: Camp Kinderwelt
1 minute 40 secondsMore information about this oral history
Themes in this oral history:
- Jerusalem, Palestine, New York City, Brooklyn, Bronx, New York, Paris, France, Maurice Schwartz, Mikhail Fokine, Naomi Aleh Leaf, Camp Kindervelt, Camp Kinderwelt, 1920s, 1930s, gefilte fish, choreography, tour,
- Yiddish teaching
- Dance
- Music
- song
- singing
- Zionism
- Israel
- shabbat
- shabbes
- sabbath
- shabes
- shabbos
- Eastern Europe
- Western Europe
- America
- United States
- Summer camp
- Food
- culinary traditions
- Yiddish personalities
- Urban
- Travel
- Love
- Relationships
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About the Wexler Oral History Project
Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded more than 500 in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture.
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