We Spoke Jewish: A Legacy in Stories

We Spoke Jewish explores the three waves of Jewish immigrants to the United States in the 20th century. Through artwork and oral history, it tells the stories of the Jews of early immigrant communities, the Holocaust survivors who came post-war, and the immigrants from the former Soviet Union who came in the latter part of the century.

What does it mean to "speak Jewish?" The phrase “speaking Jewish” is often used to describe the Yiddish language and in the community of Eastern European Jews of the early part of the century, virtually everyone spoke Jewish. Many of the subsequent immigrants also spoke Jewish in different ways. Survivors spoke the Jewish of remembrance, carrying with them the memory of once thriving Jewish communities and the people who populated them. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union could not openly practice Judaism, but they spoke the Jewish of culture, carrying their heritage forward through song, food, and of course, story. We Spoke Jewish explores how these three groups spoke Jewish through language, memory and culture, forming an important part of Jewish identity.

This book grew out of a series of oral histories with Jewish elders and their families. Susan Weinberg, an artist as well as a writer, explores the emotional responses and visual elements that accompany these stories. Out of this process, she creates artwork, exploring their words through image and creating a multi-layered storytelling experience.
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