Yiddish Culture

Discusses history of, and his role in, Yiddish Seminar in New York: state of Jewish education in New York, 1914-16; demand for Jewish education; initiative behind establishment of teachers' seminar; organizations that participated in establishment of the seminar; first teachers; financial backing; character of classes; language of instruction; seminar's position on religion; its philosophy; student body; significance of the name; tuition; problems with funding; the seminar as a source of livelihood for teachers; publications; atmosphere amongst students in first years; first graduation ceremony, 1920; contribution of seminar's graduates to cultural life in America; its significance to world Jewry; role played by "Idish Natzionaler Arbeter Farband" in establishment of Jewish schools; day schools in the U.S.; appearance of Yiddish schools in America, 1920s and 1930s; Yiddish and Hebrew summer camps. Relates story of how he became a teacher after coming to America, 1913: his education, employment, and decision to leave the school after a schism developed between left and right.