Heritage Words

Sarah Bunin Benor interviews Ashton Kahen, a Baruch College student and researcher dedicated to Iranian Jewish history and endangered languages. Ashton details his family’s diverse roots across Iran, including Tuyserkan, Damavand, and Kashan. Driven by a desire to preserve his heritage, he discusses his work documenting his ancestral language, Judeo-Tuyserkani, which has led to a partnership with the Jewish Language Project. Ashton highlights common Persian Jewish heritage words like kenisa and Ben Ebri, while also exploring the Farsi-English language mixing prevalent in his Great Neck community.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

Sarah Bunin Benor interviews writer and journalist Lauren Hakimi, whose family roots trace back to Mashhad, Iran, via Tehran. Lauren recounts the unique history of Mashhadi Jews, including the forced conversion, which led her ancestors to practice Judaism in secret for a century. She discusses the social separation of Mashhadi Jews from "Tehrani" (non-Mashhadi Persian) Jews in Great Neck, New York, a major center of Persian Jews. Lauren shares how her father integrated the Yiddish word tuches into their family and also shares Farsi terms like gabool boshe and delbozorg. She also discusses her reporting on Persian Jewish languages re-emerging in relatives with dementia.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

Sarah Bunin Benor interviews comedian Ariel Elias, who discusses her unique background as a Jew growing up in Kentucky and her move to the Jewish comedy scene in New York. Ariel discusses her mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardic heritage, explaining why she prioritizes the Spanish connection and how she obtained Spanish citizenship. Ariel explores the contrasting experiences of her ancestral languages, from inheriting some Yiddish words like yenta and shaina maidele from her maternal side to feeling the "hurt" of losing her paternal side's Ladino.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

This Heritage Words episode features Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of the new Netflix series Long Story Short. Bob-Waksberg discusses his Ashkenazi roots, noting that his primary exposure to Yiddish came from American pop culture such as Mad Magazine and Mel Brooks. He also discusses his show's use of overlapping dialogue and Yiddish heritage words such as tsures and ungepatchke, sharing that this specificity allows audiences to find universal connections.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

Clips in this episode are courtesy of The Tornante Company.

This episode features Stephanie Ives, who shares her experience growing up in Los Angeles with a diverse Middle Eastern Jewish heritage, tracing ancestors from Tunisia, Libya, and Iraq. She discusses the various languages and cultural practices that shaped her and her journey to rediscover and transmit her family's Arabic and French heritage words to her children, emphasizing the importance of preserving this cultural depth for future generations.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

This episode features Dr. Karen Skinazi, who explores her diverse linguistic heritage, tracing words and expressions from her Ashkenazi mother's Yiddish-speaking background, including terms like "eggies" and "zei gezunt". She also delves into her Sephardic Egyptian-Israeli father's influence, discussing Arabic words like "do'a" and "howaga," a French children's rhyme, and Hebrew expressions.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

This episode features author Dara Horn, who discusses her approach to embedding "coded language" and hidden Jewish references, or "afikomanim," in her English novels, aiming to enrich American Jewish culture and connect readers to Jewish texts and traditions. She also shares her personal journey, including learning Yiddish to better understand Hebrew literature, her family's ancestral Yiddish background, and her new nonprofit, the Tell Institute, which educates the broader American public about Jewish civilization.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

In this episode, host Sarah Bunin Benor interviews Elaine Lindheim, a native Los Angeleno deeply involved in the Jewish community, about her Sephardic heritage and connection to Ladino. Lindheim shares how Ladino was the "secret language" of her parents and other relatives and explores the preservation of linguistic heritage primarily through family recipes and food-related terms like ojaldres, borekas, fritadas, and rosca.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

In this episode, host Sarah Bunin Benor interviews Aliza Bulow, CEO of CoreTorah.org, about her journey of converting to Judaism and navigating the language and culture of her new communities. Aliza discusses her names, the process of acquiring Jewish English, and her work in creating a Yinglish dictionary to help others acculturate. She also shares insights into the cultural nuances and linguistic specificities within various Orthodox communities.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.

This episode features award-winning culinary historian and food writer Michael W. Twitty, who discusses the significance of his diverse English, Hebrew, and African names and his extensive exposure to various languages growing up. He delves into his journey as a Jew by choice, how he learned Jewish English, and the profound connection between language, food, and cultural identity within Black and Jewish communities.

Heritage Words - conversations about the words we inherit and the meaning they bring to our lives - is produced by the HUC Jewish Language Project and HUC Connect.

Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

Theme music: Maurice El Medioni’s French and Algerian Judeo-Arabic album “Cafe Oran,” featuring the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, courtesy of Piranha Records.