In this episode, Sarah Bunin Benor hands over hosting duties to a guest host, Jack Lieberman, who interviews his mother, Michele, about her ancestral language, Yiddish. From family memories to funny Yiddish anecdotes, their chat is a heartfelt tribute to preserving cultural language, food, and music as living links to a vibrant past.

Jack was a student in Sarah’s class "Jewish Language in the 21st Century" at the University of Southern California in fall 2024. Sarah found the experience of interviewing people about their heritage words so interesting and enriching that she decided to share that experience with her students. For one of their assignments, each student interviewed someone who has an ancestral connection to a language about the heritage words that have been passed down the generations to them.

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 executive producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Producers and editors: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut, Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Annabel Noar

Editorial consultants: Annabel Noar, Hannah Pressman

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.