So how did you decide to do this?

Thank you, Sam, and thank you for your interest in my work and for agreeing to have this conversation.

The origin story of this book is actually quite interesting.

It started out with confusion.

I was researching oral and audiovisual Holocaust testimonies for my first project, which was my first book that Julia mentioned, and I was listening to hundreds of hours of Holocaust testimony in Yiddish, much of which was recorded in the 1990s.

and I was listening, analyzing, transcribing, and I kept hearing these words that I didn't understand, and they weren't in any dictionary, and I would go to some of my native Yiddish-speaking mentors and ask them about these words, and they'd say, you know, not sure.

And not only did I notice that these words, these strange words were appearing, but that also the witnesses, the survivors, would often share these words with a kind of wink or, you know, a little emphasis leaning into the camera.

I'm wondering when Blumenthal and Spivak and Kaplan were doing this, were they getting a lot of encouragement or the opposite in the Soviet Union or in Israel? Were they being met with indifference and even pushback on the project?

So how did you decide to do this?

Thank you, Sam, and thank you for your interest in my work and for agreeing to have this conversation.

The origin story of this book is actually quite interesting.

It started out with confusion.

I was researching oral and audiovisual Holocaust testimonies for my first project, which was my first book that Julia mentioned, and I was listening to hundreds of hours of Holocaust testimony in Yiddish, much of which was recorded in the 1990s.

and I was listening, analyzing, transcribing, and I kept hearing these words that I didn't understand, and they weren't in any dictionary, and I would go to some of my native Yiddish-speaking mentors and ask them about these words, and they'd say, you know, not sure.

And not only did I notice that these words, these strange words were appearing, but that also the witnesses, the survivors, would often share these words with a kind of wink or, you know, a little emphasis leaning into the camera.

I'm wondering when Blumenthal and Spivak and Kaplan were doing this, were they getting a lot of encouragement or the opposite in the Soviet Union or in Israel? Were they being met with indifference and even pushback on the project?

So how did you, how did you decide to do this?

Thank you, Sam, and, and thank you for, for your interest in my work and for agreeing to have this conversation.

The origin story of this book is, is actually quite interesting.

It started out with confusion.

I was researching oral and, um, audio-visual Holocaust testimonies for my first project, which was my first book that Julia mentioned, and I was listening to hundreds of hours of Holocaust testimony in Yiddish, much of which was recorded in the 1990s, and I was, uh, listening, analyzing, transcribing, and I kept hearing these words that I didn't understand, and they weren't in any dictionary, and I would go to some of my Yiddish, you know, native Yiddish-speaking mentors and ask them about these words, and they'd say, "You know, not sure." And not only did I notice that these words, these strange words were appearing, but that also the, the witnesses, the survivors, would often share these words with a kind of wink or, you know, a little emphasis leaning into the camera, and, and that they seemed to be doing something special with these words, or that these words seemed to have some kind of, of special meaning in them.

So, for example, one example was malekh from the Kovno ghetto, which I, which I understood from their explanations on camera, was a w- was a term that didn't mean angel as it usually does, but it meant an underage kid who was paid to do the work of a privileged adult in the Kovno ghetto, and this word came up a bunch of times.

And there were others, though, that were just thrown out like I was supposed to understand them, like shtepn as a word for working, and, um, I was confused, and I kinda held that confusion at bay.

When Blumenthal and Spivak and Kaplan were, were doing this, uh, were they getting a lot of encouragement or the opposite, uh, in the Soviet Union or in Israel? Uh, were they being met with indifference and even, uh, pushback on the project?

So how did you, how did you decide to do this?

Thank you, Sam, and, and thank you for, for your interest in my work and for agreeing to have this conversation.

The origin story of this book is, is actually quite interesting.

It started out with confusion.

I was researching oral and, um, audio-visual Holocaust testimonies for my first project, which was my first book that Julia mentioned, and I was listening to hundreds of hours of Holocaust testimony in Yiddish, much of which was recorded in the 1990s.

And I was, uh, listening, analyzing, transcribing, and I kept hearing these words that I didn't understand, and they weren't in any dictionary, and I would go to some of my Yiddish, you know, native Yiddish-speaking mentors and ask them about these words, and they'd say, "You know, not sure." And not only did I notice that these words, these strange words were appearing, but that also the, the witnesses, the survivors would often share these words with a kind of wink or, you know, a little emphasis leaning into the camera, and, and that they seemed to be doing something special with these words, or that these words seemed to have some kind of, of special meaning in them.

So, for example, one example was malekh from the Kovno ghetto, which I, which I understood from their explanations on camera, was a w- was a term that didn't mean angel as it usually does, but it meant an underage kid who was paid to do the work of a privileged adult in the Kovno ghetto, and this word came up a bunch of times.

When Blumenthal and Spivak and Kaplan were, were doing this, uh, were they getting a lot of encouragement or the opposite, uh, in the Soviet Union or in Israel? Uh, were they being met with indifference and even, uh, pushback on the project?