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Just as physical heirlooms connect generations of Jewish families, Jewish languages create connections across time and experience. However, most Jewish families have experienced ruptures in language transmission over the past several decades. Today, an increasing number of Jews are taking action to document and revitalize their heritage languages before it’s too late. 

 

Heirloom is a Jewish language reclamation and revitalization initiative of the Jewish Language Project and the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages. Through three engaging tracks, Heirloom seeks to reclaim and revitalize endangered Jewish languages so they can remain in Jewish families for generations to come.

TRACKS

Heirloom participants can choose one or more tracks depending on their interests and abilities:

"I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart because I thought this language was lost, and I didn't think I would find anybody who could revive it. I'm so grateful for this opportunity."

Annette Gourgey, Heirloom Learner (Judeo-Baghdadi Arabic)

 

TRACK 1: HERITAGE WORDS

Flexible commitment: 10 minutes per word

Good for: People who know Jewish heritage words or know speakers who know Jewish heritage words

Heritage Words participants submit Jewish heritage words to JLP’s crowdsourced dictionaries. Jewish heritage words come from minority languages once spoken by our Jewish ancestors. Even if one doesn’t fully speak a language that one’s grandparents spoke, certain words may have been passed down through the family or community via a majority language (e.g., words for dishes, like qoqol (Juhuri), cholent (Yiddish), adafina (Judeo-Arabic/Ladino), or bakhsh (Bukharian)). Learn more...

TRACK 2: LANGUAGE ADVOCATE

Flexible commitment: 2-8 hours/month for a minimum of 3 months

Good for: Dedicated volunteers who need flexible hours

Language advocates watch a crash course in language activism, read an article or book about language revitalization, and commit to at least two actions per month to promote the language(s) of their choice (or Jewish languages in general). Learn more...

TRACK 3: MENTOR-LEARNER

Commitment: 50+ hours total for one year

Good for: Extremely committed speakers/learners of endangered Jewish languages who can meet regularly

Mentors (speakers of endangered languages) and learners meet for around one hour per week in person or using technology. Together, each mentor-learner pair works on learning and documenting the language through conversation and language elicitation. Learn more...

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About This Track

Setting: Virtual

Flexible commitment: 10 minutes per word

Good for: People who know Jewish heritage words or have access to speakers who know Jewish heritage words

In this track, participants submit Jewish heritage words to one of JLP’s crowdsourced dictionaries. Jewish heritage words come from languages once spoken by our Jewish ancestors. Even if one doesn’t speak an ancestral language, certain words may have been passed down through family or community and used within a majority language, especially in in-group conversations.

Common categories of heritage words include foods (Juhuri: qoqol, Yiddish: cholent, Judeo-Arabic/Ladino: adafina, Bukharian: bakhsh), kinship terms (Juhuri: deday, Modern Hebrew: ima, Yiddish: tate, Persian: baba), terms of endearment (Persian: joon, Judeo-Arabic/Modern Hebrew: kapara, Yiddish: neshomele), cultural and religious terms (Bukharian: kenisa, Judeo-Arabic/Ladino: kuracha, Yiddish: pushke), and expressions (Persian: chetori, Yiddish: a yor mit a mitvokh, Aramaic: ha la kashya, Ladino: bivas kreskas enfloreskas, Persian: ghorboonet beram, Juhuri: mugum mə).

Heritage Words Requirements & Instructions

Start now with the above instructions!

 

We highlight one word each week on social media. And we discuss the significance of these words in our Heritage Words podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Episodes are posted every other week, and videos of each episode are posted on our YouTube channel.

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About This Track

Setting: Virtual

Flexible commitment: 2-8 hours/month for a minimum of 3 months

Good for: Dedicated volunteers who need flexible hours

Language advocates increase awareness about Jewish linguistic diversity and particular languages, create new resources for language advocacy, and create new documentation of endangered Jewish languages. They select a language and participate in several advocacy activities. The Jewish Language Project provides language advocates with a language activism crash course and toolkit, and our team is available to offer guidance.

Language Advocate Requirements

  • Complete an initial commitment form.

  • Watch a JLP crash course in language activism.

  • Read an article or book about language revitalization.

  • Commit to at least two actions per month to promote the language of your choice (or Jewish languages in general).

    • Examples of actions: writing, designing, or sharing social media posts; using 10 heritage words (words from an endangered language used in your everyday language); submitting 5 heritage words for inclusion in crowdsourced online dictionaries (like the Jewish English Lexicon or the Jewish Latin American Spanish Lexicon); listening to a song in the endangered language; sharing a song; listening to an episode of the Heritage Words podcast; attending a lecture; giving a lecture; hosting an endangered language party; wearing apparel; displaying stickers; designing JLP merchandise; making a financial contribution to a language preservation organization.

  • After completing each commitment, submit a form describing what you did.

We're preparing to launch this track. If you'd like us to contact you when it's live, let us know here.

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About This Track

Setting: Virtual or in-person

Commitment: 50+ hours total for one year

Good for: Extremely committed speakers/learners of endangered Jewish languages who can meet regularly

Mentors (speakers of endangered languages) and learners meet for around one hour per week in person or using technology. Together, each mentor-learner pair engages in language exchange in various ways according to their goals. Goals can include conversation practice, recording mini-immersion activities, adding words to an online dictionary, transcribing and translating recordings, and more.

We provide mentors and learners with the structure and resources to facilitate intergenerational language transmission. We also match mentors and learners as needed. This is a volunteer program, and no formal language training is required.

Heirloom Summer 2024 Cohort

Summer 2024: Sixteen mentors and learners from six countries piloted Heirloom's mentor-learner track.

Mentor & Learner Requirements

  • Be at least 18 years old unless you have already identified a mentor (e.g., a grandparent).

  • Complete an application and interview with a Jewish Language Project team member.

  • Set goals for the program with your mentor or learner.

  • Participate in an online orientation and mid-program gathering.

  • Over the course of the year, meet for at least 50 hours (around 1 hour per week) to speak the language, preferably in person but alternatively using Zoom, Google Meet, FaceTime, etc.

  • Encouraged: Record a 3-5-minute clip of conversation (primarily spoken by the mentor) to post on Wikitongues’ and the Jewish Language Project’s YouTube channels as language documentation assets. The mentor helps the learner transcribe and translate the clips.

  • Encouraged: Using the Living Dictionaries platform, add at least 100 words to the relevant crowdsourced dictionary. The mentor provides pronunciation recordings.

  • At the end of the program, participate with the larger cohort in a celebratory online event, saying a few words about the experience

 

In July 2024, we piloted an abbreviated version of this program. Applications have closed for this summer, but please fill out this interest form if you'd like to get involved in the future.

 

If you are interested in supporting Heirloom financially, please donate here or email us at jewishlanguageproject@huc.edu.

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About This Track

Setting: Virtual

Flexible commitment: 2-8 hours/month for a minimum of 3 months

Good for: Dedicated volunteers who need flexible hours

Many Jews today have maintained family letters from the 19th and 20th centuries written in Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Persian, or another Jewish language. Because of their archaic Hebrew-letter writing systems - and often messy handwriting - these letters may be difficult to decipher, even for those fluent in the language. Heirloom's Family Letters track can help! We are collecting such letters, along with their transliteration and translation, to train artificial intelligence / machine learning models to automatically transliterate and translate them. In addition, we are creating online communities of individuals who are interested in sharing and engaging surrounding their family letters. If you are interested in participating as a family letter holder, translator, programmer, or in some other way, please contact us.

Example: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic

Letter in Moroccan Judeo-Arabic, from Yaakov Amram, Ouazzane 1964

 

Letter preserved by Rafy Amram

Transcription and translation by Jonas Sibony

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Part 1

English

Part 1

Ouazzane, 12 November 1964 My dear friend, the light of my eyes, wise and learned, my beloved Moshe Bibas.

With this letter from me, I greet you and my tender soul, my sister Zohra. Greet your venerable mother and my friend Yaakov Sananes. Greet Miri with many salams, and I kiss her children with five hundred kisses. Greet also Alegria and my friend Abraham, and Ruth, whom I kiss with five hundred kisses. I also kiss the beloved of my soul, David and Shmuel.

You can't imagine my reaction when I received your precious letters. I cried so hard that the letter got wet with my tears because it reminded me of you and I couldn't hold back for a moment. I never forget you, day or night. So for all you've done for me, I have nothing to offer in return, but I hope your generosity will be rewarded. I trust in His blessed name to grant you all the good you desire, Amen. May you find happiness and patience to obtain what you desire, and I put my hope in God that with God's help we may soon meet again. You can't imagine how much I think of David and Samuel in view of the cold in France, they didn't take a single coat with them. I urge you to write to me when you plan to embark, God willing, according to your wishes and happiness, and God willing, according to my sister Zohra's wishes. For my part, I feel you're counting the days until the time comes 

Part 2 :

when you'll see the kids. And I pray to the Lord that you will find each other in happiness and that everything will turn out as you wish. You know, my dear, that when we sit down to eat, whether it’s lunch or dinner, we remember the good times we've had together. 

Aharon and his wife Sultana send their regards to you, and to Ruti who is with them. Blessed be the Lord. May you be preserved, but Ledicia has passed away, she died this Monday as we were leaving prayer. Amram Ben Abbu was entrusted with the task of announcing it to all the men and women of the community. They all speak very highly of you and fully recognise your merits.

I ask you again not to comfort me too much in writing and not to help me so much with all these prayers. And what about you? How is your health? Yours and your children's? It must be better for you.

I hope you will ask Yaakov Snanes to forgive me if I haven't been able to write to him at the same time as to you, but the Shabbat has just come. God willing, you must have received this letter in France. I hope you'll let me know in your reply whether you received it or not. 

I wish you a long and happy life, God's witness, Yaakov Amram.

Français

Part 1 :

Ouezzane, le 12 novembre 1964

Mon cher ami, lumière de mes yeux, sage et savant, mon bien-aimé Moshe Bibas.

Cette lettre de ma part, je te salue toi ainsi que ma tendre et mon âme, ma sœur Zohra.  Salue ta vénérable mère ainsi que mon ami Yaakov Sananes. Salue bien Miri par de nombreux salam et j’embrasse leurs enfants de cinq cents baisers. Salue aussi Alegria et mon ami Abraham ainsi que Ruth, que j’embrasse de cinq cents baisers. J’embrasse aussi les bien-aimés de mon âme, David et Shmuel.

Tu ne peux imaginer ma réaction quand j’ai reçu vos précieuses lettres. J’ai tant pleuré que la lettre s’est mouillée de mes larmes, car elle m’a rappelé à votre souvenir et je n’ai pas pu me retenir le moindre instant. Je ne vous oublie jamais, ni le jour ni la nuit. Aussi pour tout ce que vous avez fait pour moi, je n’ai rien à offrir en retour mais je souhaite que votre générosité vous soit récompensée. Je m’en remets au Nom béni soit-Il pour qu’il vous accorde tout le bien que vous désirez, Amen. Puissiez-vous atteindre le bonheur et faire preuve de patience pour obtenir ce que vous désirez et je mets mon espoir en Dieu que nous puissions nous revoir bientôt, avec l’aide de Dieu. Tu ne peux pas imaginer à quel point je pense à David et Samuel à l’égard du froid de la France, ils n’ont pas pris le moindre manteau avec. Je te prie avec insistance de m’écrire à quel moment vous pensez embarquer, si Dieu le veut et selon votre souhait et votre bonheur et si Dieu le veut, selon le souhait de ma sœur Zohra. De mon côté, je ressens que tu comptes les jours pour que le moment 

Part 2 :

où vous verrez les enfants arrive. Et je prie le Seigneur que vous puissiez vous retrouver dans le bonheur et que tout se passe comme vous le souhaitez. Tu sais mon cher, que lorsque nous nous asseyons pour manger, que ce soit pour le déjeuner comme pour le dîner, nous nous remémorons les beaux moments que nous avons vécus ensemble. 

Aharon et son épouse Sultana te saluent bien, ainsi que Ruti qui est avec eux. Que le Seigneur soit béni. Que tu en sois préservé mais Ledicia est décédée, elle est morte ce lundi alors que nous sortions de la prière. C’est Amram Ben Abbu qui a été chargé de l’annoncer à tous les hommes et toutes les femmes de la communauté. Tous ne parlent de toi qu’en bien et reconnaissent entièrement ton mérite.

Je te prie à nouveau de ne pas trop me consoler par écrit, ni de m’aider autant par toutes ces prières. Mais et vous, comment va votre santé à vous ? La vôtre et celle des enfants ? Il est nécessaire que les choses s'améliorent pour vous.

Je souhaite que tu demandes à Yaakov Snanes de me pardonner si je n’ai pu lui écrire en même temps qu’à toi, mais le Shabbat venait d’entrer. Si Dieu le veut, tu as dû recevoir cette lettre en France. Je souhaite que tu me dises en réponse si tu l’as reçue ou non. 

Je ne te souhaite que longue et bonne vie,

Témoin de de Dieu Yaakov Amram

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Part 2

Hebrew script

Part 1

וואזאן  12 נובמבר 1964

ידידי ואו״ע (אור עיניי) הכאם (חכם) ונאבון (נבון) חביבי משה ביבאס ??

מן עדני אנא נס״ע (נסללם עליך) או עלא חביביתי ורוחי זהרא כתי ??

וס״ע הנכבידית (הנכבדת) אומיךּ וס״ע ידידי יעקב סאנוניס

וס״ע מירי כתיר מן סלאם ונבוס דרארי דיאלום

כמסמיאת דלבוסאת וס״ע אליגרייא או ידידי אברהם

ונבוס רות כמסמיאת דלבוסאת

ונבוס עזאייזי ורוחי דוד או שמואל

מא תקדסי תקייס מן די קבדית לבראוואת דיאלכום

לעזאז ואנא כאנבכי חתא תעמלית לברא

בדמועי מן חית תפכרית לפכרא דיאליכום די

מא סברתלא חתא סברא אומא כא

נסכומסי לא ליל וואלא נהאר או עלא

למגאבלא די כונתו כא תגבלוני די מא

ענדי חתא חאזא ביהא נכפי לכום כירכום

די כא נטלוב שי״ת (שם יתברך) הווא די יעתיכום די

כא תחבו דלכיר אמן או תוסילו עלא

כיר או תזברו די כאתחבו או ענדי רזווווא

פי שי״ת באס נתלאקאוו פי קריב בעה״ש (בעזרת השם)

מא תקדסי תקייס כיף כא נכמים פי דוד או

שמואל עלא קיבאל לברד די פרנסא

מן חית מא עבאווסי לכאפוטיס פידום

כא נרגבך בזזאף באס תכתבלי מן די תחיבו

תרכבו איה״ש עלא כאטרכום או פרחנין

או זהרא כתי איה״ש ועלא כאטרא

מן הינא כא נחיס ביהא או כא תחסיב

נהאראת באס תוסאל פחאל לייאמאת

Part 2 :

באס תיסופו דרארי או כא נטלוב מן שי״ת

באס תסאוופו בלכיר או תכונו כיף תחבו

תעראף ייא חביבי די מן די כא נגלסו

נאכלו פדהור או פליל או חנא

מעא אהרון כאנתפכרו לוקאת למזייאנין

די דווזנא

או אהרון או סלטאנא מארתו כאיסלמו עליכום

בזזאף או רותי מעהום שי״ת מזיאן

בלאבאס די יכון ענדיך מלפיטירה די לדיסייא 

נפטארית ליהום לתנין כיף כרזנא מן תיפילא

או עמרם ן׳ (בן) עבו הווא די כאן למקדים עלא

נסא או יהוד וזזאן כלום וכא יעקרוךּ

גיר בלכיר או עאד כא יערפו

בחקק

או כא נזיד נרגבך באס מא תכונס

תעזיס פלכתבא או תכון כא תעאוני 

דעאוויי בזזאף או כיף נתום פסחתכום נתום

או דרארי מן חית לאזם יתבדיל עליכום

לחאל

נחבך תקול ליעקב סנאנס יסמחלי אידא מא

כתבאלוס מעאך מן חית עלא קיבאל

שבת גיר ידכול

איה״ש קבתי האד לברא פי פראנסא נחבך

תווזבני וואס קבתא אוולא

מא נזיד נטוול עליך גיר בכיר ע״ה יעקב עמרם.

Latin script

Part 1 :

Wəzzan, 12 nuvambr 1964

Yedidi weˀor ˁenay ḥaxam we-nabon ḥbibi Mose Bibās.

Mən ˁəndi ana nsəlləm ˁlik aw ˁla ḥbibti u-ruḥi Zohra xti, u-səlləm ˁla hannixbedet ummək u-səlləm ˁla yedidi Yaˁqob Sananes u-səlləm ˁla Miri ktir mən salam. U nbus əddrari dyalum xəms myat d-əl-busat. U-səlləm ˁla Aligriya aw yedidi Abraham. U nbus Rut xəms myat d-əl-busat. U nbus ˁzayzi u-ruḥi Dawid aw Smuwil.

Ma tqədd si tqiyəs mən di qəbdət l-brawat dyalkum l-ˁzaz wana kanbki ḥətta tˁəmlət lbra bdmuˁ mən ḥit tfəkkrət lfikra dyalkum di ma ṣbərt la ḥətta ṣəbra. U ma kannsakom si la lil wa la nhar. U ˁla lmgabla di kuntu katgəbbluni di ma ˁəndi ḥətta ḥaza biha nəkfi lkum xirkum. Di kanṭlub sim yitbarax huwa di yaˁtikum di katḥəbbu də lxir amen. U tuṣlu ˁla xir aw tzəbru di katḥəbbu aw ˁəndi rəzwa fi s-sim yitbarax bas nətləqaw fqrib biˁizrat hassim. Ma tqədd si tqiyəs kif kanxəmməm fi Dawid aw Smuwil ˁla qibal lbərd di Fransa mən ḥit ma ˁəbbaws lkapotes fiddum. Kanrəġbək bəzzaf bas təktəb li mən di tḥəbbu trəkbu im yirṣe hassim ˁala xaṭərkum aw fərḥanin aw Zohra xti, im yirṣe hassim wa ˁla xaṭra. Mən hina kanḥəss biha aw katəḥsəb nharat bas tuṣal fḥal lyamat

 

Part 2 : 

bas tsufu əddrari. Aw kanṭlub mən əssim yitbarax bas ttsawfu bəlxir aw tkunu kif tḥəbbu. Təˁraf ya ḥbibi di mən di kangəlsu naklu fəḍḍhor aw fəllil aw ḥna mˁa Aharon, kantfəkkru luqat lmzyanin di duwəzna.

Aw Aharon aw Sulṭana marto kaysəllmu ˁlikum bəzzaf aw Ruti mˁahum sim yitbarax mziyan. Blabas di ikun ˁəndək məlpeṭera di Ledisya, nəfṭarət lihum ltnin kif xərzna mən əttifila. Aw ˁAmram Ben ˁAbbu huwa di kan lmqəddəm ˁla nsa aw yihud wəzzan kəllum. U kayˁəqqruk ġir bəlxir aw ˁad kayˁarfu bḥəqq.

Aw kanzid nrəġbək bas ma tkuns tˁəzzis fəlkətba. Aw tkun katˁawnni d-dˁawi bəzzaf. Aw kif ntum f-ṣaḥtkum ? Ntum aw əddrari ? Mən ḥit lazm itbəddəl ˁlikum əlḥal.

Nḥəbbək tqul lyaˁqob Sananes ismaḥ li ida ma ktəbt lum mˁak mən ḥit ˁla qibal sabbat ġir idxul.

Im yirṣe hassim qbətti had əl-bra f-fransa. Nḥəbbək twazəbni was qəbta aw la.

Ma nzid nṭuwəl ˁlik ġir bəlxir, ˁed hassim Yaˁqub ˁAmram.

TESTIMONIALS

"I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart because I thought this language was lost, and I didn't think I would find anybody who could revive it. I'm so grateful for this opportunity.... The Heirloom program helped me to feel that I could take pride in my heritage as an Iraqi Jew and in the uniqueness and authenticity of our dialect."

Annette Gourgey, Heirloom Learner 

"While I have studied multiple languages, I have always struggled to find native speakers to practice with. This program helped me to gain the regular conversation I need to improve my skills and allowed me to hear incredible stories from my mentor. An experience I will remember forever."

Natan, Heirloom Learner

 

"It was such a pleasure to work with [my learner]! Very proud of the progress [she's] made over the last month." Helena, Heirloom Mentor

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Copyright © 2002-2025, HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project. Last update: 2025-5-15.

To cite: Author name (if available). Page name. Jewish Language Website, Sarah Bunin Benor (ed). Los Angeles: HUC Jewish Language Project. Web address (jewishlanguages.org/**).

Attribution: Creative Commons Share-Alike 4.0 International.

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