Creator Bio

Sarah Bunin Benor

Sarah Bunin Benor, Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Linguistics at Hebrew Union College, received her PhD in linguistics from Stanford University in 2004. She has published and lectured widely about sociolinguistics, Jewish names, and Jewish languages, especially Jewish English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. Her award-winning books include Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers University Press, 2012) and Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps (Rutgers University Press, 2020). Dr. Benor co-edits the Journal of Jewish Languages and directs the HUC Jewish Language Project, which features the Jewish Language Website, the Jewish English Lexicon, and the Heritage Words Podcast, which Dr. Benor hosts and produces.

Content by Sarah Bunin Benor

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Jewish Names of Pets

Public Access
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This source categorizes names of pets that American Jews consider Jewish.

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Jewish Surnames around the World: Occupation, Characteristic, Geographic, and More

Public Access
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This source presents several categories of Jewish surnames, giving examples of names from around the world, with translations.

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Sephardic Food and Recipe Cards: Song and Interview

Public Access
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This song about cooking Sephardic food accompanies an interview in which Sarah Aroeste discusses the importance of Sephradic food in her family.

Primary Source

The Meaning and History of a Sephardi-Ashkenazi Name: Yosef Ya‘ish Mavdali Goldman

Public Access
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In this interview, Yosef Goldman explains his names and how they reflect his diverse ancestry.

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Jewish Culture around the World

Mané-Katz may have painted this picture of a traditional Jewish klezmer band from memory, from his childhood in the Russian Empire. By the late 1940s, his previously dark palette had begun to shift to…