Bon Siman and Oy Vey: Jewish Papiamentu and Curaçao Yiddish with Michèle Russel-Capriles and Phyllis Meit

<p>Michèle Russel-Capriles and Phyllis Meit of the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum in Curaçao discuss their roots as Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews on the island. Michèle details her 15th-generation Sephardic heritage and the unique Jewish Papiamentu vocabulary her grandmother documented. Phyllis describes her Ashkenazi background, tracing her family from a Romanian shtetl to the Caribbean, and notes the survival of Yiddishisms within her community. Through their work, they preserve and showcase the island&#39;s diverse cultural history. They conclude by reflecting on their multilingual upbringing and the importance of keeping ancestral languages alive.</p><p>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.</p><p>Host and producer: Sarah Bunin Benor</p><p>Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut</p><p>Editor: Avishay Artsy</p><p>Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg</p><p>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.</p>