This Heritage Words episode features Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of the new Netflix series Long Story Short. Bob-Waksberg discusses his Ashkenazi roots, noting that his primary exposure to Yiddish came from American pop culture such as Mad Magazine and Mel Brooks. He also discusses his show's use of overlapping dialogue and Yiddish heritage words such as tsures and ungepatchke, sharing that this specificity allows audiences to find universal connections.

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 producer: Sarah Bunin Benor

Assistant producer: Kyle Elbaz Fingerhut

Editor: Avishay Artsy

Video editor: Talia Ehrenberg

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.

Clips in this episode are courtesy of The Tornante Company.