6 Comments
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Leslye Joy Allen, Historian's avatar

I love this piece so much.

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Jendella Benson's avatar

Thanks for reading 💜

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Kay Stratton's avatar

I love this — this part jumped out at me (a linguist and lover of sociolinguistics especially): “I needed to understand the mechanics and the philosophy of the language, not just collecting vocabulary.” Thank you for sharing a deeper insight into the connections language holds. ❤️

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Jendella Benson's avatar

Thanks for reading 💜 😊

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Zivah Avraham's avatar

This was absolutely fascinating - thank you for writing this and for introducing me to a community I sometimes rubbed shoulders with growing up. Two affinities struck me - your Birmingham beginning, and you trying to connect with a language you didn’t learn as a child. I’ve felt all of my life like I don’t quite fit wherever I am, because in the community I’m not able to point to my heritage with more than a vague indication, and outside it, I feel, well, outside.

The language you are learning reminds me of the call of the shofar and the music that I wallow in and can express myself best in, even though, I’m just not quite. Enough. I don’t think.

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Jendella Benson's avatar

Thank you so much for reading and for your thoughtful comment

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