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reflections on home and belonging, 
reflections on what it means to build 
a community and a life in Germany 
while also knowing it’s temporary and 
they eventually want to be in Israel but 
also — even though it was temporary 
— wanting to make it comfortable 
for themselves even though being in 
Germany brought complicated feelings. 
“I learned about Jewish experiences 
and attitudes in this important moment 
in Jewish history when Holocaust 
survivors rebuilt their lives and their 
culture,” Leflein said. “This process, the 
culmination of two years of learning 
with Professor Luchina, reaffirmed 
the value of learning Yiddish and 
understanding a Jewish past through 
the nuances of a Jewish language.” 

COMICS IN YIDDISH
Another student, Noah Givner, 
translated the Japanese manga (comic 
book) One Piece — among the most 
famous and best-selling comic book 
series in history —from English into 
Yiddish. 
The comic series follows the 
adventures of a crew of pirates, which 
provided for a unique translation 
process.
“Comics have short phrases and 
a lot of spoken phrases like slang. It 
was a very interesting project because 
you don’t always get an opportunity 
to talk to native speakers, but for this 
particular project, we needed to really 

go to the dictionaries and consult 
with native speakers to figure out 
how to say this or that phrase in 
Yiddish and the authentic way to 
express slang,” Luchina explained. 
One fun Yiddish translation of a 
phrase the stereotypical tough pirates 
say in the comic: “a bunch of wimps” 
in Yiddish is “a bintl nebekhlekh.”

YIDDISH OR HEBREW?
A graduate student from Armenia 
who researches language ideologies, 
Emma Avagyan translated press 
polemics from over 100 years ago on 
the future of Hebrew and Yiddish as 
primary languages of Jewish culture. 
The articles featured different 
debates, statements and ideologies 
about whether Yiddish or Hebrew 
should be the language of the Jewish 
people, whether one of them is better or 
worse or more or less natural. Avagyan 
was able to pore through and analyze 
endlessly interesting excerpts from 
those articles. 
Avagyan says this project deepened 
her understanding of the historical, 
linguistic and socio-cultural dimensions 
of Yiddish during the 19th century. 
“I learned about its intricate 
relationship with Hebrew, its role 
in shaping Jewish identity and its 
resilience in the face of challenges,” 
Avagyan says. “The project highlights 
the link between language and cultural 
identity, contrasting Hebrew’s revered 

status for religious and scholarly 
purposes with Yiddish’s everyday use in 
Jewish life.”
Avagyan says the project and the 
insights she gained will be integrated 
into her Ph.D, dissertation.
Because Luchina customized the final 
projects around what the students were 
interested in, she hopes it serves as a 
meaningful experience and resonates 
with them in ways that go beyond the 
class. 
“I hope it will stay with them and 
they will be able to connect with 
Yiddish later on using the skills they 
built, and that it’s something they want 
to share with other people.” 

Noah Givner 
and his 
translation of 
One Piece

Ari Leflein’s project 
of newspapers 
from DP camps

Emma Avagyan and 
her articles from 
Yiddish press