On February 17, my wife and I left the Kern Art Center and went to The Yiddish Book Center. It is located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst.
We watched the introductory video. It was likely the most entertaining preview of a museum or library I have ever seen. The story of Aaron Lansky is that of a 24-year-old graduate student of Yiddish literature. In the course of his studies, he “realized that untold numbers of irreplaceable Yiddish books… were being discarded by Jews unable to read the language of their Yiddish-speaking parents and grandparents.
“So he organized a nationwide network of zamlers (book collectors) and launched a concerted campaign to save the world’s remaining Yiddish books before it was too late.” What was entertaining was the reception he received from donors and the scale of books he received, far beyond his wildest expectations.
Our daughter met us there, and we went on a tour of the facility. It was supposed to take about half an hour, but our enthusiastic docent, answering our many questions, spent 90 minutes with us. “The exhibition features thousands of rare objects, books, family heirlooms, paintings, photographs, music, and videos, including many never seen before in public.”
The “60-foot color mural of global ‘Yiddishland’ by illustrator Martin Haake” portrays everything from Jewish gaucho saddling up in Moises Ville, Argentina, at the turn of the 20th century to the Barry sisters at the Grossinger’s resort in the Catskills of upstate New York.
“Visitors can also explore a re-creation of the Warsaw apartment of writer I. L.Peretz, whose legendary salon stood at the forefront of Yiddish modernism in the 1900s.”
But wait, there’s more!
“In 1997, the Center opened a building in Amherst on 10 acres of land purchased from Hampshire College, Lansky’s alma mater; a second building in 2009 accommodated educational programs. Lansky’s announcement in 2024 that he would retire in 2025 (he’ll continue as a part-time advisor) made the front page of the New York Times, which called the Center “one of the country’s leading Jewish cultural institutions.”
The “beautiful 37,000-square-foot headquarters.. is a lebedike velt – a lively world – featuring an open Yiddish book repository, theatres, art galleries, museum exhibitions about Yiddish language and culture, and more.
However, the YBC is doing more than merely displaying relics. It has had a summer program in Yiddish culture since 1984. The Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library was created in 1998. They have been collecting oral histories since 2010.
If you can’t make it there, attend A Global Culture Virtual Exhibit.
Based on a score of 100, Charity Navigator rated the Yiddish Book Center a score of 98 for Accountability and Finance, noting its independent board and positive financial status, and labeled it a 4-Star charity for the fiscal year of 2024.
Highly recommended!