National Yiddish Book Center
From Open Encyclopedia
The National Yiddish Book Center in the United States of America is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books and documents in the Yiddish language. Its headquarters is in Amherst, Massachusetts, adjacent to the campus of Hampshire College. The Center's extensive Yiddish library consists of 1.5 million donated volumes. Its Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library has digitized the entire collection, making reprints of every title available for purchase. The Center also publishes Pakn Treger, an English-language magazine and offers a prestigious summer internship program for college students interested in learning Yiddish.
It is a non-profit institution, and its cultural programs are funded by memberships and grants.
The Center was the first organization dedicated to the preservation of Yiddish language and culture; all the major Jewish organizations initially refused to fund or aid it, claiming that Yiddish was a dead language, before the Center's great success provided evidence to the contrary.
The Center was founded in 1980 by Aaron Lansky.
External links
- National Yiddish Book Center
- Yiddish Summer: The Center's Summer Internship Program
- Shiri Lev-Ari: "Outrageous and funny and spirited" (Ha'aretz, November 8th, 2005; Hebrew version: מהממת, מצחיקה, מצפונית ורבת השראה) – an article about the National Yiddish Book Center and its founder and director, Aaron Lansky.
