Join us for a day of events.

Featuring the Melinda Rosenblatt Lecture presented by David Fishman

All events are free and open to the public.

Schedule

2 p.m. | The 2018 Melinda Rosenblatt Lecture presented by David Fishman: "The Book Smugglers of the Vilna Ghetto: A Story of Spiritual Resistance"

David Fishman’s The Book Smugglers, which won the 2017 National Jewish Book Award’s Holocaust category, tells the nearly unbelievable story of ghetto inmates who rescued thousands of rare books and manuscripts—first from the Nazis and then from the Soviets—by hiding them on their bodies, burying them in bunkers, and smuggling them across borders. It’s a tale of heroism and resistance, of friendship and romance, and of unwavering devotion to literature and art, including the readiness to risk one’s life for them. Based on Jewish, German, and Soviet sources, and the author’s interviews with several of the story’s participants, The Book Smugglers chronicles the daring activities of a group of poets turned partisans and scholars turned smugglers in Vilna, “The Jerusalem of Lithuania.” It pits men and women of letters against the two most murderous regimes of the twentieth century.

11 a.m. | Talk: From Chagall to Diego Rivera, with David Mazower

Some of the greatest artists of the 20th century left a remarkable legacy of little-known but sumptuous Yiddish illustrated books. The Yiddish Book Center’s Bibliographer David Mazower reveals his personal top ten.

11 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. | Tour the world's first Yiddish museum!

This 45-minute tour takes the visitor through the Yiddish Book Center's museum exhibits and allows them to...

DISCOVER the whole of Yiddish literature and its writers
LEARN about Yiddish language
ENCOUNTER the stories of three immigrant families told through words, pictures, and artifacts
EXPERIENCE the world of rural Jews in 1912-1914
GLIMPSE life in the American Jewish home
EXPLORE a Yiddish print shop
WATCH classic Yiddish film clips
LISTEN to vintage Yiddish radio
SEE our visiting exhibits
TOUR the Yiddish Writers Garden, and more

PLEASE NOTE: Lineup is subject to change.