Aaron Lansky's April 2007 letter

Sholem aleykhem! I’m writing to invite you to take part in our most ambitious adventure yet: a bold plan to double the size of our Amherst building, secure our core collection, and bring smart, lively Yiddish learning to eager students everywhere.

The timing could not be more urgent – or more auspicious. After 27 years, you and I are now the guardians of the largest collection of Jewish books ever assembled. But we still need to find a permanent home for our core collection: the hundreds of thousands of most valuable volumes we work with on a daily basis.

And that’s just the beginning. As you know from my previous letters, our educational programs are growing by leaps and bounds. Applications for this summer’s internship program are up almost a hundred percent over last year – which was itself a record year! Younger Jews want to know who they are and where they come from, and in ever-increasing numbers they’re turning to the Yiddish Book Center for answers.

We’re ready to respond, with a plan to expand the Yiddish Book Center into a lively, year-round “Yiddish academy.” You, your children and grandchildren will be able to come here to learn Yiddish and explore subjects largely overlooked in mainstream Jewish education.

So last fall I turned to Allen Moore, the architect of our original building, and asked him to design a fitting addition. Built into a hillside behind our existing theater will be a state-of-the-art Deposit Library: a concrete “vault” with shelving for a half-million of our most important volumes. Through precisely calibrated control of temperature and humidity, we’ll be able to assure their preservation for centuries to come.

Adjacent to the Library will be a sunlit, two-story “Yiddish academy,” featuring comfortable classrooms and seminar rooms, a performance hall with seating for 275, a student commons, a distance learning studio, galleries and exhibition space, a kosher kitchen, offices for faculty and staff, and, just outside, a “big top” tent for summer audiences of 600 or more.

The cost of the entire building project, including construction, renovation of existing space and endowment, is $6 million. In order to open our doors by the spring of next year, we need to give our contractor the final go-ahead by mid-June. Which means we have just six weeks to raise $6 million! (M’yirtseshem, if we exceed our goal, we’ll use the balance to support our expanded operations and many of the exciting new programs that lie in store.)

An impossible goal? Perhaps, but that’s never stopped us before. And this time, we’ve got an astonishing head start. With a lead grant of $2 million from The Kaplen Foundation, along with gifts from several other generous donors, we've already raised a total of $3.6 million – with $2.4 million still to go.

Help us reach our goal with a tax-deductible contribution, and we will permanently affix your family’s name to the new building:

Whatever you can afford will make a difference: catapulting the Yiddish Book Center to a whole new level, safeguarding the world’s largest collection of Yiddish books, and sharing their treasures with an eagerly waiting world. Won’t you help us by putting your name on what is sure to be the liveliest, smartest, most hopeful Jewish building in America?

Please -- won't you make your most generous, tax-deductible contribution today?

Mit a hartsikn dank — with heartfelt thanks,

Aaron Lansky
President

P.S. Commemorative opportunities in the new building are limited, so please review the enclosed brochure and reserve your choice as soon as possible. You can reach us by phone at 413-256-4900 x 123, or by email at gifts@bikher.org . There’s not a moment to lose! A sheynem dank – my personal thanks.