A Letter from the President

When I first set out to rescue Yiddish books, I couldn't have dreamed where the journey would lead. Today, almost 25 years later, the National Yiddish Book Center has saved 1.5 million priceless volumes, brought most of Yiddish literature back into print, established or strengthened Yiddish collections at 450 major libraries, published a critically acclaimed magazine, pioneered educational programs for students and adults, and built a permanent adres for Yiddish culture.

Just as important, we've built a community: what started as the passion of one has become the mission of many. Within months of my first call for help, hundreds of zamlers and other volunteers were on the move. We’re now supported by more than 30,000 active members, making us one of the largest, fastest growing, and most dynamic Jewish cultural organizations in the world.

Of course, we never envisioned the Center as a genizah, a warehouse for forgotten books. Our goal from the start was to place old volumes in the hands of new readers and to celebrate the vibrant culture these dusty books contain. Over the years, our sold-out educational programs, widely read publications, and thousands of annual visitors have confirmed the prediction made by Isaac Bashevis Singer when he accepted the Nobel Prize: "Yiddish has not yet said its last word." We've only begun to scratch the surface of what Yiddish books and modern Jewish culture can mean to people everywhere.

But in order to continue our historic work — to safeguard the precious books in our keeping and share their contents and progeny with the world — we first need to make sure that the Yiddish Book Center itself will endure. That's why we're now embarking on a comprehensive 25th Anniversary Campaign. Our goal? To raise $25 million – enough to endow our core operation and secure Yiddish literature and culture for all time.

Raising so large a sum in so short a time will not be easy. But you’ve helped us accomplish difficult tasks before — when we recovered Yiddish books from demolition sites and dumpsters, when we drove thousands of miles to deliver banned books in the Soviet Union, when we saved books at the last minute from Zimbabwe and Cuba, and when we built a permanent home of our own: a magnificent "cultural shtetl" to house our books and programs here in Amherst.

Whatever the need, whatever the emergency, you have responded — quickly, decisively and with great generosity. And that’s why I’m turning to you again now: to ask you to endow the Center you’ve helped build, and to give Yiddish culture the secure future it deserves.

This site presents the full scope of our 25th Anniversary Campaign: its discrete funds, its opportunities for named gifts, and the ways in which you can help the Center while maximizing tax advantages for you and your family.

In perilous times, Jewish books and culture matter more than ever. Yiddish is our antecedent: it tells us where we come from. And Jewish books are, as they have always been, the crown of our creativity and the repository of our identity. With your help, we can keep Yiddish and Jewish books in print; we can reclaim the past thousand years of our history; and we can lay the foundation on which Yiddishkeit will continue to flourish and grow for thousands of years to come.

All we need is your help.

מיט אַ האַרציקן דאַנק

mit a hartsikn dank — with heartfelt thanks,

Aaron Lansky
Founder and President