A New Generation

The Jack and Ruthe B. Cowl Center for Jewish Culture, established with a $1 million lead gift to our 25th Anniversary Campaign, will enable us to expand our hugely popular Summer Program; to offer lectures, concerts, films, readings and live performances; to stimulate Jewish creativity by reaching out to schoolchildren and college students; and to “take the show on the road” by sharing the best of Yiddish literature, theater, folklore, history, music, food and film with enthusiastic audiences nationwide.

The Yiddish Corps. Every summer, hundreds of the country’s most talented college students apply for our four highly coveted summer internships. Many of our interns have gone on to become Yiddish professors and leaders of the Jewish community. We now want to expand this unique program for young people, both in the summer and throughout the year. Envisioned as the Yiddish equivalent of Rhodes Scholarships, the Yiddish Corps will combine academic immersion in Yiddish language and literature with practical work experience at the Center.

The Krupnick Program in Yiddish Education. Knowledge of Yiddish language is central to our work. Our newly endowed Krupnick Program is helping us expand Yiddish instruction, while our resident Yiddish scholar, holder of the Herschel and Rivtche Goldfarb Chair, will offer regular Yiddish classes for college students and adults.

Visitors Center. The new home of the National Yiddish Book Center has been described as a “Jewish Atlantis”: a lost civilization attracting 10,000 visitors a year. We want to open our doors to even more people – including families and school groups – by updating and expanding our exhibitions, creating a lively Children’s Discovery Area, and training vegvayzers, interpretive guides who will make Jewish culture come alive for all.

Make a gift to the fund for A New Generation.