I could listen to Professor Samuel Kassow for hours and not get bored because of his unmatched depth of knowledge about East European Jewish history, Yiddish literature, and Jewish music, art, and theater. On June 4-5, Sam will be making the trip up to Amherst once again for a program open to the public: The Jewish Metropolis: Warsaw and Vilna before the Holocaust...

As you may know, the Yiddish Book Center is situated on the campus of Hampshire College, placing it right in the middle of the Five College Consortium, which includes Hampshire College, Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Because of its prime location, the Book Center serves as a resource for students in the area throughout....

Since I first learned about him while studying his iconic play The Dybbuk, S. An-sky has served as an eye opener into shtetl life and lore for me. At the turn of the century, An-sky believed that the pressures of modernity were altering “authentic” Jewish life in the shtetl. In 1912, he set out on his first journey to collect stories, folklore, cultural and religious objects, music, and photographs from what he believed was a vanishing world.