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.