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Outwitting History

Grad student who saved Yiddish books
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18

December 2 • 2010

n 1980, while a 24-year-old gradu-

ate student, Aaron Lansky decided
to save the world's Yiddish books.
Driving dented, old trucks and
wearing sweatshirts and faded jeans,
Lansky and his colleagues traveled the
country rescuing unwanted and aban-
doned Yiddish books.
"It was a huge and sometimes
overwhelming responsibility," Lansky
writes now."How could we take care
of so many books, remember so many
stories, preserve so much history?"
Lansky and his colleagues collected
more than 1.5 million volumes —
many at the last minute from attics,
basements, demolition sites and
dumpsters. The rescue effort has fueled
the renaissance of Jewish literature in
America.
Today, the organization Lansky
founded, the National Yiddish Book
Center, located in Amherst, Mass., has
35,000 members, making it one of the
largest U.S. Jewish cultural groups.
Lansky will bring his remarkable
story to Eastern Michigan University
in Ypsilanti on Tuesday, Dec. 7, at 7:30
p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium.
His talk, titled "Gevalt!: The Last-
Minute Rescue of Modern Jewish
Culture is free and open to the public.
Lansky will discuss the story
detailed in his 2004 book, titled
Outwitting History: The Amazing
Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a
Million Yiddish Books.

"It tells the story of how a small
group of young people saved Yiddish
books from extinction:' Lansky writes
in the foreword. "It's also the story of
Yiddish-speaking immigrants who
owned and read those books — how
they sat down with us at their kitchen
tables, plied us with tea and cakes and
handed us their personal libraries, one
volume at a time. The encounters were
almost always emotional: People cried
and poured out their hearts, often with
a candor that surprised us all:'
"In a world grown increasingly
apathetic, Aaron Lansky's story vividly
demonstrates that one person can
make a world-changing difference
said Martin Shichtman, director of
EMU Jewish Studies. "It is a breathtak-
ing story of perseverance and dedica-
tion, a story of determination.
"The Talmud tells us that 'Whoever
saves one life saves the world entire:
In his recovery of Yiddish books and
documents, Lansky has not only saved
an important part of Jewish history
and literature, he has saved a vital por-
tion of Western civilization:'
The event is sponsored by EMU
Jewish Studies, EMU Academic Affairs,
the EMU College of Arts and Sciences
and Hillel at EMU. The talk is part of
a series of a three-lecture series spon-
sored by EMU Jewish Studies. Talks
next semester will feature local novel-
ist Sharon Pomerantz and novelist and
humorist Jonathan Tropper.
A book signing will follow Lansky's
presentation. Cl

