Activities
Public programs related to Yiddish and Jewish culture are offered regularly at the Amherst location, including concerts, films, exhibits, author talks, and events co-sponsored by local community organizations. An onsite and online book store specializes in Yiddish and Jewish literature and culture. The Center also sells the donated books entrusted to the organization.
The Center offers a summer internship program for college students. Eighteen students are selected for a seven-week program during which they study the Yiddish language and the Jewish culture and history of Central and Eastern Europe and America. Students also pursue an independent research or translation project and work with the Yiddish Book Center's collection of Yiddish literature.
In 2001 Ruthe B. Cowl (1912–2008) of Laredo, Texas, donated $1 million to create the Jack and Ruthe B. Cowl Center, which promotes "Yiddish literary, artistic, musical, and historical knowledge and accomplishment" at the Amherst headquarters. Early in 2007, Cowl donated another $750,000 to create the Cowl Jewish Leadership Program for promising college students.
The Center also publishes Pakn Treger (Yiddish for "book peddler"), an English-language magazine. Pakn Treger began as a newsletter, "Book Peddler", but it published work by serious journalists, including film critic Kenneth Turan. In 1995 journalist Jeff Sharlet assumed the editorship and transformed the "Book Peddler" into a serious journal of Jewish culture. Contributors included J. Hoberman, Harvey Pekar, Joe Sacco, Francine Prose, Ben Katchor, Allegra Goodman, and others. In 1998 Sharlet left and was replaced by editor Nancy Sherman. Since then, Pakn Treger has been published less frequently and has returned closer to its previous role as an organizational newsletter.
Read more about this topic: National Yiddish Book Center
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