Glacial Potholes at Shelburne Falls
on the way to Hadley, MA
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

A short ride into Vermont; we make our annual visit to Hemmings Motor NewsFilling Station.Vintage cars are the thing here, and all kind of car memorabilia abound.My kind of 50’s and 60’s music is pumping.

I take a walk on the treadmill at the fitness center, back at The Porches and then get a massage, which was part of the hotel package.Nice, very nice. As my mother would say, “So what could be bad?”

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

We leave North Adams and go to Hadley, MA., which is central to several Universities; Mt. Holyoke, Smith, U Mass, Hampshire College, PioneerValley, Amherst. We stopped at an artsy little town called Shelburne Falls and find beautiful glacial potholes.

We were on our way to a very important, amazing place:

The National Yiddish Book Center which is located in Amherst, on the campus of Hampshire college.

(From the website):

Rescuing a Literature

The National Yiddish Book Center was founded in 1980 by MacArthur Fellow Aaron Lansky, who continues to lead the organization as its president. When he was a 23-year-old graduate student, Lansky stumbled upon an alarming fact: throughout North America, thousands of priceless Yiddish books – books that had survived Hitler and Stalin – were being discarded and destroyed. As an older generation passed on, more often than not their precious Jewish volumes were literally thrown in the trash by children and grandchildren unable to read the language. An entire literature was on the verge of extinction.

Lansky realized something had to be done – and done fast – before it was too late. So he took what he thought would be a two-year leave of absence from graduate school and, operating out of an unheated factory loft, issued a public appeal for unwanted and discarded Yiddish books. Jews from all over America rallied to the call.

Soon, Lansky and a handful of co-workers – all in their early 20s – were spending weeks and months on the road, hauling priceless Jewish books from cellars and attics, synagogues and abandoned buildings. Once they received a midnight phone call, took a 2 A.M. train to New York City and worked all day in the freezing rain to rescue 8,000 books from a garbage dumpster. Another time they organized a group of local teenagers into a “bucket brigade” to recover a 15,000-volume Jewish library from the basement of a demolished building in the Bronx.

When the Center began, scholars estimated there were 70,000 Yiddish books still extant and recoverable. The Center recovered that number in six months and has gone on to recover 1.5 million volumes, with hundreds of additional books continuing to arrive each week. The Center’s achievement has been hailed as the “the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history.”

The National Yiddish Book Center has become a cultural haven for Jews all over the world.There are events, movies, speakers, readings, theatre, and timely exhibits.Currently, there is a traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC., Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book Burnings

Aaron Lansky’s book: Outwitting History

That evening, we heard Stefan Kanfer, journalist, and author of, “Stardust Lost,” speak.

On to The Yiddish Writers’ Garden for Poetry Wednesday

• redhe…
• Offline IM

Wow, it’s really amazing what that one man did. The information you have posted on the Yiddish language is so interesting. I applaud their efforts to save those precious books. Hugs!

Tuesday July 17, 2007 – 10:00pm (EDT) Remove Comment

• Roo
• Offline

Wow, you are so full of interesting information….oh and I love that final photo….fantastic.

Wednesday July 18, 2007 – 06:48am (PDT) Remove Comment

• biggy
• Offline

Well Sue, you have struck again with another great heartfelt post! Whew! We! Man saves Literature, and Sue saves my heart! After reading your post, I feel as though I have been trapped in a Glacial Pothole most of my life! Thanks for the hand up! So many stories and story makers! Keep up the great work!

Wednesday July 18, 2007 – 10:51pm (CDT) Remove Comment

• Giles…
• Offline

Great holiday.

Thursday July 19, 2007 – 06:22pm (BST) Remove Comment

reply vickieann wrote on Jul 19, ’08 http://vickieann.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Bridge_of_Flowers Here is the link to the pics I took last summer at the bridge and of the pot holes. We were there on July 4th this year! My Love and I can hear the music pumping from the cruise in they have at Hemming’s every other Thursday night. It’s a great, free fun way to check out some cars and to visit with folks we haven’t seen all winter!

reply lrocker5515 wrote on Jul 28, ’08 a reply from Bennington, VT! My uncle works for the Hemmings company! 🙂 Just thought i’d share that bit of info!