About Yiddish Book Center

The Yiddish Book Center is a nonprofit organization working to recover, celebrate, and regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish literature and culture.

The million books recovered by the Yiddish Book Center represent Jews’ first sustained literary and cultural encounter with the modern world. They are a window on the past thousand years of Jewish history, a precursor of modern Jewish writing in English, Hebrew and other languages, and a springboard for new creativity. Since our founding in 1980 we have launched a wide range of bibliographic, educational, and cultural programs to share these treasures with the wider world.

Our educational programs include graduate fellowships and courses for high school students, college students, teachers, and adult learners.

Our translation initiative includes a fellowship to train new Yiddish-to-English translators and publishing projects that bring this great literature to new audiences.

Our Wexler Oral History Project is a growing collection of in-depth interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds, whose stories offer a rich, complex chronicle of Jewish identity.

The world’s first Yiddish museum, we’re home to permanent and visiting exhibits.

We offer a full calendar of public programs, such as film screening, talks, and concerts, including the annual Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music.

We publish our English-language magazine, Pakn Treger, with news from the Center and features on Yiddish and Jewish literature and culture. Available by subscription to Yiddish Book Center members.

You can also follow the latest news at Heft (Notebook) and on Facebook, Twitter (@YiddishBookCtr), and Instagram (yiddish_book_center).