1021 West St
Amherst, Massachusetts
The Yiddish Book Center is a nonprofit organization working to recover, celebrate, and regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish literature and culture.
Since our founding in 1980, we’ve rescued more than a million Yiddish books. But that was just the beginning: our priority now is to advance knowledge of the content and literary and cultural progeny of the books we’ve saved. We do that in many ways:
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 films, talks, family events, and concerts, including the annual Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music.
We publish an English-language magazine, Pakn Treger, with news from the Center and features on Yiddish and Jewish literature and culture. You can also follow the latest news at Heft (Notebook) and on Facebook, Twitter (@YiddishBookCtr), and Instagram (yiddish_book_center).
The Center is open Sunday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Public tours are offered Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.