@ Shaker Library
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free”– Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus, who wrote the poem
inscribed on the Statue of Liberty,
was the fourth of seven children in a
family descended from early Jewish
settlers. America is a nation of
immigrants, and immigration is a
rich topic throughout literature.
Dedicated to making the Library a welcoming
place for all, staff applied for and
received a grant from the Yiddish Book
Center’s “Coming to America” Reading
Groups for Public Libraries, a program in
which librarians arrange reading groups to
discuss three books of Yiddish literature
in translation, and one book related to
an immigrant community served by their
library. The "Coming to America" program
is made possible by a gift from Sharon
Karmazin, a Tony-award-winning Broadway
producer.
At Shaker Library, the first Yiddish
literature book read and discussed (in
March) was Motl the Cantor’s
Son by Sholem Aleichem.
Upcoming discussions
include Enemies, a Love
Story by Isaac Bashevis
Singer on April 27, and A
Jewish Refugee in New York
by Kadya Molodovsky on
May 27.
20 SPRING 2020 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
In all three books, characters deal with the struggles, hopes, and
triumphs of “coming to America.”
The fourth book, which will be discussed on June 22, is The Leavers by Lisa Ko, a story
about a Chinese child abandoned by his mother in the U.S. and raised by a white family.
This book addresses the themes of courage, loss, and assimilation.
Book discussions will be held from 7-8:30 pm Monday evenings at Bertram Woods
Branch. Copies of each book will be available at the Woods Branch Circulation Desk
one month before each discussion. Please register at shakerlibrary.org or by
calling 216-991-2421.
The Library will also host the Workman’s Circle Klezmer Band, a musical group
committed to the promotion of Jewish culture and social justice. Yiddish was once the
primary language of the majority of its members and they are widely known and respected
as a central force in the renaissance of interest in Yiddish culture that includes literature,
music, theater, and more.
The Yiddish Book Center is a nonprofit organization that has rescued and restored more
than 1.5 million neglected Yiddish books since 1980. It was founded by Aaron Lansky, a
24-year-old graduate student of Yiddish literature who is now the Center's president. Lansky
received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989 for his work and wrote a book about his efforts,
Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books,
which won the 2005 Massachusetts Book Award.
In addition to providing books for discussion and a stipend for programs and speakers,
the grant covers the costs of travel and accommodations for a staff member to attend an
intensive workshop on Yiddish literature and literature of immigration at the Yiddish Book
Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Shaker librarian Rachel Wilhoyte attended the workshop this year. “It will be
interesting to read these stories and to compare them to immigrant stories of today,” she
says. “I’m eager to learn more
about Jewish culture and history,
and to be able to share it with
our community.”
Read the books, join
the discussions, and share
your perspectives. Visit the
Library’s website for further
details on the programs. SL
Coming to America:
Shaker Library Receives Grant
from Yiddish Book Center
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
/shakerlibrary.org