A Bridge of Books
The Story of the National Yiddish Book Center
Directed by Sam Ball
In
1939, Yiddish was the spoken language of three-quarters of the world's
Jews. But when leading Jewish scholars convened in 1980, they estimated
that only 70,000 Yiddish books remained in the world.
This engaging, often funny documentary film chronicles the adventures of an enterprising 23-year-old named Aaron Lansky, who rallied together an international network of volunteers and set out to rescue the worldıs Yiddish books. Twenty year later, the National Yiddish Book Center had collected 1.5 million Yiddish books and helped save a rich, diverse, and surprisingly modern literature from oblivion.
With rare archival images, and a lyrical portrayal of the National Yiddish Book Center's warehouse and cultural complex, A Bridge of Books celebrates a pursuit that has become a powerful vehicle for the transmission of history, culture and identity across several generations. An inspiring reminder of the role that libraries play in preserving cultures.
13 min. Video or DVD. Sale $99. Video rental $45.
