guests

The founder and president of the Yiddish Book Center, a nonprofit organization working to recover, celebrate, and regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish literature and culture. Since 1980, Lansky and his colleagues have rescued more than a million Yiddish books, most of which would otherwise have been lost or destroyed. Today, they are bringing old books to new readers through groundbreaking initiatives in digitization, translation, oral history, and education. Aaron holds a B.A. in Jewish History from Hampshire College, an M.A. in East European Jewish Studies from McGill University, and honorary doctorates from Amherst College, Hebrew Union College, and the State University of New York. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a so-called “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation. His bestselling book, Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, won the Massachusetts Book Award in Nonfiction in 2005. In 2014, the Yiddish Book Center received the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in a White House ceremony.

pic. from the author's archive