The Book Rescuer

How a Mensch from 
Massachusetts Saved
Yiddish Literature
for Generations
to Come

A Paula Wiseman Book
(Simon & Schuster Books)
(pub. 10.1.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Sue Macy
     and illustrator: Stacy Innerst

 
C haracter: Aaron Lansky

O verview: 
     "It starts a long time ago in Eastern Europe with a suitcase bound for the United States. Among the precious items inside were books written in Yiddish, the language of generations of European Jews. That suitcase never made it to its destination, but its owner did. And she inspired a man with an extraordinary mission.
     Aaron Lansky never forgot the story of this grandmother's suitcase. It helped to stir in him a deep desire to save the world's Yiddish books. His quest took him on rain-soaked dumpster dives, excursions through musty basements, and tours of cramped attics.
    The Book Rescuer tells the true story of how Aaron Lansky preserved culture and history. It celebrates the power of an individual to bind past and future generations through language and literature.

T antalizing taste: 
     "Although Aaron was the grandson of Eastern European immigrants, he knew only those Yiddish words that had entered the English language. Words like 'bagel' and 'klutz' and 'nosh' and 'glitch.' 'No one ever spoke Yiddish to me, to my brothers, or to anyone else our age,' he said.  Like many other first-generation American Jews, Aaron's parents wanted their kinder to fit in by speaking and reading English.

     As Yiddish speakers disappeared, so did books written in Yiddish. Students like Aaron had a hard time finding Yiddish books for school. That's why he was stunned when he visited his hometown rabbi and spotted a basket filled with Yiddish books on the floor of his office. What were they doing there? The rabbi said he intended to bury them.

     Aaron could have plotzed! Destroying Yiddish books was like erasing Jewish history. But these books were no longer useful, the rabbi explained, and burying them was a sign of respect.  Aaron was not having it. With the rabbi's blessing, he took everything in the basket."

And something more: The Illustrator's Note by Stacy Innerst explains that "the pictures in this book were inspired by the extraordinary vision of Marc Chagall. There is, perhaps, no painter who conveyed the visual language of his culture more intimately and poetically than Chagall, and I've loved his work for as long as I can remember."