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2009-04-23
The VYI's participation in the Jerusalem Book Fair 2009

Prof. Sarunas Liekis and the VYI Summer Program coordinator Indre Jofyte took part in the Jerusalem Book Fair, presenting Yiddish Culture for the first time in an event of this scale in Israel. The 13th Jerusalem book fair was held in Jerusalem‘s International Congress Center. The Yiddish culture seminar was supported by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and took place as part of the Lithuanian Days event at the Jerusalem Book Fair. Participation in this book fair was already arranged in 2005. 

The seminar on Yiddish Culture was one of many events - literary readings, book presentations, discussions and seminars. In addition to Sarunas Liekis, other scholars who participated in the Yiddish seminar were Prof. Dov-Ber Kerler, Prof. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas and Prof. Motti Zalkin.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Culture selected the VYI’s director of research, Professor Dovid Katz, to write the book for the Lithuanian Jewish section of the Jerusalem Book Fair. The book, Seven Kingdoms of the Litvaks, written especially for the book fair, was published by the Culture Ministry’s International Cultural Program Center in cooperation with the Vilnius Yiddish Institute. In addition to an introduction and epilogue, the concise and amply illustrated publication comprises seven chapters (1: Torah Scholarship; 2: Third-Way Hasidism; 3: The Ethics Movement; 4: Hebrew Revived; 5: Jewish Socialism; 6: Yiddish Scholarship; 7: The Maverick Streak). Because the volume is not available commercially, it was agreed that it be freely available on Professor Katz’s website at: http://www.dovidkatz.net/dovid/Lithuania/7_KingdomsLitvaks.pdf. A copy of the print edition may be viewed in the library of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute. The VYI, and Professor Dovid Katz wish to express thanks to the Culture Ministry’s project coordinator Elena Sakalauskaite for seeing the volume through the press.

In the photo: Prof. Sarunas Liekis (left) and Prof. Dov-Ber Kerler