I reread a book recently I had bought in the Strand Bookshop in New York (supposed to be the world’s largest second hand store atmospheric by the bucket).  It is ‘Outwitting History’ the story by Aaron Lansky of the rescue of books in Yiddish.

He was born 1955 and had done a program in Yiddish studies and found it very difficult to get books in the language.  He was then offered volumes in the language and proceeded to gather books in the language.  At the time it was estimated that there were around 70,000 books in existance.  The truth as set out in the book was that there were in excess of 1.5 million and the story of rescuing the volumes from tumbling house and skips is fascinating.  He now heads the National Yiddish Book centre one of the fastest growing Jewish cultural groups i the world.

In one episode…