Jews take pride in the name "the people of the book"; the Jewish literary tradition is thousands of years long, spanning many languages and genres and a wide variety of approaches to religious questions. But does anything define Jewish literature, formally or thematically, beyond the mere fact of its being written by a Jew? Adam Kirsch explores the fraught history of attempts to define Jewish literature and looks for clues to its definition and its future.

Join us for the Melinda Rosenblatt lecture on Sunday, May 1 at 2 p.m. The Lecture is part of the Center’s Community Open House, which includes tours of the Center and the screening of two short films from the Center’s Wexler Oral History Project’s "Beyond the Books" series showcasing Yiddish literary figures and their descendants: Ida Maze: The “Den Mother” of Yiddish Montreal and Alter Esselin: Craftsman of Wood and Words. The day's events are free and open to the public.

For information:
http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/calendar