Yiddish lit rescued; fancy Indian footwork
When Aaron Lansky was studying Yiddish literature in Montreal, finding books was a problem. One lucky student might find the assigned text in the library. But others would have to go to the old Jewish neighborhoods, knock on doors, and ask to borrow from someone's private library.
"At the same time, it was becoming clear to me that books were being thrown out," says Lansky. "I got a call from a friend who told me the rabbi in her hometown in Ohio had just thrown out 900 books that he had been given by an older Jew, because nobody had wanted them." "Back then, we used to say, 'If you want to find a Yiddish book, you have to look either at a rare-book dealer in Amsterdam or a garbage can in Brooklyn.' "
Just why people were tossing the books confounded Lansky. "Jews called their books their portable homeland. How this amazing modern literature could have been discarded is very difficult to fathom," he says. But one thing was clear. Lansky would go on a mission.
"I took what I thought would be a two-year leave of absence from graduate school to save the world's Yiddish books. At the time, experts believed some 70,000 books were still extant and recoverable. Well, we collected that in six months, and 25 years later, we've collected about a million and a half books, and we're still going strong, and I'm still on leave," he says.
Lansky's work has been called the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history. The books, now housed at The National Yiddish Book Center, which he founded in Amherst in 1980, came by way of many characters and numerous adventures. Armed with little more than old trucks and eager helpers, he made many dramatic last-minute saves, including hauling 8,000 books from a dumpster and forming a bucket brigade to ferry 15,000 books from the basement of a demolished building in the Bronx.
But he also made countless quiet trips to the homes of individuals. "Invariably, they would sit you down at the kitchen table and pour out their hearts," says Lansky, who lives in Amherst. "It was this moment in their lives when they were passing on what they would call their "yerushe," or inheritance. . . . It was a shift, literally, from one epoch of Jewish history to another, and these people were passing their books over that divide."
The tales of those encounters and the rescues are told in Lansky's new book, "Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books." Lansky will share those stories tonight in Newton as part of the annual Boston Jewish Book Fair.
Stories of secret flights to Cuba, improbable finds, and more pepper the book, but most of all, Lansky says, it is about the people he met and the culture they sought to preserve.
"Sometimes I'll be at the book center late at night, and I'm walking out, and I look out over this whole sea of books there, and I get goose bumps and think, 'Oh, my God, this is the whole civilization here.' I have a friend who calls the center Atlantis, the lost continent of Jewish culture," he says. "It's moments like that that you suddenly understand what's at stake."
Lansky speaks at 7:30 tonight at the Leventhal-Sidman JCC, 333 Nahanton St., Newton. Tickets are $8. Call 617-965-5226. The book fair continues through Dec. 2. For a schedule, visit www.jccgb.org.
TIMELESS TALE FROM INDIA -- The story of Silappadhikaaram is more than two millenniums old, but this epic tale of two women and the man they loved touches on timeless themes. Love, loneliness, regret, betrayal, and redemption all play out in intricate dance scenes set to vibrant Indian classical and folk music.
On Sunday, the Avigna Dance Ensemble from Chennai, India, performs this Tamil epic at Babson College in Wellesley. The performance is the final stop on its 30-show US tour. Recently, the ensemble played to a sold-out crowd at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Silappadhikaaram, which means the story of the anklets, is performed as dance theater. "It's almost like an opera, but with many more movements, and the dancers don't sing. The music is in the background," says Jothi Raghavan, artistic director of the Academy of Indian Performing Arts in Westford, which is hosting the show.
The text and the dances date to 200 BC. Much of the choreography uses the classical Indian dance form bharatha natyam. "It has two very important elements, which are intricate footwork along with graceful movements of the body combined with facial expressions and an extensive language of hand gestures that can depict any mood or emotion," says Raghavan, who lives in Westford.
But as much as this production is about tradition, it is also about spectacle. "The costumes are very colorful. The dancers are all handpicked, the cream of the crop," she says.
"Silappadhikaaram" begins at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Babson College's Sorenson Center in Wellesley. Directions at www.babson.edu. Tickets are $15 to $50, students and seniors $10. Call 978-392-4677, or visit www.indianperformingarts.org.
ARTS AND CRAFTS MECCA -- From the tiniest of pendants to towering steel sculptures, the arts and crafts at Paradise City Arts Festival share one thing in common. The work shown here ranks with the best. And the other good news? While the prices of some pieces do run into the thousands, this show has plenty to choose from in the below-$50 range as well.
Though the show originated in Northampton, Paradise is now also held twice yearly in Marlborough at the Royal Plaza Trade Center as well. Competition to get into this prestigious festival is stiff and the jury demanding. "For the jury, we bring together people who have all seen a lot of work," says Linda Post of Northampton, who founded Paradise with her husband, Geoffrey, in 1995. "There's always expertise in each of the media being juried."
The artists hail from across the country. Locals who made the cut include lamp maker Christine Santo of Holliston, clothing artist Cindy Walsh of Framingham, photographer Seth Friedman of Maynard, jewelry makers Anne Besse-Shepherd and Beth Solomon, both of Sudbury, and ceramicist Anne Elliot of Shrewsbury.The Posts are both artists who spent decades exhibiting their work at festivals nationwide. Then, Linda says, "We felt there was a need for something a little bit different. We thought we could build a better show."
Most important, they gave fine art equal emphasis. Paradise features not only quality crafts like blown glass, hand-crafted jewelry, ceramics, and more, but the festival presents serious paintings and large-scale sculptures as well.
Food is no afterthought, either. At the "Sculpture Cafe," visitors can sit among fine sculptures as they dine on the likes of beef Wellington, gourmet sandwiches and soups, and fine pastries. Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the cafe hosts a live jazz brunch.
Paradise City runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 19 and 20 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Royal Plaza, 181 Boston Post Road (Route 20), Marlborough. Admission is $10 or $5 for seniors and students and younger than 12 free. Call 800-511-9725 or visit www.pardisecityarts.com.
FREE FAMILY TUNES -- In 1999, Ben Rudnick left a job at Lotus to become a stay-at-home dad. But ever since he sang at his daughter's fourth birthday party, he has had to make time to be a performer, too.
"I didn't want to sing 'Wheels on the Bus' or 'Baby Beluga' or any of that ilk," he says. So Rudnick wrote his own songs for the party. It was such a success that Rudnick and his friend, mandolin player John Zevos of New Hampshire, decided to make a CD.
"We were just going to give the CDs away, but the next thing you know, we got this John Lennon Songwriting Award and a Parents' Choice Award, and then Dr. Toy gave us an award," says Rudnick. They formed a band and have played across New England since.
Ben Rudnick and Friends perform for free this Sunday as part of the Franklin Performing Arts Company's free Family Concert Series. Their high-energy bluegrass sound comes courtesy of Rudnick's exuberant guitar playing, Zevos's fast-picking on the mandolin, and Dover resident Mark Yacovone's dancing chords on the accordion.
In other words, this is real music. The lyrics may be young at heart, but these guys can really wail on tunes about alien friends and macaroni and cheese. The band makes a habit of throwing in reggae and jazz beats when you least expect it.
"Saying I write for kids or adults doesn't fit," says Rudnick. "I'm just writing for human beings."
Rudnick and Friends perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts, 38 Main St. Admission is free. Next show in the series is Jazz4Kidz on Feb. 13. Call 508-528-8668 or visit www.fspaonline.com.
Please send news of your arts-related events to westarts@globe.com.
