Hunting Books
This part is just to give you an idea of a semi-typical day of searching out books for the Vilnius Jewish Library. Almost every day sees one out on a quest for more volumes. Fortunately, I am blessed to live in a large city with a population of more than one million. The city in question is San Diego, California. There are numerous new and used bookstores throughout the county. As if these were not enough, there are many thriftstores and swapmeets at which one could browse for books.

Yesterday found us (my best friend and I) making a stop at three different locations. The first was at the bookman organization where I volunteer. It is a wonderful place in which to spend your time if you have a love of books and a love of helping others. The bookman gives away hundreds of thousands of hardcovers and paperbacks each year. The website can be visited at http://www.thebookman.org I volunteer there at least three days each week.

While there Saturday morning, we picked up three books. The books are: "Today I Am A Boy" by David Hays; "I Am Jewish" edited by Judea and Ruth Pearl; "Agents Of Innocence" by David Ignatius. The first two are non-fiction. The latter is a fictional thriller. The day of hunting for books was off to a good start. Then it was off to an area of San Diego known as Hillcrest. There are some nice bookstores right next to each other. Between the two shops where we stopped, we managed to pick up 18 more books. A total of twenty-one for one day is not a bad haul. However, that pales compared to the ninety book catch made at the annual Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.

The books found between the two shops are:
Fiction
Katerina by Aharon Appelfeld
The Koufax Dilemma by Steven Schnur
Zlateh The Goat And Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Girl As Green As Elderflower by Randolph Stow

Non-fiction
The Story Of A Life by Aharon Appelfeld
Mine Enemy by Amalia and Aharon Barnea
Shattered Dreams by Charles Enderlin
The Universal Man: Theodore von Karman's Life In Aeronautics by Michael H. Gorn
Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
King David: The Real Life Of The Man Who Ruled Israel by Jonathan Kirsch
Adventures In Jewish Cooking by Jeffrey Nathan
Remnants: The Last Jews Of Poland by Malgorzata Niezabitowska
A Hand In The Darkness by Ida Nudel
A Tale Of Love And Darkness by Amos Oz
What Did You Do In The War, Daddy? by Sabine Reichel
Scattered Among The Nations: edited by Alexis P. Rubin
The First Dissident: The Book Of Job In Today's Politics by William Safire
Meshuggenary: Celebrating The World Of Yiddish by Stevens, Levine and Steinmetz
Kafka Goes To The Movies by Hanns Zischler

There are now approximately two thousand books in the collection for the future library. The goal is to make it up to one hundred thousand. Clearly there is a long way to go. The hunt shall continue.

Gathering the Wheat

Creating a Jewish ESL (English as a Second Language) library in Lithuania presents certain challenges. However, some things remain universal no matter in which country the library is located or the language of the land. The Vilnius Jewish Library will be a place where people will feel comfortable as they sit and listen to various figures discuss whichever topic happens to be on the agenda that day. Given the fact that this is a library in Lithuania, most of the talks will be in Lithuanian. Even though it is an ESL library, people will be drawn inside knowing they can hear others talk about subjects of interest to them in their own language.

Certainly I need to sit in on any lectures I can which are given in Lithuanian. If one is willing and in my case definitely wanting to live in Lietuva as the natives know it, then learning the lingua franca is a necessity. I remember listening to the music of Lithuania. There was such beauty in so much of what I heard. Turning on the tv and watching the music programs or going to concerts or popping in a cd was a frequent occurrence. How much better it will be when I can actually understand just what is being sung. So off to the lectures I will go.

There will certainly be talks given in English. It would be a pleasure and an honour to welcome guests such as Yale Strom or Sir Martin Gilbert to speak at the library. They have such fascinating perspectives on what it means to be Jewish. They write eloquently on the lives of the Jews. I imagine they also speak as passionately as they write. Whatever will help Lithuanians better understand those who once were such a vital part of the life of the country will be a very positive accomplishment indeed.

Imagine a lecture area where the person speaking will have their choice of a lectern or a stuffed chair where one could sink into. People will be sitting in a semi-circle around the guest speaker. Those listening will be on sofas or beanbags or loveseats. Everyone will be part of a group setup rarely seen anywhere. During the lecture, the cats may stop and check things out. Most likely they will at least do a walk by overhead upon their catwalks.

Whatever it takes to bring people in is exactly what will be done. It is my dream to live in a place of books and learning. This library will be the dream come true. The dream will take time to realize. Almost anything worth having is not easily won. There are many meetings and planning sessions ahead. There will be times of difficulty and frustration. Yet in the end there will be a bastion of learning and understanding. I wouldn't have it any other way.