June 11, 2008 — antiracistblog
American Christian building Jewish library in Lithuania
From The Canadian Jewish News
By SHELDON KIRSHNER, Staff Reporter
Thursday, 12 June 2008
An American Christian of British and Irish descent has embarked on an ambitious project to create a Jewish library in Vilnius (Vilna), whose legendary Jewish community was virtually wiped out by the Nazis in Lithuania.
Wyman Brent, LEFT, a 45-year-old Baptist originally from Lynchburg, Va., is using his own funds to build the library, but his project is backed by a corps of supporters ranging from British historian Sir Martin Gilbert to the co-founder of the National Organization for Women, Sonia Pressman Fuentes.
"I've always loved libraries and I'm fascinated with Jewish culture," said Brent, who hopes to have the library up and running by 2010, the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.
If all goes according to plan, it will have a collection of 100,000 books, CDs and DVDs, and will serve as a venue for concerts, art exhibitions, poetry readings and lectures.
The proposed library will be nothing if not eclectic.
"If the book is by a Jewish author, it can be on any topic, whether it has a Jewish theme or not," Brent said in an interview from San Diego, Calif., where he currently lives. "If the book is by a non-Jewish author, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, the topic must have some Jewish connection as long as it is not anti-Semitic."
All books will be in English so as to draw in the greatest possible number of users, he explained.
"It will attract locals who are looking to improve their English. The idea is to make the library the largest source of English language material in Vilnius. The study of English is very popular in Lithuania now that it a member of the European Union.
"And if they gain some familiarity with Jewish culture and shed some prejudice along the way, all the better," he added. "What better legacy to leave than a place of learning and education dedicated to fighting prejudice and intolerance?"
Brent, who has been working on the project since 2004, has collected 4,000 books so far, mainly at his own expense.
"While I am like Tevye in that I am not a rich man," he said in a reference to the fabled dairy farmer in Fiddler on the Roof, "it has been a pleasure spending what little money I have in buying books for the library."
Still other books have come from the Vilnius Jewish community and Hillel, the North American Jewish student organization.
As well, the musician Janis Ian has donated CDs and the painter Judy Chicago has promised artwork once the library opens.
"Sir Martin has agreed to donate a signed copy of each of the 79 books he has written or edited," Brent noted.
Brent, an online merchant, chose Vilnius as the site of the library after falling in love with the city on his first visit in 1994. He went to Lithuania in the first place because of his fascination with the republics of the former Soviet Union.
"I returned in 1995 and lived there for a full year, both in 1996 and 1997 and 2001 and 2002. This year, I lived in Vilnius for over two months.
"Another reason for choosing Vilna is that it was a centre of Jewish culture and learning [in the first three decades of the 20th century]. There is a good reason it was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. With more than 100 synagogues and prayer houses, and with so many Jewish newspapers, it was a city which spread Jewish thought around the world."
Brent intends to launch the project by opening a small version of the library next year. "Vilna will be the cultural capital of the European Union in 2009 and thus will be the focus of media attention. It will be a perfect time to open up something Jewish. Then I hope to open up a permanent location in 2010."
He is being assisted by a Lithuanian Christian, the proprietor of a chain of hostels who believes in his project and is currently looking for a proper site, probably on Pylimo Street, where a synagogue and three Jewish museums are located. "Non-Jewish Lithuanians have voiced interest in and support for the library," Brent said.
Nevertheless, he pointed out, there is an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Lithuania today.
Jewish institutions in Vilnius have also rallied behind the project.
"The staff of the Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum, the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, the Jewish Culture and Information Center and the principal of the Jewish school have expressed support. And so has the Israeli Embassy."
Brent conceived the project after one of his friends wrote an article on Jews in Tijuana, Mexico.
His immersion in Jewish culture per se, however, began when he started reading books about World War II and the Holocaust.
A high school graduate who has been a voracious reader all his life, Brent is an agnostic who respects all faiths and has a special admiration for and affinity with Jewish culture.
"I am not the king of the world and I can never end anti-Semitism, but if I can open a few minds to the beauty of Jewish culture, I will have done my part to make the world a better place."
http://vilniusjewishlibrary.wordpress.com/
Wyman Brent Discusses the Vilnius Jewish Library Project
January 6, 2008 — antiracistblog For over [three] years now, I have been working to create a project known as the Vilnius Jewish Library in Lithuania. Lithuania before World War II was a haven for Jewish people. The capital city of Vilnius was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania. There were more than 100 synagogues. Now there is only one remaining. You can guess what happened to the rest of them thanks to first the nazis and then the Russians. Unless of course, you don't believe the Holocaust ever happened. I won't even go into that.
Anyway, I am not Jewish and I am not of Lithuanian descent. So why is a non-Jew interested in creating an English language library dedicated to all things Jewish in a country not his own? Having traveled extensively throughout Europe, I have seen the results of how the war changed the lives of so many. Cities throughout the continent were destroyed and rebuilt. Yet the cities are still there even if in a changed form.
Certainly the Jews were not the only people to suffer at the hands of the nazis. Millions upon millions were killed in Europe alone. This includes the Gypsies, the Russians, the people of Great Britain, Poland, and many others. The disabled and homosexual were done away with. People with opposing political viewpoints were put to death. Clearly not being Jewish was no guarantee of safety during this time. Even people of other nations fought and died in Europe, including Canadians, Australians, and the Americans.
So much death and destruction in such a relatively short period of time. Yet with all of what the war wrought, you can now find the disabled, the homosexual, the Gypsies. They all live throughout Europe. Whether each individual thrives personally is another story. However, you will not have any trouble finding each over all of Europe. The Russians who lost such massive numbers of people have rebuilt and repopulated decimated areas. These are all as it should be.
What then of the Jews? Why is it so hard to find the synagogues and centres of education which once existed across most of Europe? The Jewish people have certainly not returned and rebuilt in any substantial way since the time of the war. Large numbers emigrated to either Israel or the USA. Even a centre of Jewish culture and education, such as Lithuania, now has an approximate 8,000 Jews out of a total population of 3.6 million. That number used to be more than 200,000.
There will never be a return to the shul (synagogue) and shtetl (village) days of the pre-war period. Those days are long past. So what is the point of a Jewish library in a country with a population composed of about 99.8 percent who are Catholics, Russian Orthodox, or Episcopalians, anything but Jews?
My fondest wish is to promote tolerance and understanding. This is not just for acceptance of a people who are largely gone from Lithuania. Events in Europe and elsewhere prove time and again that sometimes others are despised for either their religion or skin colour or some other equally meaningless reason. Will this ever change? I would love to think so, even if I am not holding my breath in anticipation of that day.
Will the average person be drawn into a library filled to overflowing with books about Jewish life, culture, humour, and much more? I am not that foolish as to think so. The draw of the library will be on many levels. There will be ESL (English as a Second Language) classes available. Many times a week it will be possible to attend poetry readings, music concerts and art exhibitions. Downstairs you will find a cafe unlike any other in Lithuania designed to bring people in. The library will be set up so that when you walk in it feels like home. Look around and you may well see cats running from place to place or sleeping in a corner.
Build it and they will read? The lure of a library unlike any other in Lithuania and perhaps the world will be what draws people inside. Will some only come for the concerts or the kitties? That is a given. How many will enjoy a meal and a conversation in the cafe without ever setting foot in the library? The bet is that it will be a fair number.
Yet some will look beyond the facade and delve into the heart of the building and that is the books. Yes, the books will have a Jewish theme. Yes, there are many others who have suffered throughout the ages. Even so, the understanding which will hopefully be gained of the Jewish people will lead others to apply the same principles of newly-found acceptance to anyone who has ever been discriminated against. Here's hoping that it is possible to breathe new life into the Jerusalem of Lithuania.
http://vilniusjewishlibrary.wordpress.com/...ibrary-project/
