Sept. 20 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community was YIVO (founded in Vilnius in 1925) day.

At 11a.m. there was a commemorative ceremony at the building located at the junction of J.Basanavi¨iaus and Mindaugo streets which had been the home of celebrated Yiddish philologist Max Weinreich. The eminent scholar had been honoured for his important role in the founding of YIVO in Vilnius, with a memorial plaque which went up during the Second World Congress of Litvakes.

Participants at the ceremony included historian Dr. Izraelis Lempertas, NY executive director of YIVO Karl Rheins, director of the Lithuanian Dept. of National Minorities and Emigrants Antanas Petrauskas, executive director of the Vilnius University Yiddish Institute Dr. arënas Liekis, assistant to the director of the State Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum Rachile Kostanian, staff members of foreign embassies, members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, and various other guests from Vilnius.

I.Lempertas congratulated the assembly on the anniversary of YIVO, and gave a brief account of the role played by Max Weinreich in its founding. He stated that the scholar's small flat on Didîioji Pohulianka (now J.Basanavi¨iaus St.) gave birth to a world renowned scientific institute. M.Weinreich also gave the institute its name, which went on to become synonymous with the high calibre of scientific works carried out therein.

"Max Weinreich loved our city. He understood the significance of Vilnius for world Jewry. In 1965, 20 years after the Holocaust, when it was obvious that Jerusalem of Lithuania had been annihilated, he stated: "It would not be an exaggeration to say that the fate of world Jewry depends on how deeply the Jews of Jerusalem, Moscow, Buenos Aires and especially New York take on the spirit of Jerusalem of Lithuania."

"Today there are less than 3,000 Jews living in Vilnius; before the war they made up a third of the city's population. We are striving to preserve a Jewish spirit, and this YIVO anniversary celebration helps us to carry out this honourable mission," - said I.Lempertas.

Karl Rheins greeted the assembly on behalf of the YIVO workers in New York. "It is a great honour for me to be here with you and to stand beside the building where the great Jewish intellectual Max Weinreich once lived." K.Rheins also announced that Yale University would soon be publishing M.Weinreich's two volume History of the Jewish Language. In his words, M.Weinreich was "not only a Yiddish linguist, he also contributed to sociological and humanitarian research, and studied sociology and child psychology."

That same evening, a memorial tribute at the Jascha Heifetz Hall included presentations by the head of the Judaica Dept. at the M.Maîvydas National Library, Fira Bramson-Alpernien«, and YIVO's Karl Rheins.

The event was opened by LJC chairman S.Alperavi¨ius. In his speech about the goals of YIVO, he emphasized that it sought to present information about the history, sociology, lifestyle, culture, literature and art of the Jews of Europe (including primarily Lithuania), for it was Yiddish that was the foundation of their thinking, interaction, and existence.

In her extensive presentation, F.Bramson focused mainly on an analysis of YIVO activities in Vilnius from the time of the 1925 Berlin conference until the closing of the institute at the beginning of the Second World War, and M.Weinreich's departure for the USA.

"The place that was chosen for the institute was not the wealthy Jewish community of Berlin, but Vilnius - Jerusalem of Lithuania, rich in Jewish traditions, schools and Yiddish. It was here that the activities of the first enthusiastic generation, composed of Max Weinreich, Zalmen Reisen, Shmerke Kacherginski, Cemach Shabad, and others, began. The institute was to be a scientific, academic, non-partisan one, operating in the daily Yiddish language." She added: "In all stages of its activity, the institute was scientific and non-partisan. Its working language was always Yiddish. But YIVO was never an academic organization."

In her presentation F.Bramson made special reference to the heroic attempts of A.Sutzkever and his colleagues in safeguarding the YIVO literary treasures from being transported to Frankfurt, where the plan was to create a "museum of an extinct nation" after the war.

F.Bramson called A.Sutzkever and his colleagues "the second generation of enthusiasts", for they risked their lives to hide and take material out of the YIVO building on Vivulskio St. (while supervised by the Rosenberg 'einsatzcommand'), and to keep it from leaving Vilnius.

After the war the salvaged YIVO treasures ended up in the Jewish Museum, and when that was liquidated in 1949, were given over to the Book Palace and preserved there by its director Antanas Ulpis. Today these books and newspapers are catalogued and computerized as part of the Judaica fund of the M.Maîvydas National Library.

Another portion of the invaluable collection ended up in Germany. And when the USSR turned its back on the remaining YIVO treasures and Lithuanian Jewish libraries, what was left was transported to YIVO in New York.

K.Rheins talked about the work of YIVO during its American period.

At the beginning of the Second World War, a number of Jewish intellectuals - Max Weinreich, Elyah Cherikover, Jakov Leszczinski, Leibush Lerer, Shmuel Niger, Jakov Shatzki and others - ended up in the USA. They signed a declaration stating that, "normal ties with the institute in Vilnius were severed", and proclaimed the New York branch of YIVO as the principal institute.

Over the decades of its existence in NY, YIVO moved 4 times, and is now operating under optimal conditions.

YIVO activities in NY are multi-tiered, and include scientific research in the spheres of philology, literature, history and sociology, as well as educational training. The latter includes post-graduate work based on Cemach Shabad fellowships in Vilnius, the gathering of manuscripts, publications etc., and the organizing of exhibitions, film screenings, discussions, presentations, conferences, lectures, Yiddish language and culture courses, etc.

Today the YIVO library has 360,000 books in 12 languages, and more than 23 mln. items (manuscripts, documents, photographs, sound and picture recordings, art works, advertising posters, music notes, etc.) in its archives. In 1994, 100,000 items were sent from Vilnius to the USA to be photocopied for the YIVO archives.

The importance in today's world of YIVO as a center for the study and dissemination of Yiddish culture was formulated back in 1935 by the great physicist Albert Einstein. In a letter on the 10th anniversary of YIVO he wrote the following: "I am taking this opportunity to express my respect to the institute for its services in the education of the Jewish people. I think that the striving for culture is Jewish society's most important task, and especially valuable given the present conditions of persecution."

The evening ended with a concert by prof. Leonidas Melnikas, violinist Borisas Traubas, and tenor Rafailas Karpis.

Newspaper of the Jewish Community of Lithuania “Jerusalem of Lithuania” 2005.