How YIVO pivoted from studying a living Yiddish world to preserving a vanishing culture

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research underwent a historic pivot from studying a living global Yiddish culture to preserving a vanishing one in the aftermath of the Holocaust. This transition and the adaptation of the institute's surviving caretakers to a post-Holocaust world are the subjects of a new book, 'Yiddish Scholarship Comes to America: The YIVO Institute at 100,' authored by Kalman Weiser.

Originally established to document and analyze vibrant Yiddish-speaking communities, the organization shifted its primary mission as European Jewish life was decimated during World War II. The institute's leaders and scholars in America faced the challenge of maintaining and archiving a culture whose living centers had been largely destroyed, securing YIVO's role as a vital repository for Yiddish heritage.