Yom HaShoah: The Survivors‘ Talmud

In observance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) this year,  join us as we explore The Survivors’ Talmud, a work inextricably linked to Jewish hope and survival triumphing over the Nazi plan for extermination of Jewish life. Jackie Ben Efraim, the Special Collections Director at The Ostrow Library at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, will lead us through this fascinating history and leave us with insights on the determination, strength, and resilience of the Jewish people.

Monday April 17 at Noon PT/3pm ET

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More about the speaker and Survivor's Talmud:

Jackie  Ben-Efraim is originally from Silver Spring, MD  where she volunteered in the school library in lieu of gym class. Jackie started her college career at the University of Maryland. She moved to New York to attend the Joint Program at JTS and Columbia University. She completed her undergraduate degree as well as her MLS at Columbia. Jackie was an intern at the YIVO library as part of her masters degree program. After Jackie moved to Los Angeles in 1980, she studied at UCLA’s Rare Book School and has taken courses in book conservation under the direction of the Head of Preservation at The Huntington Library. For the last 15 years, Jackie has been the Special Collections Librarian in the Ostrow Library’s Lowy-Winkler Family Rare Book Center at American Jewish University. Twice a year she creates exhibits with materials from the Lowy-Winkler Rare Book Center.

The Survivors Talmud, sometimes called the U.S. Army Talmud, is the amazing saga of how a set of Shas came to be printed for the Jews in DP camps following the Holocaust. The fact that the printing was under the auspices of the U.S. Army is not the only fascinating fact about this edition. For the last ten years, Jackie Ben-Efraim had been searching for the heretofore unknown illustrator who created the moving title page depicting a concentration camp. With the help of her fellow members of the Association of Jewish Libraries, she was able to discover the artist’s identity, which she will share in this presentation, along with other anecdotes about the struggle to create religious materials for those who survived the horrors of WWII.

Please note that this program begins at noon PT. We enjoy particpation from those all over the world, so please adjust your time zone accordingly.

If you have further questions, or to introduce yourself, please don't hesitate to reach out 

to Rabbi Miller: rabbimiller@keepingitsacred.com or Molly Flanagan: mflanagan@keepingitsacred.com

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