On May 27, Archivist Deena Schwimmer hosted a group of adult learners at the Mendel Gottesman Library from the (COJECO), which provides programming and services for Russian-speaking Jews in the New York area focused on Jewish education and engagement, and in preserving its members’ unique cultural heritage.
The group were participants in the segment of COJECO’s Adult B’nai Mitzvah educational program, during which primary source materials at various repositories documenting the history of Russian Jewry are viewed and analyzed. Â鶹Çø Libraries ranks high on the program’s list of repositories to visit due to the Archives’ rich Soviet Jewry collections, and our comprehensive , in particular.
Deena gave a brief presentation on Â鶹Çø and YU Libraries and Special Collections, after which Soviet Jewry scholar Simon Klarfeld (pictured above) provided an in-depth presentation on the concurrent activist movements in the USSR and the West, which culminated in the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union. Unique, significant artifacts from the SSSJ collection which document both of these activist movements, were made available by the Archives for the participants to examine.
This was the second cohort of COJECO’s Adult B’nai Mitzvah group to visit the YU Libraries and use the Soviet Jewry collections.
Submitted by Deena Schwimmer, Archivist
