LIBRARY
Our Library
The National Library “Kadimah” was founded in 1911 and has served the cultural and intellectual needs of the vibrant, Jewish migrant community of Melbourne. It specializes in all aspects of Judaica and Holocaust literature in Yiddish and houses the largest collection of Yiddish books, periodicals, reference, audio and video materials in Australia.
The library acknowledges key supporters and has dedicated special collections as follows:
- Yasha Sher Reading Room
- Bono Weiner Collection
- Genia and Chaim Borensztajn Holocaust Memorial – Yizkor Collection
- Moishe Rabinowicz Multimedia Research Centre
- Dafner Family Yiddish Audio-Visual Radio Collection.
The library also supports the Yosef Gilligich Foundation and shares an online catalogue network with “The Lamm Jewish Library of Australia”.
The Kadimah aims to preserve and promote Yiddish books and reading to adults and children by:
- Providing a welcoming and comfortable environment to encourage wider usage.
- Collecting, mainly through donations, items in Yiddish or on Yiddish themes relating to the Yiddish speaking community in Melbourne.
- Providing a meeting space Yiddish book clubs and reading groups.
- Promoting the Yiddish language to children through storytelling and by acquiring a small children’s collection in Yiddish.
- Providing public access computers to enable research of the Kadimah collection and other Jewish organisations worldwide.
The library is open by appointment. Please contact [email protected] to arrange a time to visit.
Our Collections
The Kadimah also has a number of collections of historic Yiddish Theatre memorabilia.
Please use the following links to access our online collections.
Translations
The Kadimah has been heavily involved in the production of a number of translations of Yiddish poetry and also the publication of a book – “Yisreol Shtern: Collected Poems – Warsaw 1919-1939”, edited by Andrew Firestone.
The book was launched at the Kadimah on 16th November 2014. A video of the book launch is available to view here.
Copies of the book are available to purchase for AU$30 or US$30, plus postage costs.
Within Australia, please contact the Kadimah at [email protected]
Outside of Australia, please contact Medem Library, Paris, France at [email protected]
You can read more about Andrew Firestone’s work at his website www.yiddishpoetry.org
And to read a Yiddish report about 2 conferences held in Poland in 2015, about Yiddish life and I L Peretz, written by Andrew Firestone who attended and presented a paper, click here
My Favourite Book
Kadimah has some amazing books in its National Library collection. We have asked people to tell us about their favourite book in the library: why they chose it; why it is special to them; and a brief overview of what the book is about, accompanied by a picture, as the covers are often treasures in their own right! We hope this will inspire other readers and lovers of Yiddish literature to recall and seek out their favourite books and share with others who may not know about the Kadimah National Library.
If you would like to contribute, please email us at [email protected].
Many more Yiddish literary treasures are being donated from family collections, with families wanting to ensure their loved ones’ legacies are preserved and shared with the community. Their generous donation of these books to the Kadimah National Library is a wonderful gift for which we are most grateful. These books need to be sorted, catalogued, preserved and researched. With your help we can ensure that future generations have access to these historical gems and can experience the same joy our readers do today.
November – Alex Dafner
The Brothers Ashkenazi by Israel J. Singer, The Brothers Ashkenazi is
October – Judith Reuben
Sholem Aleichem’s Motl Heyse dem khazns (Motl Peyse the Cantor’s
September – Jacob (Yankel) Dessauer
My favourite book is Sibir (Siberia) by Avrom Sutzkever. This book was