|
Preserving
Jewish Heritage
The Future
Vilnius Jewish Library
Books For
Breakfast
from the San Diego Jewish Journal, May
1, 2008
by Jessica Durham
Wyman Brent may
not be Jewish, but he has made a Jewish library in Vilnius,
Lithuania his life passion.
Instead of dishes
and cereal boxes, Wyman Brent fills his kitchen
shelves with stacks of books. He’s run out of room
on his bookshelves, which are groaning with the
weight of so many words, and stacks of books cover
the floor of the Normal Heights apartment he
shares with his roommate. He’s built his
collection to about 4,000, 3,000 of which he’s
purchased himself, the other 1,000 donated. He
says he files them all in memory and rarely buys a
duplicate.
His insatiable hunger for books — his goal is to
someday have 100,000 — isn’t a case of compulsive
hoarding or obsession, however. He’s working
toward his life’s goal to open Lithuania’s largest
English-as-a-second-language resource library in
Vilnius, the nation’s capital. More importantly,
though, the Vilnius Jewish Library will be a step
in re-establishing the pre-World War II Jewish
center of culture and learning that Vilnius once
represented, but which was destroyed during the
war along with its vast Jewish population, Brent
said. Now, Vilnius is home to only 5,000 Jews,
down from 100,000 pre-war, one synagogue, down
from 105, one daily Jewish newspaper, down from
six. In fact, Vilnius was once known as
Yerushalayim de Lita — The Jerusalem of Lithuania. |
Wyman Brent,
Project Coordinator |
|
His library, he
said, will contain books, DVDs and compact discs
written or created only in English by Jews or
about Jewish history and culture, though they will
be on topics as broad as sports, travel, history,
music and biography.
Brent does not hesitate to express his love for
Vilnius or the Jewish culture and people, nor is
he shy about describing his love of reading and
books. He knew Vilnius was special when he visited
for the first time in the early 90s during his
years-long trip to the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe to satisfy his lifelong fascination with
World War II.
“There’s something magical about Vilnius with the
Jewish culture that used to be there,” Brent said.
“And for me, that’s the thing. People, Jewish or
not, think of Vilnius as a place that was this
wonderful center of Jewish culture, a wonderful
center of Jewish education and learning Jewish
thought. And now they always think of Vilnius as a
place that was. The idea with the library is to
once again make Vilnius a place that is.” |
|
|
Brent had the idea
to combine his love of books (which had begun
during his childhood with his enormous collection
of World War II books) with his love of Jewish
people and culture (which had branched from the
World War II interest) by building the library.
The most surprising part of his endeavor, however,
is that he is not Jewish.
Born into a Baptist family in Lynchburg, Va.,
Brent had never really been exposed to Jewish
culture or taken an interest in it before his time
in Europe. And before a particular incident in
Prague in 1993, he hadn’t felt inspired to somehow
help the Jews pick themselves back up after they
were pushed down during the war Brent hadn’t even
been alive to witness. |
 |
|
|
“I saw an exhibition
of art from children from the concentration camps,
and of course the children didn’t survive, but the
art did,” he said. “It was quite depressing of
course, but when I walked out of the building, I
walked around the corner and there was an old
Jewish cemetery there, and there was this Orthodox
rabbi leading a group of his followers, his
students, and they’re walking through the cemetery
and they’re placing stones, and I’m thinking,
‘There’s still life.’
Jewish resurgence in
Vilnius’s Jewish Old Town has been slow-going,
Brent said, and the government has yet to return
formerly Jewish buildings and property to the
community since the city had been caught in the
grasp of World War II and the former Soviet Union.
Anti-Semitism also exists, though it is not
extreme, nor has Brent personally experienced it
himself (though he said there was a demonstration
in the city while he was there most recently,
during his five-month trip from November to
April). But despite the fact that the majority of
Vilnius’ residents don’t want a Jewish library,
Brent has gone around the fact by keeping only
books written in English, making it a win-win
situation for Jews and Gentiles alike.
Despite the somewhat anti-Semitic nature of the
city, Brent said, he’s received nothing but praise
and approval for his project. He’s received
letters of support from every Jewish museum,
organization and institution in Vilnius, and even
the Israeli embassy in the region.
“There was no negativity there whatsoever, and
even from the Gentiles, there was incredible
support,” Brent said. “I was staying for free in
Vilnius at a hostile, and it was thanks to the
owner, who is a Gentile, liking so much the idea
of the library.” |
|
Wyman with Vilna
Gaon Jewish Museum Director Markas Zingeris inside
the Tolerance Center. |
Professor Dovid Katz of the Vilnius Yiddish
Institute sharing a meal with Wyman Brent in
Vilnius. |
|
It is this dual
support and coming together for a common purpose
that is the beginning of what Brent hopes to
accomplish in the longer run through his library.
“Lithuania was not built by Catholics,” he said.
“It was not built by Jews. Lithuania was built by
all Lithuanians working together. With the
library, the idea is to show the beauty of Jewish
culture, but at the same time not to beat anyone
over the head with it. The more your learn about
Jewish culture, the more you want to learn,
anyway.”
The more support Brent can get, the better,
because, he said, he’s not wealthy. He makes his
living selling items on eBay and Amazon.com, but
he also puts everything he has toward stocking his
library, which he hopes to have temporarily opened
in 2009 with 10,000 or 15,000 books in time for
Vilnius’s year-long status as cultural capital of
the European Union, which goes to a different city
each year. He hopes to have a permanent location
opened on the Jewish New Year in 2010, the 65th
anniversary of the end of World War II, and he is
looking at a particular old building on Pilies
Street, which also borders the former Jewish
ghetto and contains the city’s sole synagogue and
three other Jewish buildings.
Building his collection of books to 100,000
someday may seem a daunting task, but Brent
relishes the search and said he looks forward to
filling the shelves of the library, of which he
plans to be the permanent caretaker. |
|
Wyman with Algis Gurevicius, director of the
Jewish Culture and Information Center. |
Wyman with Israeli Ambassador
Chen Ivri
inside the Uzupis School,
after the March 12 ceremony
honoring righteous Gentiles.
|
|
|
“It’s hard
financially,” Brent said, “but I love the work. If
I considered it hard, I wouldn’t do it.” Shipping
all his books to the other side of the world, as
well as acquiring the building and having the
finances to open the library, is the most
difficult part, he said. News of Brent’s endeavors
has spread, and the number of books being shipped
to him by friends worldwide who have pledged to
help him reach his goal has grown exponentially,
but he still needs financial help.
He has returned to San Diego, where he’s lived for
21 years, to remain in the United States through
October, during which time he’ll travel to several
U.S. cities to meet with friends who have
volunteered their support and have been gathering
books. He’ll also attend the 12th annual
International Association of Yiddish Clubs
conference in San Diego, Oct. 24-27, alongside
Sonia Pressman Fuentes, one of the founders of the
National Organization for Women and one of the
many Jewish authors Brent has befriended who has
donated a copy of her book and has capitalized on
her extensive networks to get others to donate as
well. After the conference, he will return to
Lithuania.
Though his grassroots effort has begun to take off
and he’s got dedicated book-collectors sending him
books from across the United States, Brent needs
support on a larger, more established scale. He
hopes he can find that in his hometown of San
Diego.
“I need the support of the Jewish community here,”
he said. “I want to work with a non-profit
organization so money isn’t given directly to me.
But I always need donations of lots of books, DVDs
and CDs. The level of support so far is
incredible, but I do need money for shipping and
getting the building.”
Brent said he’s always been a sort of wanderer,
never the type to stay in one place and, before
the idea of the library, he never had what some
might consider an average American life with a
career and family of his own. With the library,
however, he’s found his purpose.
“This library will be my legacy to the world,” he
said. “It will live on long after I am gone.”
• To learn more about
Wyman Brent and the Vilnius Jewish Library, visit
his blog at
www.vilniusjewishlibrary.wordpress.com or
e-mail him at
vilniusjewishlibrary@yahoo.com. |
|
|