Havurah Shalom joins the annual Portland Jewish Book Celebration to explore this year’s choice: David Fishman’s award-winning The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis. Told with an historian’s precision and a storyteller’s art, The Book Smugglers brings to life the ghetto residents of Vilna, "The Jerusalem of Lithuania," who risked their lives to save thousands of Jewish books, letters, manuscripts, and cultural artifacts from the Nazis and then the Soviets.

The book is now available in both hardcover and paperback and is available or can be ordered through our local independent bookstores. The Havurah library also has a copy.

Unless otherwise noted, these events are open to the public and free.

Pages and Pixels Book and Film Discussion
Sunday, November 4, 4:00 pm
Neveh Shalom, 2900 SW Peaceful Lane
Discussion of The Book Smugglers, followed by a screening of the 2011 film Aftermath (Poklosie). Called the most controversial film in Poland’s history, Aftermath creates a fictional account of a real life event in a Polish town in 1941, and its aftermath in the present day.

Brown Bag Lunch Discussion with Rosalyn Kliot
Thursday, November 8, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
724 NW Davis St. Portland
Part of the OJMCHE series of informal lunchtime conversations. Bring a lunch or buy a brown bag lunch in Lefty’s Café at the museum. Speaker’s Bureau member Rosalyn Kliot, who will share her story, from origins in Vilna and Lodz, to life in Oregon today.

Chasing Portraits: A Film by Elizabeth Rynecki
Tuesday, November 27, Time: TBA. Minimal charge TBA.
Whitsell Hall, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave.
This film documents Elizabeth Rynecki's quest to find close to the great-grandfather’s 800 paintings and sculptures, which were lost during the Holocaust. Decades later, Rynecki sought to rediscover his legacy by setting out on a journey to find what had been lost but never forgotten. She will attend and offer a Q and A following the film. This program is in conjunction with the exhibitions, Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross, at the Portland Art Museum, and The Last Journey of the Jews of Lodz, at OJMCHE. Event sponsors: The Northwest Film Center, the Institute for Judaic Studies, OJMCHE, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, and the Portland Art Museum.

Unpacking The Book Smugglers
Tuesday, January 22, 7:00-8:30 pm
Havurah Shalom, 825 NW 18^th Ave
Havurah’s monthly book discussion group provides another opportunity to explore The Book Smugglers in anticipation of the author talk that week. Leaders for this meeting—Susan Danielson and Ruth Feldman—will offer light refreshments and stimulating conversation.

Author Talk: The Book Smugglers by David Fishman
Sunday, January 27, 1:00 pm
Portland State University, Browsing Lounge (Room 238) Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway
David Fishman takes us into the story behind the story with his recounting of how he came to learn about the book smugglers. The talk includes many photographs uncovered during Fishman’s research. Event sponsors: Congregation Beth Israel, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Portland State University’s Judaic Studies Program, and Congregation Shaarie Torah.