Words that echo louder than bombs

February 2012 We hope that you enjoy this month's cover story about Aaron Lansky, whose vision of a Yiddish Book Center has grown from a nascent idea in the early 1980s to an organization that has saved more than a million Yiddish books some 30 years later. His quest for preservation of language and culture is nothing short of amazing. Some of the stories of atrocities recounted in Lansky's book "Outwitting History" are disturbing. He relates a trip to Lithuania that encapsulates the horrible echoes of both Nazi and Soviet offenses against the Jews in the town of Vilkomir. Not only was every Jewish man, woman, and child in this town rounded up and shot by German soldiers in 1941, but no gravestones could be found. When Lansky asked where the grave markers were today, he was shown a Soviet edifice where all the Jewish headstones had been re-made into staircases and walls. "[It was] not enough that the Nazis murdered the Jews of Europe," Lansky wrote, "After the war, the Soviets were determined to eradicate the memory that they had ever lived." The gravitas of rescuing an entire generation's worth of written words is not lost on Lansky or the many members who support the Amherst organization. Also this month, let's give congratulations to another Jewish icon in our area who has given his time to literary pursuits, Harold Grinspoon. The Longmeadow resident was honored in the spring of 2011 by the Jewish Book Council. Grinspoon was honored for his creation of a library that introduces children to Jewish literature, sending nearly 70,000 children's books free to families each month in more than 100 communities across North America. This month, PRIME brings you a wealth of heart-healthy ideas for Valentine's Day. We've got health suggestions from The Herbarium, and Baystate Medical Center will hold its popular free annual Heart and Vascular Health Lecture Series during the month of February as well (see pages 18-19 for details). Our ever-popular contributor Jacqui Brandwynne answers readers' questions about romance on page 10, with sound advice about finding a loving partner. And finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't also mention that this year PRIME is poised to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. The magazine has a number of promotions planned leading up to the anniversary date in October. What a long, strange trip it's been since the humble beginnings of PRIME. Stay tuned as we reveal more celebratory details and anniversary advertising promotions in the upcoming months. Until next time, Mike Briotta PRIME Editor mikeb@thereminder.com