How It Was Made

Every morning, sitting in the office of David Roskies, after about an hour of work, I would hear approaching footsteps and, soon, the following words: "A gut morgn, a gut yor, a gut morgn a gut yor, vintshn zikh ale kinder..." Lerer Roskies had arrived.

Scanning documents, even in the morning, just an hour into the workday, can dull the mind.

But the arrival of Lerer Roskes meant a new start, a new morning, a gut morning. Songs would be sung, stories would be told, and, of course, we would build the All Things Yiddish Archive. 

The radio would be turned on.

Files would be browsed.

Books would be catalogued.

Objects would be explained.

Secret closets would be revealed.

Some technology would make a momentary comeback.

And that is how we would work every day for many days and they were gut days indeed. And though the office now is empty and the radio is not playing, we are both working tirelessly none the less and the All Things Yiddish: Lerer Roskes Archive continues to grow.