Construction has begun! On May 4, we officially broke ground for the Kaplen Family Building: a 22,000-square-foot addition that will almost double the size of our Amherst headquarters. The new structure will provide much needed, state-of-the-art, long-term storage for our most valuable books – and a perfect home for our newly expanded educational programs, including a national School for Jewish Culture.

This blog will give our friends and members a chance to watch with us as the building rises before our eyes. Completion is slated for this coming winter, and we hope to dedicate the structure with a rollicking Khanukes habayis (public Housewarming Party) and open our doors to students – both college age and adults – by May of 2009.

Thanks to the extraordinary vision and generosity of our members, funding for the $7-million expansion is mostly in hand. But it’s still not too late to put your name on this exciting, history-making building. Remaining gift opportunities include an innovative geothermal system that will heat and cool our existing building and the addition; a kosher “demonstration” kitchen where we’ll offer regular classes in Jewish cooking; and a 275-seat Performance Hall where audiences can enjoy the best of Yiddish and other modern Jewish music, film, theater and more.