| | Foreword | p. ix |
| | Learning Yiddish | p. 1 |
| | Out of the Dumpster | p. 3 |
| | Bread and Wine | p. 9 |
| | "Come Back after Yontef!" | p. 19 |
| | "What Is Mendele Doing in a Fruit Basket on the Floor?" | p. 29 |
| | On the Road | p. 41 |
| | A Ritual of Cultural Transmission | p. 43 |
| | "Don't You Know That Yiddish Is Dead?" | p. 47 |
| | A Day in the Life | p. 57 |
| | A Brief History of Yiddish Literature | p. 69 |
| | "People Are Dying Today Who Never Died Before" | p. 79 |
| | "Pretty Soon We'll Have a Whole Forest in Israel and No More Members Here" | p. 86 |
| | "Love and Peace" | p. 93 |
| | "Ostroff! Sea Gate!" | p. 102 |
| | The Great Newark Book Heist | p. 118 |
| | "Him I Don't Talk To!" | p. 123 |
| | "You're a Liar!" | p. 125 |
| | "They're Tearing Apart the Library" | p. 140 |
| | A Ghost in the Attic | p. 150 |
| | "If Not Higher" | p. 159 |
| | "Hitler's Fault" | p. 170 |
| | Ganvenen dem Grenets--Crossing the Border | p. 181 |
| | Squandered at the Concord | p. 183 |
| | Kaddish | p. 194 |
| | A Job for the Young | p. 210 |
| | The Four Corners of the Earth | p. 219 |
| | Back in the U.S.S.R. | p. 241 |
| | Bringing It All Back Home | p. 259 |
| | Der Oylem Redt--The World Takes Notice | p. 261 |
| | A Home of Our Own | p. 277 |
| | Immortality | p. 289 |
| | The Valise at the Bottom of the Sea | p. 301 |
| | Notes | p. 313 |
| | Acknowledgments | p. 317 |