No comments about Sing, Stranger: A Century of American Yiddish Poetry-A Historical Anthology.

No comments about Jacksonian Jew: The Two Worlds of Mordecai Noah.

1 comments about Kristallnacht.

1. In light of the dearth of still living eyewitnesses to both Kristallnacht and the Shoah in general, this is a warm very personal account of one woman's and one family's experience, struggles, and ultimately success in finding the American dream.

1 comments about Sabbatai Zevi: Testimonies To A Fallen Messiah (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization).

1. I think that this book is invaluable for scholars of Sabbatai Zevi. Due to its academic layout, it is sure to be influencial in answering the historical questions about one of the most sensitive turning points in Jewish life during the Middle Ages.

No comments about The squire of East Hampton: The life of Evan M. Frankel.

5 comments about To Life.

1. Some of you are probably wondering why I wrote this review and how I had the nerve to criticize a book in which a Holocaust survivor told their story. So first I must say that I am NOT belittling the horrors that Ruth Minsky Sender went through or minimizing her astounding bravery as she faced them, I am critquing the way this book was presented.

   Picking up right were "The Cage" left off, "To Life" chronicles Riva's (Ruth's) life immediately following her liberation from a concentration camp. Horrors still plague Riva, and she finds that the heartache of discovering the deaths of her family member and friends and attempting to rebuild her life is in some ways as horrible as the Holocaust itself. But Riva carries bravely on, marrying fellow survivor Moniek, having children, and wondering what her future holds.

   The values of hope, courage, bravery, optimism, selflessness, and love shown throughout "To Life" are totally precious and the finest aspect of this novel. While portraying the intense grief she endured following WW2, Sender also portrays her (and her family's) determination to focus on their new life and make the best of their situation. Although many of the book's settings and happenings are depressing, Sender refuses to make "To Life" a book without some happiness and much hope for the future. For its portrayal of many excellent ideals, "To Life" is to be commended.

   So, as I have said before, I am not attacking the author when I discuss the less-than-perfect aspects of this book. Really, I think the "book" would have been excellent were it simply shortened somewhat and made into a final "section" of "The Cage." Many of the happenings in "To Life" were repetitive, and the happenings in the author's life shared through this book would have been even more moving and gripping if they were shortened somewhat; it would have heightened their impact.

   Hopefully no one takes offense from this review. The events in this book deserve to be shared and heard, and I believe that it is important to relieve what Jews suffered AFTER the Holocaust, I just believe the author's story could have been told in a different and better format.




2. After I read The Cage, I just had to read To Life. It is such a moving and touching story! Ruth Minsky Sender, the author of these two wonderful books, came and visited my school. She is an amazing women! She spent the day telling the facts that arent in her books. She is such a precious and delicate women that has so much information to offer.



3. The author makes the book "real". The descriptive words used in this novel makes you get the feelings that the characters in the book feels. Every piece of the book can be painted into a picture. After years and years of agony. The families get split up during the Holocaust. The family reunites together and sharing the adventures they had from moving camps to camps. A scene that I really enjoyed is the scene when the main characters get freed from the death camps and the gas chambers. I enjoyed this book because I like war books, and I recommend this book to people that want a little bit of action and to people that like history. After I read this novel, I realized that people shouldn't be racists or a whole new war might begin.



4. I quite liked this book, particularly because it's a sequel to 'The Cage,' and there just aren't that many books of this nature out there currently, about what happened to the survivors after the Shoah and how they picked up their lives in the first five or so years afterwards, when they were coming to grips with everything that had happened, searching desperately for relatives, finding out they may have been the only survivors left, rebuilding their lives, and immigrating, be it to America, Israel, Canada, Australia, or someplace else. The first part of the book is quite good, the part right after Riva and her friend Karola are liberated and eventually make their way back to Lodz, only to find they appear to be the only survivors of their families and no one has come back to look for them yet; after that the two girls move on to the city of Wroclaw, where they eventually have to part ways and move on to different DP camps, though not before each have gotten married to men they met and fell in love with in that rather short time period. And because of the way in which Grafenort is liberated, the girls are pretty much on their own and have to fend for themselves and make their own way to safety and back to Poland; they didn't want to stick around for another group of Russian soldiers after the ones who liberated them just left, or for personnel such as doctors and relief workers to come, the way it happened in other liberated camps such as Bergen-Belsen. They really had to rely upon themselves.
   
   I think the book could have been more gripping and personally involving and intense had there been more details and character development; it's not that I didn't like the characters and feel for them, just that a lot of these very emotional situations and interactions are related in almost a matter-of-fact way instead of really delving into more deep and complex descriptions. Maybe that's because most of the chapters are so short; I know this is intended for a younger audience, but I've read a lot of YA and older JA books on this same subject which had a more emotionally harrowing, personal, and memorable feel to them because there were more details and not as much repetition or frequent skipping of blocks of time. The obvious bravery, courage, love, and hope against hope Riva, her friends, and her family experienced in these years would have been even more obvious and emotionally involving had they just been developed in more depth more often instead of being told in a formulaic brief way.



5. My daughter just loves this book. She read it three times and now asked me to get her more books written by this auther.

4 comments about Last Walk in Naryshkin Park.

1. Rosa Zwi traces her roots back to a small town in Lithuania. Her family had fled Zagare to escape the rising anti-Sematism in Lithuania in the years leading up to WW11. Most of the family that remained were trapped in Lithuania, and were murdered by local Lithuanians and/or Nazis. The book is invaluable in telling the story of Jews from the town of Zagare, almost all of whom were murdered. There is no-one left to tell me the story of my own relatives from Zagare who are likely to be in the mass graves in Naryshkin Park. Thank you Rosa Zwi for sharing your journey back in time. The book is well written and easy to read.



2. Congratulations Rose Zwi's book Last Walk in Naryshkin Park is the Winner of the Sliver APPA Award, category General Literature, in Beijing, China for the translation from English to Mandarin of Last Walk in Naryshkin Park



3. This is an interesting account, part personal and part historical of the plight of the Jewish people of Lithuania, focusing primarily, but not restricted to, the Second World War. The author begins by providing a brief history of her family, which serves to personalize the tragedy to come. The town her parents were from originally is the main subject of the book, and although a small town, appears representative of other towns where the same thing happened. The title of the book alludes to the park in the town where a great number of the towns` Jewish people are buried, after being killed by other townspeople during German occupation. This is not a casual read, although that`s more to do with the subject matter, rather than the writing style. It will make you sad and perhaps angry, and there is no happy ending, perhaps just an understanding that we can learn from our mistakes. The latter part of the book follows the author as she heads to Lithuania for her first ever trip there, (she lived in South Africa as a child), and her experiences when visiting the park, as well as meeting the only Jew now living in the town. A moving and involving book.



4. I think when writing a book of this type there is always a tendency to exagerate facts and figures in order to make it more dramatic and sell more copies. One case in point: the author says that the 3,000 figure for Jews killed in Zagare is more likely 7,000. Where does she get this figure? According to census records, in 1938 Zagare had 5445 residents, not all Jews. In 1942 it had 2,936 residents, mostly non-Jews. So about 2,509 were killed, not 7,000, perhaps not even 3,000. This of course does not make the crime any less horrendous. But let's stick to facts, please.

5 comments about Lord Will Gather Me In: My Journey to Jewish Orthodoxy.

1. This book is the story of a very personal journey of identity and authenticity. It contributes to the multicultural understanding of modern America. I could not always understand the author's sentiments and emotions, but I do not doubt his sincerety. It certainly caused me to question whether I have been true to, and sufficiently respectful of, my own race - the author's emphasis on the need for authentic expression of one's bloodline is compelling.



2. Kudos to the 'reader' from North Brunswick NJ for his observations. Just to briefly give some detail to his comments: regarding Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith "to which every Jew must assent," no less an (Orthodox) authority than Nachmanides (the Ramban) takes issue with the 7th principle, that Moses' level of prophecy exceeds that of all others. See "Kitvei Ramban" (ed. Chavel) page 322/323, where after discussing the relative insight of Abraham, Moses and the angels, Ramban states that Mashiach will have a fuller understanding of God than them. Ralbag (Gersonides) states a similar opinion. Regarding the 8th principle, that the Torah we have today is exactly what Moses received, although the transmission process has been meticulous, there are many traditional (orthodox) sources that acknowledge that this may very likely not be the case. Tractate Soferim in the Babylonian Talmud makes references to variant readings, the Midrash in Bamidbar Rabba "describes" a visit to Ezra the scribe by Elijah the prophet where the nekudot (dots over the Masoretic Hebrew text) are characterized as signs pointing out words/letters of "questionable" authenticity. One can also mention the phenomenon of Ketiv u'Keri (words spelled one way in the Torah, yet pronounced differently) as reflecting some uncertainty in the text. Although it is a mitzvah (commandment) for one to write for himself a Torah scroll, the halacha (law) is that the scribe does not make a blessing prior to writing precisely due to the uncertainty of the text. Maimonides himself is known to have searched extensively for an "accurate" text of the Torah. His eight principle is believed to have arisen as a polemic to the masses, who were being accused by their Islamic neighbors that Jews had changed/falsified the Torah. This is an example of what he termed "necessary opinion" as opposed to a "correct opinion." Even Rashi, who no one as of yet has accused of not being Orthodox, seems to have a version of the Torah with an extra letter "vav" that does not appear in our text in parashat Teruma. As regards the Oral Law, the very existence of Machloket (differences of opinion) among the sages suggests that, yes, while the Torah and much of what is embodied in the Talmud is of Sinaitic origin, once it was given to Man, it became vulnerable to human imperfection in the process of transmission ("Lo bashamayin Hee" - the Torah is not in heaven)



3. I spent the better part of a Shabbos afternoon poring through this book at my local Barnes & Nobles. Rarely have I considered a book a greater waste of time than this one.

   I hoped that, in reading the story of a fellow convert, I might develop a better picture of the Orthodox community than I have developed over the past three years. Instead, what I found was worthless, self-centered drivel by a man far too ignorant to teach anything useful about Judaism.

   I was disappointed that this book relied so heavily on anecdotal evidence (the behavior of certain Reform Jews in Beverly Hills, his bad experience with a gay friend who considered him "intolerant" and "uncompassionate"). As another reviewer has already pointed out, I could match him point for point in some of my experiences with Orthodox people.

   My most intense reaction to this book, however, was stark disbelief that someone as intelligent as Klinghoffer could be fooled by some of the bad logic he presents in this book. Every argument Klinghoffer makes regarding the need to believe in the divine authorship of the Torah and the Talmud I could refute on simple basic logic. His argument that, without the Oral Law, we could not know what God meant when God said to "afflict [our] souls" on Yom Kippur is particularly ludicrous. Klinghoffer simply assumes that this must refer to some clearly stated ritual action or actions, and endeavors to show us that--TaDa!--the Talmud lists what these actions are. It never occurs to him that this might refer to an inner state one is supposed to achieve, and that how a particular person achieves this state is up to him. (And believe me, I've met some people who don't or can't fast on Yom Kippur but have definitely found other ways to "afflict their souls").

   The only reason I don't give this book one star (or zero) is that it helped me realize how far I've come in my Jewish journey, seeing that I could refute all of Klinghoffer's bad theology on logic alone.




4. An illustration of the highly personal nature of religious experience. If you have struggled to relate the scripture of a spiritual tradition to your life there is something to appreciate here, but not the insight that one might be hoping for.



5. I first became aware of David Klinghoffer when I saw articles by him on the controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion." I appreciated his comments and wanted to read more by him. So, I picked up this book.

   I have mixed feelings about it. At times I got the strong sense that someone had informed the author at some point in his life that he was brighter than other people and that he didn't need to do the same intellectual work that others do. Further, I got the impression that, thanks to that perception, the author is a bit contemptuous of other people and a bit lax in presenting the facts.

   I don't mean to make ad hominem attacks on this author, but if my perception is correct, it is unfortunate. Klinghoffer writes about Judaism and Christianity and troubled interactions between the two faiths. This interface is of world importance. One must be very circumspect when addressing these issues. For this reader, Klinghoffer was not adequately circumspect.

   An example of intellectual laxity: Klinghoffer claims that Paul converted to Christianity from Judaism because he did not want to, or could not, follow Torah. This statement alone renders every reported fact in Klinghoffer's entire book suspect.

   People who know nothing else about Paul often know that he converted as a result of one of the most famous conversions experiences in history. Paul's dramatic conversion is so famous that "road to Damascus" has become a phrase to describe a conversion experience of any kind, Christian or non-Christian, indeed, religious or secular.

   Too, Klinghoffer implies that Catholics sing "Deutschland Uber Alles" as part of the mass. I'm a lifelong Catholic and I've never heard the German national anthem sung during mass. There is a Christian hymn that uses the same music, but I've never heard that in mass, either. Klinghoffer never makes any of this clear, which is unfortunate, given one incorrect current trend that equates Christianity with Nazism.

   Klinghoffer is no kinder, in some ways, to Judaism. His description of a synagogue bar mitzvah in Los Angeles where rude Jews speak at football-stadium volume while a rabbi inveighs against evil "Goyim" creates, however inadvertently, a negative stereotype of Jews. This may be an accurate description of a real service, but it was not presented with enough context to render this passage comprehensible as anything other than an anti-Semitic caricature.

   An example of the author's condescension is the misogynist way he discusses his Catholic girlfriend, Maria. Three times when talking about her, he says, "Women cry so easily." When Maria creates something artistic, the author describes her as "adorable" in a very condescending way.

   Also, as a person of faith who struggles with the misogyny and homophobia in my own faith tradition, I found Klinghoffer's attempts to explain away the Levitcal association of menstruating women with abomination not at all convincing, and his association of homosexual love with death to be truly alienating.

   In short, Klinghoffer works too hard to make God -- or our human understandings of God -- rational. In general, this reader was uncomfortable with Klinghoffer's tendency to set Judaism and Christianity against each other as if they were horses competing in a race. Certainly, Klinghoffer himself set these two traditions in competition with each other when he was deciding, like the nuns in "Sound of Music" how to solve the problem of Maria, his Catholic lover, but the stance of competition is not the happiest one for Judaism and Christianity to be assuming vis a vis each other right now. Rather, the two faiths had better learn to coexist.

   On the other hand, this book offers truly precious moments that make up for the book's failings. At times the author loses his arrogance, his lax hold on important facts, and his contempt, and he writes of his own experiences from his own heart, and it is at those moments that this book is most valuable. When the author is most himself, and most vulnerable, he is the most powerful as a writer.

   When the author, early on in the book, compares Judaism's appeal to him with the appeal a sunken ship holds for an explorer, his writing reaches its poetic height. When the author confesses that Catholic Maria married someone else and has children, and, yet, when he sees her, his former love for her seems to hover in the air as an almost palpable presence, when the author admits his yearning for his roots, biological or spiritual (the author was an adoptee), the sensible reader will not be able to avoid being moved, being taught, and being changed.

   Too, at other times, Klinghoffer does a good job of presenting key facts. He is entirely correct in telling Maria that Jesus did not fit every model for a Messiah as presenting in Jewish scripture.

   This reader hopes that Klinghoffer will continue to write in a confessional, memoirist vein, which was his strength here. This reader further hopes that Klinghoffer will sharpen his fact checking skills, and consider the impact of episodes like his description of his visit to the LA synagogue, and place such episodes in some illuminating context, if he does use them. This reader also hopes that Klinghoffer will lead with what he revealed here as his greatest strength -- reporting with courage and honesty his own unique experiences.

No comments about Manchester United Ruined My Life.

No comments about Ana Frank (Mujeres en la historia series).