2 comments about An Orphan Has Many Parents.

1. Friedland, especially, is very very sensitive and an excellent writer. Shows that being an orphan is necessarily a hardship. Can be an advantage. He is a modern hero.



2. Phil Craft's mother died giving birth to him. Rejected outright by his father, he immediately was placed in a foundling home, where, according to his own words, he was "terrorized" for five years, the very first five years of his life! He then was transferred to an orphange, where he thought he was being sent to die. Little did he know then that the orphange would save his life instead. It was the Pride of Judea Children's Home in Brooklyn, New York. He would emerge from that Home thirteen years later, a stronger human being, ready to get on with the rest of his life. PeeWee Friedland and his older brother, Bernie, were stuck in an abusive foster home for three and one half years. Finallt, they could take it no longer and they ran away. Where to next? It was a despondent time. One more bad placement, Pee Wee thought, and he'd be a wreck for life. But good fortune smiled upon them. They were placed in the same orphanage as Phil, the Pride of Judea. Peewee Friedland would be helped immeasurably by the place and his life would be turned around. Just what kind of orphanage was the Pride of Judea and who were these surrogate parent figures who helped these orphans so much? This book, written by Messrs. Craft and Friedland, is a fascinating memoir of this orphanage, complete with its entire scene, its colorful cast of characters, and a full description of the wonderful people who staffed it. In fact, three of the main four adult figures, (all still alive) give their own first hand account of their experiences in the orphanage. The result is a poignant and moving memoir of two kids initially thrown on the scrap heap, only to be resurrected by a unique institution staffed by caring adults. Another related theme is raised, starting with a powerful foreword to the book by Father Val J. Peter, the Executive Director of the most well known orphanage in the world, Boys'Town. The theme, further elaborated on by the authors in an excellent final chapter, strongly recommends that small quality orphanages can definitely meet the needs of many of the three quarter million children who are shuttled through foster care today in this country with very poor results. These small orphanages would serve their needs far better and should be considered as strong options to the one track system of foster care. This book is an excellent read, and as one review put it, "a remarkable memoir, both moving and entertaining."

No comments about Who We Are: On Being (and Not Being) a Jewish American Writer.

No comments about Out of the Third Reich: Refugee Historians in Postwar Britain (International Library of Historical Studies).

3 comments about Clara Lowenburg Moses : Memoir of a Southern Jewish Woman.

1. This was a wonderful book. I hardly knew there were Jews living in the South, especially in 1865! Clara Moses's story was very poignant. Her life had so many fascinating twists and turns. The author does a great job discussing her husband and all his problems. With all she went through in her life, it is a wonder she came out of it so well.

   This is history made fun. I recommend the book to anyone interested in the South.




2. I found this book to be very amateurish and was obviously written by a woman that needs to get her facts straight. I wouldnt doubt if this "Author" was dating the president of the publishing company.



3. Some of the book was interesting but it made me happy when I was finally finished and upset that I had payed $15.00 for it.

No comments about On the Way to Feed the Swans.

No comments about Encyclopedia of Jews in sports.

4 comments about Bitter Herbs: The Vivid Memories of a Fugitive Jewish Girl in Nazi Occupied Holland (Penguin International Writers).

1. i had to read this book for an english non-fiction assignment. the only reason i chose it was because it has big writing, really ugly pictures on every other page, and it is only 115 pages long. it seemed to be the perfect book! so i started reading it, only to find out that it was the [...] book ever. the plot is ok, but in general, the way the book is written is at a very "easy" level english, which makes the book, a bit boring, and there is too much description. maybe this is because it was translated from Dutch, but in general it was not interesting. the truth is, it took me a month to read it. if i had chosen a longer book, but more interesting, i probably would've gotten through it a lot faster. in conclusion, dont read this book, unless you have a loooot of time to waste!



2. The book was written from the writers perspective when she was still a child. Her family gets send away to different places: concentration camps, labour camps, ect. The Jewish girl has to come to terms with the fact that she may never see them again. And how could she ever forget them if they don't return. Forgetting what happened and not talking about it was common to victems right after the war. After all, the Dutch people wanted to move on and many didn't want to think about the holocaust. That's why the writer describes her emotions almost clinical, which makes the book extra touching.



3. I read this book many years ago in Dutch when I was in college. I am currently reading it again (side by side with the English translation this time as my Dutch is quite rusty). I've forgotten how much I liked it. It doesn't have the same impact that the original Dutch has. There are pictures that the word structure in Dutch gives you that English cannot. In English it comes out very choppy both in sentance structure and in ideas/concepts. When reading this one must remember that it is from the perspective of a small girl - not an adult. A child, thus, will process events diffently than an adult might. For example when the girl's (I don't recall the writer ever revealing her name) family are sewing the yellow stars they must wear onto their clothing. She thinks the stars are "pretty", not understanding fully what wearing a yellow star means. The book is filled with this type of irony. Even the title is ironic. The Bitter Herb is referring to the bitter herbs one eats at the Passover meal in the Jewish religion. It is reminding one of the bitterness of slavery the Jewish people endured for 400 years at the hands of the Egyptians. The writer is likening that Slavery to what the Jewish people again endured at the hands of the Nazi in the Holocaust. Overall an excellent read.



4. I read this book in Dutch (because I am Dutch, so it made more sense) in my final year of high school, because I didn't have much time to read and write a report on a book and so I chose this book because it's short. And I thought it was amazing. I haven't read the English translation, so I don't know if all of it's amazingness shines through, but I'm sure it's essentially the same. I was completely struck by how this book could be so simple, yet so touching. Somehow it got to me and I still remember it vividly, even though it's been a few years since I read it. I really think everyone should read this book some time and be touched by its simplicity and at the same time its memorability.

No comments about The Israeli-American Connection: Its Roots in the Yishuv, 1914-1945 (America-Holy Land Monographs).

No comments about Varian Fry: A Hero of the Holocaust (American History Through Primary Sources).

2 comments about Papa, Play for Me: The Autobiography of Mickey Katz.

1. Its great to see this book back in print... I must have read it over 18 years ago... it was hillarious then, and its just as funny now... I dare say almost as funny as those old 45's of his I grew up listening to. In fact, I'm happy that a "Greatest Hits" CD has been released, but it made me miss all those other 45s that I borrowed from my father's collection (and seem to have been borrowed back - - I can't find them !)

   Mickey Katz was a brilliant story teller... the book is packed with jokes and anecdotes - - even a bit of off risque humor here and there... and you can almost hear him talking in that nasal half all American/half Yiddish accent.

   Of course, someone had to bring it up to date... Josh Kun offers a "serious" and scholarly social commentary on the significance of Mickey Katz in Jewish society and American life. - - (Insightful, but Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....) once Mickey Katz steps in though, get ready for an incredible read... if you grew up in a traditional Jewish family, it'll bring back not only memories, but make you laugh your tookus off... and if you didn't... its still hillarious - - from stories of traditional Mexican musicians in Sombreros playing Klezmor when Mickey Katz's Yiddish parody of Tico Tico actually made him a Latin celebrity, to the story about the guy in the audience at the Jean Harlow show's with the rain coat who'd put on a show of his own...

   Overall, this is one of those can't put down, laugh outloud books... (Wish he left some video footage behind... to the best of my knowledge he only appeared briefly in one film... playing clarinet for about 7 seconds in Thoroughly Modern Millie.)




2. Unlike previous reviewers here, I did not find this book either side-splitting or hilarious in any way. I never laughed out loud once. But I enjoyed the book because Mickey Katz came across as a warm person who cared deeply about his family, good music, and genuinely entertaining people in the manner they wished to be entertained. A conservative group would get a show tailored to them. A Las Vegas audience would get a show tailored to them. He was concerned for others always, especially his audiences. He always wanted them to get their money's worth.

   I was raised to think of Mickey Katz just as a Jewish comedian. I had no idea he was such an accomplished musician and showman. But his pride in his own accomplishments was dwarfed by his pride in his children's accomplishments, pride that was equally split between his two sons, one being the actor Joel Gray and the other being one of the founders of Telecredit.

   Mickey Katz was my father's cousin, and I must admit that I bought the book looking for clues to my own father's life. I got something different, but something good nonetheless.

   If your taste runs to the heartwarming autobiography, this is it.