1 comments about Between Rationality and Irrationality: The Jewish Psychotherapeutic System.

1. This very readable and forthright autobiography covers the first 26 years of life of one of the leading American molecular biologists. The rich fabric of its story is told in part in beautiful letters. His recollections reflect both, a lifetime of incisive analysis and the mellow philosophical perspective of a septuagenarian. This multifaceted memoir can be read at varying levels of depth, reaching from the unencumbered experience of a middleschool student to the sophistication of a postgraduate, and it adresses a multitude of aspects of social and intellectual life. Though chockful with historical detail, it presents common and personal occurrences and opinions with humor, irony, even satire, and it is at least in parts breathtakingly thrilling. The first part of the book describes the author's upbringing in a partially assimilated, reform Jewish family. Starting out as an unexpected and spoiled addition to two older siblings, Stent evokes the social and cultural life enjoyed by well-to-do femilies in the German capital Berlin during the 1920s Weimar regime. Bereft by the tragic illness and death of his doting mother, the boy is increasingly consternated, isolated and frightened by the rapidly unfolding official anti-Semitism of Nazi Germany, and he is imprinted with the terror of the Nuremberg progromes and the 1938 Kristallnacht. With father and siblings already abroad, the 14-year-old and his stepmother embark on a dangerous, illegal escape that leads them to safety. Having finally reached Chicago, the adolescent, essentially on his own and pitifully poor, completes his schooling and strives for a college education. The cultural change left him totally unprepared for dealing with coeds, in whom he is now greatly interested. He starts out more or less undetermined in his search for a woman and a career, and he learns to grab and eventually finagle opportunities. As member of a government technical branch, he returns in 1947 to Germany and his beloved , now war-torn Berlin, but having the power of both an American uniform and American cigarettes. Back home in the US, he struggles with the excitement and intellectual challenge of reseaarch, its potential fame, and the parternalistic sociality inherent in a research career. The latter's cost is deferment of a mature sex and love life. This dilemma and his racial victimization affirm his self-perception as a "lucky self-hater." Despite his passionate sexuality, he is in his relationships with women enotionally unresponsive, undecided, or at times (he says) a cad. Unwittingly, he victimizes the "other" but, in the final analysis, again himself. The last part of the book sets forth the beginnings of molecular biology, in which Stent participated as an early member of Max Delbrueck's groupon bacteriphage research. Though lacking literature references, the book's historical data appear to have been verified during the author's 1985-1991 research fellowships. Stent's autobiography is more thoughtful than James Watson's "The Double Helix," of which Stent has been a renown critic. Stent perceives science as a sociocultural activity and addresses both its lofty ideals and its flaws. A major topic is anti-Semitism and the arrogance that feeds into it. Stent conveys to his readers an understanding of its many faces and of the sociocultural evil of any racism. By pointing out the splinter in his own, the victim's, eye, he proves that it is humanly almost impossible to be totally free from racism. Biophysicist Stent does not embrace the reductionism prevailing in molecular biology. He seems to warn of its dangers to the emotional development and humanization of budding scientists. Knowing that modern physics contradicts the subject-object separation time-honored in biological thinking, he commits himself in his memoir to being both. My favorite piquantery among the many in his recollections is a play with an allusion of his first name with Wagner's Gunther. It leads to a summary, rather self-deprecating evaluation of his scientific merits (pp.15-16). Scientific papers begin customarily with a summary of the salient points: here, the image of the great "hero" scientist will be rejected. Rather, Stent wants to be perceived, warts and all, as the protagonist of his bittersweet story.

No comments about Kentucky (Judaic Studies Series).

No comments about Life Beyond the Holocaust: Memories and Realities.

No comments about With a Name Like Tuchmacher.

No comments about Kindertransport.

5 comments about Fragments of Memory: From Kolin to Jerusalem (English Edition).

1. Ms.Greenfield bravely recalls a time of horror. How shocking that human nature includes the potential for such mass sadism. Ms.Greenfield's book serves as a reminder that we must be vigilant to prevent such perversion of power even on the smallest scale. This book should be required reading!



2. I was fortunate enough to meet Mrs. Greenfield this past summer (summer 2001) when my youth trip visited the Czech Republic. Mrs. Greenfield gave a lecture and at the end of which the offer was given for this book to be purchased. I did so and also got an autographed copy. This is a great book on the Holocaust, and not just a children's book. It's short, but it's brevity suggests something about the author and her experiences. It is especially touching if you have been to the places described, such as Terezin or Auschwitz - you can feel what the author is describing. I suggest this book to anyone who wants to teach their children about the Holocaust or who wants to learn a little more about an important subject. This is a must have in anyone's library.



3. "Fragments of Memory" was a surprising used bookstore find. An avid reader of Holocaust accounts and literature, I had never heard of Hanah Greenfeld's book. It is a short account of her time during the Holocaust, when she survived the concentration camp and daily saw the true atrocities that human beings are capable of.
   
   This book is aptly named. It is a short collection of recollections that fluctuate in time and place as Greenfeld recalls what she experienced and witnessed. Her stories are poignant with emotion, pain and sympathy. I've used this as a supplement to teach my students about the Holocaust.
   
   Hana Greenfeld's stories will stay with you long after you have finished. Her recollections are evidence to the role memory plays in all of our lives...lest we forget.



4. Sometimes in life, people are placed in circumstances and situations that should never happen to anyone. Hana Greenfield lived through such tragic events during World War II. With great courage and faith, she survived forced imprisonment at Terezin, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. This book contains true stories of her life during these very difficult and trying times. Most importantly, the author sheds light on how difficult it is for a survivor to live with these memories. In 1946, after making her way to England to live with an uncle, she was told to try to forget it, to not talk about it, to put it behind her. The author formulated plans to leave Europe and eventually settled in Israel. World War II had robbed her of her parents and their love, it destroyed her family and the only home she ever knew. Her new goal was to move to Israel and start a new life. Fortunately, the author succeeded in achieving her goal ... As a caveat, the book is very sad in many ways and it is not suitable reading for those who can not deal with the subject of murder and the evil actions perpetrated on innocent people by the Nazis.
   
   Overtime, rather than forget, the author's memories surfaced. She wrote down the incidents and experiences, initially as short stories then later they were expanded to become this book. They are true survival stories in every sense of the word. While the book is a mere 167 pages - the contents and information contained within it are huge and leave the reader stunned, almost in disbelief. One of the most unthinkable atrocities ever perpetrated on children occurred in Oct. 1943 on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Initially, in August 1943, hundreds of children ages 4 - 12 were brought to the Terezin concentration camp. They were deloused and asked to shower which they refused, when they evidently smelled gas. They refused to be washed or exchange their wet ragged clothes for dry ones. The children spoke only Polish and Yiddish and were from the Bialystok Ghetto. The author's mother was part of an assigned group who helped care for the children. At some point, the author managed to exchange a few words with her mother during this ordeal. Only much later did Hana Greenfield learn the horrible truth of what happened to these children and that her mother, too, suffered the same fate as the children. The inmates of the camp did not know the purpose of the new buildings at the time. The truth came out: a deal had been struck between Adolf Eichmann and the Mufti of Jerusalem, who had convinced Eichmann the children must not live because they would become adults who would likely move to Palestine and increase the Jewish population.
   
   The true events described in this book are told as "fragments of memory" by the author and the stories flow one chapter after the other. At times it is difficult reading because of the subject matter. The author begins telling her story as new laws were being enforced around 1942 which limited the freedom of Jewish people. She was a normal teenager with high hopes and aspirations which were cut short and changed forever. The time she spent at Auschwitz is described with intimate details that brings tears to this reader's eyes. There are actual photographs of people, some of whom did not survive, which gives more depth and breadth to the true stories. There are many superbly done drawings by artists, most of whom were themselves prisoners in one of the camps mentioned in the book. As time progressed, the author assimilated the harsh treatment and suffering she experienced while a prisoner and was able to create something good from it. She is a member of the board of the Terezin Ghetto Museum and teaches Czech children about tolerance. She educates them about the events of the Holocaust. Hana Greenfield was the first to research what happened to the children of Bialystok ... and to discover the truth. She presented her findings in 1988 at a conference at Oxford University. This book is highly recommended for those who desire to read a courageous survival story. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]



5. This collection of stories written by Greenfield over a period of years, and collected from various publications, is divided into three sections: "A World Disintegrates," "Pieces of the Shattered Puzzle," and "The Need To Remember." Greenfield, who lives in Israel, was born in Kolin, Czechoslovkia, from where she was deported first to Terezin, then to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, and finally to a slave labor camp in Germany from which she was liberated. As memories struck her over the years, she wrote about them. The brief vignettes that precede the Bialystock episode are so poignant--the parting from friends: "Alice," a friend known only because their normal world had fallen apart, and Vera in "Saying Goodbye" whose letter reflects her intuition that they will never meet again; and "Pen Pals," when Michael, a first love whose arrival in Terezin she waits for anxiously, only to find soon after his family arrives, he will die from a burst appendix; and her friend, the fragile Esti, for whom she finds extra food in Terezin, but who dies in Auschwitz. Greenfield's description of Auschwitz as "The Gate to Hell" in unforgettable as is her story of her last day in Bergen-Belsen when, on the day her group is destined for the gas, she wants to be loved before saying goodbye and climbs up to a top shelf where five men are sleeping and makes love with the young doctor who was kind to her when she first arrived. The most heartbreaking is the story of the 1,196 children from the Bialystock ghetto who were being nursed back to health and nourished in the Terezin ghetto, since they were going to be sent to Palestine in trade for German prisoners. They are accompanied by the camp's doctors and nurses, including the author's own mother, for the trip--except that the mufti of Jerusalem told Hitler he didn't want them growing up to populate Palestine, and Himmler had them all gassed. Greenfeld has the talent to catch the affecting, telling and heart-breaking moments in each of her true stories. This previously published but now revised, slender paperback (most stories are only 2 1/2 pages) is one of the most significant books on the Holocaust I have read. Illustrated with drawings from Terezin and photographs.

5 comments about Stolen Years.

1. This is one of the very best Holocaust books I have ever read. It took you through almost all aspects of the Holocaust. It was heart-wrenching, graphic and compelling. A truly lost treasure of the Holocaust. I wish that it was a well-known and often read book for the Holocaust.



2. Stolen Years is a fabulous story about a young woman during the holocaust. She had lead a very priviliged life, her father as a talit maker... and her mother as loving and caring as any could be. This is her account of life in the Ghetto, which she lost many loved ones, and later on in Auschwitz. This shows the many pains and hardships of Jews during the Holocaust. I am fascinated by the Holocaust, because no matter how many memoirs, and novels I read about this topic, I can never quite grasp what really happened. I am a minority, so I try my very best to read novels about slavery, the holocaust and similar topics. Let the truth be told! No matter how many books read about such things, you should NEVER stop reading them... you cannot cover up history, and expect any change. Let us open our eyes to what happened... and never do it again.

   What took place in the Holocaust was WRONG... and I thank all of those people with enough courage and strength to tell the world about it. Thank you, and bless your heart!




3. Stolen Years is a moving, captivating and unsettling novel. It is the story of survival during the holocaust, written first hand by Sara Zyskind, then Sara Plager. Her words are powerful, and the story almost unbelievable. IT's something you have to experience for yourself.



4. When I first picked up this book for a book report I thought okay, whatever but when I started reading this book I really got into it. It was really hard to imagine that there were actually people that could do things like that to people. I literally cried at the begining and end of the book. I could almost see her family write before my eyes. I definetly suggest that you read this book of a young girl and her trials as her teenage life evaporates before her. On another note if you read this book then I suggested that you buy a box of tissues and keep them with you whenever you read it.



5. If you don't read any other book on the Holocaust, don't miss this one. There are short chapters, which are a blessing, because you need to pause every few chapters to digest what you read, recover your wits, and return to read again.
   
   If I could meet Ms. Zyskind, I would hug her and thank her for sharing the memories of her life before the war and atrocities she and her fellow survivors went through. It made me think about the survivors I've known in my life with a different understanding. Thanks to Ms. Zyskind, anyone who reads and shares this book will never forget.

2 comments about Growing Up Jewish: An Anthology.

1. Avon Books has produced another gem in its "Growing Up" series this time focusing on a minority religious group that has had an overwhelming impact on American and European cultures. Growing Up Jewish tells the story from the perspective of twenty-five Jewish writers who share with us their early memories of coming of age in America. Each author celebrates their heritage through fictional stories, essays and autobiographies. Why, one might ask, do we need another book about Jewish life in America? After all, isn't there an abundance of material on the subject? Haven't they assimilated themselves into the American landscape to the point of being no different from their gentile counter-parts? Although the above question are pertinent they miss the point. A people ceases to exist when the stories and memories are forgotten from one generation to another. Growing Up gives the reader a snapshot of these rich memories of young people as immigrants, conflicts with their religious practices from the old country, prejudices from their gentile communities and other challenges which calls into question what it means to be Jewish in America. The sharing of these stories brings with it clarity for some and even more questions for others. This is a must read book for those wanting to re-aquaint themselves with their Jewish heritage as well as a great literary resource of the finest Jewish writers in America. Keeping memories alive is even more important as we enter an age where memory is denied ( the Holocaust never happened), assimilation has dulled cultural and religious recall and antisemitism once again rears its ugly head.



2. This is an interesting collection a strange mixture of memoir and fictional accounts of growing up Jewish in America. I found Ari Goldman's story of his parent's divorce when he was six, and how he contended with this especially interesting. Philip Roth on the friends of his high- school years was also very good. I honestly did not find anything ' great' in the work but there is a lot of good and pleasurable work here. I would too have liked to see a greater focus on the religious aspect of growing up Jewish.

No comments about Historical Dictionary of Judaism (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies and Movements).

1 comments about Gershom Scholem: Kabbalah and Counter-History.

1. This is a nice biography of Gershom Scholem who virtually single-handedly transformed Kabbalah into a legitimate field of academic study. This was not an easy task. It has been hotly debated whether Scholem actually cared about Kabbalah and the Kabbalists or whether he merely treated is as an objective area of scholarly interest. Either way, he made it his life's work and was eminently successful in his endeavors. Scholem knew the great psychologist/psychiatrist Carl Jung (though strangely Jung has very little reference to Kabbalah in his voluminous works). But, Scholem, at least to some degree, seems to have absorbed some of Jungian psychology. My favorite quotation from this volume is: "For the Kabbalists, symbols are not arbitrary or subjective, but have an essential inner connection with what they symbolize. Symbols are therefore the residue of divine names in human language. The great faith the Kabbalists had in language was a result of their belief in symbols as the bridge between human and divine language. In the modern, technological world...the disappearance of public symbols has become, according to Scholem, a 'great crisis of language'" on page 125. I think this is right on the money. I think it useful (as a Knowledge Manager) to get some context or background before trying to transform mere information into actionable knowledge. A book like this can help.