No comments about Farewell Babylon: Coming of Age in Jewish Baghdad.

4 comments about Embracing the Covenant: Converts to Judaism Talk About Why & How.

1. This is a good book for anyone considering converting to Judaism and wanting to read about the experiences of others. There are many case studies of those who have converted to Judaism, their reasons for doing so, the reaction of their family and friends, and their feelings about the whole experience. The examples are overwhelmingly positive, but there are a few who report difficulties "feeling Jewish" afterwards or feeling that they are totally accepted by their new Jewish community.

   The examples are mostly from those who either converted from Catholicism or had no real religious upbringing. I was disappointed that see few Protestant-to-Jewish conversion examples; the ones that were given, were mostly from those who had very limited Protestant upbringing as children, not really practicing Protestants who decided to convert to Judaism.

   The other disappointment I found with this book was due to all of the white space. This book is definitely not as long as it appears, and it will be a very fast read.

   Overall, I found this a helpful and interesting book that I only wished were a bit longer and had a few more examples.




2. The stories in this book are sometimes hauntingly beautiful. One woman expressed my thoughts so well that I read her story aloud at my bat mitzvah. This is truly a book for making connections.



3. I had this book posted to England where I was spending my year abroad. Part of the reason why I was looking forward to that time in England was the opportunity to find out whether Judaism was what I wanted in my life. This book helped immensely and gave me many thoughts to pursue in conversation with friends and my rabbi. I can only recommend it to people who contemplate conversion.



4. This book will sit prominently in my living room. I want everyone i know to read this book.

No comments about The Koran.

5 comments about Lone Wolf: A Biography of Vladimir (Ze'Ev) Jabotinsky Two Volume Set.

1. Shmuel Katz has managed to collect so much useful, important and fascinating information in this biography of Ze'ev Jabotinsky that it could stand on its own as a first class historical review of early 20th century Zionist and Palestinian history. Through obsessive documentation of his topic, Katz demolishes a number of historical myths surrounding both the roots of Zionism and the founding of the state of Israel. He does this all in a highly compelling and readable style, which is certainly helpful, given its 1800-page size. It is an extraordinary read and essential to fully understanding the origins of Israel and its conflict vis a vis the Arabs, as well as the life of this unique and gifted individual.



2. Reading this book is a great intelectual adventure. There are a lot of information and the author has a very clear and envolving writing, always creating expectative over what's coming next. The author also mixes narrative with a lot of opinions and analysis about the facts. There are, as well, many quottings from other works about Jobotinsky, along with several transcriptions of classified official documents that shed light into controversial facts. The author is not afraid of polemics and gives new perspectives over matters treated as tabu, like Ben Gurion, Weizman, The Zionist Organization and the Histadrut. Much enfasis is given to Jabotinsky's unstopabble fight for the jewish rights in palestine and abroad, as well as his unfearing steadfastness against anyone who denied the goal of creating a jewish state. The book will give a complete understanding of the Revisionist movement, the British Rule in Israel, the internal Zionist Organization politics and its blunders, the arab behavior, among others. By reading this book you will also be able to better understand contemporary israeli politics and the relationship with the arab countries. The book, although very pleasant, takes quite a bit to be read, but it is a must for anyone who wants to know one of the greatest zionist and jewish leaders ever and get into the politics of the pre-state period.



3. This book is a real eye opener. It completly changed my perspective on the history of the Middle East and how the British, who so often have come accross as the "white knight" was in fact the dirty thief.

   The book is a monster in size and in the amount of information it presents. It documented and footnoted to a degree that one would expect from a work of this nature.

   I highly suggest it to anyone who wants to find out about the history of modern Israel and how the wolrd powers did what they do best, exploit. I truly learned much!




4. Zeev (meaning wolf, in hebrew) Jabotinsky was one of the greatest leaders ever, and the greatest liberal Zionist leader. His works can not be denied. Because of his many deeds, he was admired by many - and hated by the rest. And he is the subject of this book, like many other books and articles. But this one is special - the auther spent 7 years of his life reserching and writing it, and those seven years have beared fruit. The writing is of a very high quality, and the contence is extensive. Itws like no other book about Jabotinsky I know. After reading, you will enrich not only your mind - but also your spirit, by knowing this great man. Highly recomended, for all people - Zionists, students, and anyone seeking pure knolage and feeding.



5. An unapologetic biography of a controversial figure in Jewish/Israeli history. Mr. Katz's book is painstakingly well documented. It is more than the history of a single person; it provides a detailed look at competing Jewish ideologies and their role in the formation of Israel. Though biased, it is on the whole, well balanced.

5 comments about The Diary of Anne Frank..

1. Please note that Amazon does provide a box to the right of the selection list of documents that you may use to narrow your search parameters. I was looking for the play, so I chose the "entertainment" option. Also present in the box were "novel", "history" and a number of other options. It's a little confusing to navigate at first, but the more you use Amazon the better you'll understand how it works.



2. I just received this in the mail to give to my niece and discovered that it is written as a play. The Amazon description does not mention any thing about it being a play. Arggh! Frustrating.



3. They really should write better item descriptions. This is a play not a novel. Unable to return just wasted a bunch of money.



4. Online Reader-
   After having just read this book for an English assiment I have only just now realized how much a War can do to someone.
   I admit to crying throughout the book, and while reading I was heartbroken to hear of all of the misfortune that befell these inocent people. And to think that one man-Hitler-could cause all of this pain and misery made me insanly angry at him, and ashamed for all of those who followed him blindly.
   In this book, and young girl Anne, and her family, as well as another family and Mr. Dussel, (seven people in all) went into hiding from the Nazis for TWO YEARS.
   I feel so sorry for them that having not to breathe fresh air for two years, and to be cramped up with many people for two years, and the end result was being killed by the Nazis. I am so glad, however, that we now have her diary, and realize and know so much more about the Holocaust and all of the people who had to endure it's brutalness.



5. This is not the book so be careful if you order this - it is the written play of "The Diary of Anne Frank". Now I have to send it back for a refund - this could have been avoided if Amazon has a number you can call and talk to a person and get a better description of the book.

5 comments about Four Girls From Berlin: A True Story of a Friendship That Defied the Holocaust.

1. Marianne Meyerhoff had a good story to tell but unfortunately she failed to give it it's due; it has so much unfilled potential. It is poorly written and what was sorely lacking was any real investigation and research into her story; so much was needed to be said. I had the feeling that she was encouraged to write the story and did so too quickly to be effective. I question her facts, and translations from German to English. Had she interviewed her principals more throroughly the results would have been better. The book is short, only 241 pages and I had the feeling that at times she was putting in irrelevent material just to pad the pages. Marianne did not ask the pertinent questions that a good writer/investigator would have and it wasn't until the very end that her husband supplied her with questions to ask that she should have thought on her own. There was much left hanging. The story could have had so much more to it and left so much unsaid. One wonders what her mother's friends did during the war; why was more attention not given to how her mother's things were hidden; why did Erica refuse to talk about Ursula at the end and why was more space not given to her mother's rescue and hiding after the illfated trip of the St. Louis. It was very disappointing and at the end I felt that too much had not been said. The one redeeming feature was the many photographs of the family and friends.



2. Rich in heartfelt emotion and profound wisdom, this exceptionally well-written piece is a multi-faceted literary gem. Brilliant first-time author Marianne Meyerhoff empathetically chronicles her mother Lotte's fragile reawakening to life years after a harrowing solo escape from the Nazis to America left her in torment and shock as the only survivor of her extended Jewish family.
   
   One fateful day a huge, mysterious container arrives at their door in Hollywood, California, like a special delivery from God. It contains family heirlooms, treasured photos, letters, and documents. Lotte's closest German girlfriends, none a Jew, courageously and repeatedly risked their lives to smuggle them out of her family's home in Berlin and restore them to her after the war.
   
   From Ms. Meyerhoff's diligent quest for personal identity and family history emerges an unforgettable saga. It honors the enduring, inter-generational friendships between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans who courageously defied, sometimes openly, the Nazi tyranny and persecution destroying their country and robbing them of their loved ones.
   
   As engaging as her narrative is, the philosophical examination of key issues inherent within her characters' tragic circumstances equally compels our reflection. She gives voice to the view that forgiveness is most of all for the sake of the one forgiving, who needs to be released from remaining a victim.
   
   For Marianna's grandfather, the Old Professor, to flee the Nazi regime would be to commit a dishonorable act of betrayal to his beloved German homeland. How could he turn his back on his country when it needed him most to speak out against the injustice?
   
   Rabbi Benny reminds us that spiritual healing requires giving up hating those who would destroy you because to return their hate is to destroy yourself; and that without the power to choose between good and evil, there is no freedom, and no possibility for spiritual transformation.
   
   Finally, the question of redemption. Is there a way to "make good again" the Holocaust?
   She offers two important suggestions. The first is to "own up to it" and incorporate it into the German educational system's curriculum, so that subsequent generations can benefit from "the healing power of remorse" and learn right from wrong.
   
   The second suggests there is no "antidote". "All one can do is hope to artfully and productively accommodate the heartache in the beauty of the present unfolding of life."
   This book fulfills that mission.



3. This is a fascinating story. But it is seriously marred by sloppy editing, particularly in the rendering of almost all the many German words and phrases. While reading the book, I had the feeling I was looking at an early, uncorrected draft, one that never received the attention of an even minimally competent German language consultant. This is unacceptable in an expensive hardcover book. And it greatly diminished the author's fine work.



4. This is a poignantly written tale of one woman's gradual dawning awareness of the tragedy that befell her family; it's a tale of the holocaust, crafted by one too young to have understood its immensity at the time, but who had to try in the aftermath to understand why she and her mother stood alone with no near relatives.
   
   It's also a tale of outreach and forgiveness towards those she might have condemned. The result gives us a new understanding of those tragic events and of the nation that brought it about. The author's tale is as much one of hope and salvation as it is a tale of tragecy.
   
   I recommend it unqualifiedly.



5. Marianne Meyerhoff has written an affectingly-personal account that serves a greater purpose: to remind us, yet again, of the strength to love in the face of manifold evil. It is the story of a woman of indomitable spirit, Lotte, who, with the help of an extended family that includes the three other 'girls' of the book's title, salvages a collection of heirlooms--the severed bonds of a family history torn apart by Nazi Germany. Lotte finds a new home for herself and her child, the author, in the United States; the salvaged artifacts serve as a poignant testimony of loss and, above all, love. This is a book you will not soon forget.

5 comments about Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number (The Americas).

1. I read this book, here in Brazil, about 20 years ago.This book was writen by an argetinian and jew, about thirty years ago.This book is against Argetina's government, in late 1970 decade.This book isn't a communist's book, but a book against torture and other bad things.The main problem of this book is that we aren't in 1970 decade.Argentina's processo is over since 1983 and we must remember that in Argentina, there was less than 0.05% of murders that were did in "socialists paradises" such as China or former USSR.



2. I used this book in my introduction to Latin America course as a supplementary text. The writing is moving and heartfelt while being historically and politically relevant. Most students read this book in one sitting finding it impossible to put down.



3. One of the most harrowing books I've ever read. An amazing entreaty against violence of both the left and the right, and a heartbreaking analysis of contemporary anti-Semitism. Comparable at some points perhaps to Koestler's Darkness at Noon, except that it deals with torture in a more direct (and horrifying, since it's nonfiction) way. I wish this were requiring reading in schools.



4. I won't give a synopsis of the book b/c everyone else has already done that for you. What I can say about this book is that it is an impetus. After you read it, you'll most likely be hungry for more information about this brutal time in a seemingly well-developed country. Questions to consider: Why the silence of the press, with the exception of Timerman's newspaper 'La Opinion' and the 'B.A. Herald?' How could someone treated so horribly come out of it okay? Why did this happen after Pinochet's regime and the Nazi regime? This is post WWII, so why? Where was the rest of the world? The book is splendid, the first chapter gut-wrenching and beautiful. You will love it as much as Elie Wiesel's 'Night.'



5. Este libro es un resumen de un pais de tristeza. Anarchia, luchas, gobiernos coruptos, y la militaria- es lo mismo ahora en este pais bella y riqueza. Los maleducados hay un nivel de estupidez - ellos solo quieren el pavo, el dinero - la renta sin pensar de la gente.

   Tienes que leer este libro!

5 comments about All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs.

1. Elie Wiesel may be best known as the author of "Night", his harrowing and sparse account of his time spent in the concentration camps. His literary works have focused around the events that shaped Holocaust survivors and the questions those survivors had about their faith afterwards. His life's work is heavily imbued by those events early in his life, his novels vast testaments to making sure the world never forgets the atrocities man inflicted upon man.
   
   Yet there are many sides to this amazing man, which can often be forgotten when one dwells solely on his literary works. The first volume of Wiesel's memoirs, "All Rivers Run to the Sea", is a brilliant introduction and elucidation of the author. He relates quickly his early childhood and his time in the camps, but moves onto and focuses on his path after those events. As he forges a career as a journalist, meeting statesmen and celebrities, he finds himself and what causes he is willing to fight for. As a stateless person, his life is often difficult as he arouses suspicion, and he struggles constantly to make ends meet. Reading about his personal adventures, the reader sees how he is passionate, full of empathy, timid and captivating, a brilliant man with many stories to tell.
   
   For anyone who has read Wiesel's writings, the style of "All Rivers Run to the Sea" will be just as familiar: while it is divided into sections, his reminiscenses are as tangential as his fictional stories. Learning about his real-life adventures, readers can easily see how Wiesel has woven his experiences into all of his fictional works. The praises and accolades he has received are more than well deserved, for as long as he writes, his people will have a testimony to their past and to their faith.



2. This spectacular memoir of Elie Wiesel, the great author and voice of conscience, begins with his boyhood in the small Transylvanian village of Sighet.
   
   A pious child, with a great thirst for Jewish knowledge, a student of Torah and Talmud, and fascinated with the Kabbalah. Elie is swept into the Nazi ghetto and then death cams where he loses his parents and his beautiful little blond sister Tzipora, all of whom perished in the Nazi furnaces.
   
   He writes in memory of his losses:
   
   "If only I could recapture my father's wisdom, my little sister's innocent grace. If only I could recapture the rage of the resistance fighter, the suffering of the mystic dreamer, the solitude of the orphan in a sealed cattle car, the death of each and every one of them. If only I could step out of myself and merge with them".
   
   Wiesel writes of the prophecy told to his mother by the Wizhnitz Rabbi that her son would become a gadol b'Israel (a great man in Israel) but that she would not live to see it.
   
   Wiesel records some of the horrors he witnessed in the death camps such as live children being thrown into furnaces by the Nazis, and laments the inaction by the Allies to do anything about the extermination they knew was taking place of the Jews- saving Jews was not a priority for the Allies either.
   
   He mentions that most of the Jews who collaborated with the Nazis were intellectuals- not surprising in light of the fact hat most Jews who have thrown themselves into the campaign of hate against their fellow Jews in Israel.
   
   He writes about the liberation of the death camps by the Allies after the war, and how one of the youngest child survivors of Buchenwald was eight year old Israel Meir Lau, later to be the Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel. In his section of his travels around the world as a young man during the early 1950s he writes of his great compassion at the plight of poverty-stricken children in India.
   
   Wiesel records his life in a youth home for Jewish refugees in Paris and the fate of displaced Jews after World War II, his life as a journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot for whom he covered the Eichmann trial, civil rights struggles, the Six Day War, the 1968 Student insurrections in France, and other world events.
   
   He has always been greatly interested in philosophy and parapsychology and writes of his discussions with such great leaders as Golda Meir and David
   Ben-Gurion, as well as the greatest thinkers of the day. He writes of his great love for Israel and it's people for which he has been attacked by the hate-filled bigots of the International Left. He also took a strong stand for persecuted Soviet Jewry during the 1960s and 1970s. Elie Wiesel also writes of his great compassion for humanity as a whole, such as his pain at seeing the suffering of destitute children during his travels in India. But unlike certain Jews of the Left, he does not see a contradiction between this and his great love of Israel and the Jewish people- Ahavat Israel.
   
   He writes with great compassion, passion, anger, sadness and hope.
   In a plea for the plight of his own people today, especially the youth and children of Israel today targeted by terror and forces of genocide (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Ahmadinejad regime- as well as all who are sympathetic to these anti-Jewish elements) he penned an open letter to President Bush stating: "Please remember that the maps on Arafat's uniform and in Palestinian children's textbooks show a Palestine encompassing not only all of the West Bank but all of Israel, while Palestinian leaders loudly proclaim that 'Palestine extends from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, from Rosh Hanikra (in the North) to Rafah (in Gaza). Please remember Danielle Shefi, a little girl in Israel. Danielle was five. When the murderers came, she hid under her bed. Palestinian gunmen found and killed her anyway. Think of all the other victims of terror in the Holy Land. With rare exceptions, the targets were young people, children and families. Please remember that Israel--having lost too many sons and daughters, mothers and fathers--desperately wants peace. It has learned to trust its enemies' threats more than the empty promises of 'neutral' governments".
   Elie Wiesel is a true voice of truth and conscience.



3. I found this a very compelling read, lasting over several readings. It's true the author did not stick tightly to chronological order, but anyone who has read his fiction knows his style tends to be very esoteric and rather free-floating (I personally do not care for his fiction, which I admit I do find to go over my head). However, as a reader, I certainly got a feel for emotions he felt throughout different experiences in his life. I found the last scene describing his emotions before and during his wedding to be really profound. It's true that there is a lot of Jewish content in this book, which may cause some of his analogies etc. to be less accessible to someone from a different background. However, for someone who wants to read a first-hand Holocaust experience without very strong graphic details, I do recommend it. (As a side note, just last week I actually attended a speech by Mr. Wiesel, and he is really a personable, funny, self-effacing and sweet man, not the really sad and somber person you might expect from his writings. I was surprised by this, pleasantly so!)



4. I would strongly recommend that all readers on Amazon read the review whose title caption is ' Remember'. It is far more extensive and far better than the small remarks I am about to post.
   Elie Weisel is the one human being who more than any other has helped the world understand the horror of the Shoah , the Holocaust the Nazi destruction of one - third of the Jewish people six million human beings.
   For this he should always have a place in the historical consciousness of both the Jewish people and mankind.
   His memoir is at times very moving .For those who know his other work and his masterpiece ' Night' there will be much familiar here, though here the story is enriched by greater detail.
   I find myself whenever I am reading Weisel unable to really judge in abstract or purely literary terms. His significance as a human being, as a witness as one who has spoken to me in my own life is so great that my feeling is closer to reverence than anything else.
   I read this book with the idea that any additional detail about his life and work, any additional understanding of his thought about Man's relation to G-d would be worthwhile. I read this work as I will read all his future works as an admiring student of a great teacher.
   May he be blessed by many more years of great creative work.



5. This is one of the times when I think we should be able to go higher than 5 stars. Elie Wiesel's All Rivers Run to the Sea gave us a more in-depth look to the concentration camp survivor. He really gives us a rich experience in weaving together the threads of his past, from his days in school to the horror in the concentration camps, right up to his days of being a journalist, and ending with him as a groom. You really get a feel for the type of person he is as well - a wonderful, compassionate, and intelligent man. If you've read Night already, you're definitely going to want to check this out.

3 comments about Echoes from the Holocaust: A Memoir.

1. Mira lived to tell the tale of the holocaust. She's carried the message of strength and forgiveness, of working through the horrors she's lived by bringing the message to all who will listen. This is a strange and different book: on the one hand, so repulsive, so unbelievable, yet, on the other hand, compelling. Several questions ran through my mind: how does a person continue to live with any humanity at all after such an experience; why does one person live, while all the rest die; what kind of magnetism did Mira have that encouraged people to help her?
   I've met Mira; she lives here in my home town of Oak Ridge. She will speak before my class. Perhaps my questons will be answered, and I will know who Mira is after all.



2. Echoes from the Holocaust by Mira Ryczke Kimmelman is a riveting memoir that recounts her life as a child in Danzig to her life in the United States after World War II. Mira describes how the innocence, effulgence, and peace of her youth are shattered once the Nazi troops force her family to leave their home in Poland in October 1939. Embracing her Jewish heritage, Mira tells of how she strives to preserve her identity and pride as a Jew alive by receiving secret Hebrew lessons, attending prohibited Jewish gatherings, and becoming a member of the Zionist movement. Kimmelman refuses to let herself become discouraged when she learns that more than twenty of her family members and friends are killed by the SS officers.
   
   Infused with aspirations, Mira does whatever she can to cope with the persecution she and others receive at the ghettos and concentration camps. After suffering from typhoid, physical torture, starvation, horrendous living conditions, and simple dehumanization, Mira continues to be a burning flame among all the melted candles. All her struggles and lucky moments become learning experiences.
   
   Mira is able to move on with her life, after the end of the war in 1945. She marries Max Kimmelman, another Holocaust survivor, and has several children and grandchildren after. She gives them the names of her relatives and close companions so that her memories of them will live on. Although life in the United States becomes a bit of a struggle, Mira manages to carve out a content life with her husband and family. She continues to encompass her traditions and tell her story of survival.
   
   The memoir is written simplistically, but with very powerful imagery and episodes, that capture Mira's moments effectively. Metaphors, similes, or hyperboles are not necessary to make this memoir memorable. The book is divided into several short chapters that make it an easy read. With cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, this book becomes a real page-turner. An atmosphere of hope surrounds the events Kimmelman depicts and reiterates the idea that Mira has survived for a purpose. No history book can tell a story such as this one. To capture the meaning and depth of the Holocaust, one must go out and read Mira Kimmelman's account.



3. From a priveleged upbringing in pre-war Gdansk, the author and her family are deported first to Warsaw then to other ghettos and camps. The book is written in a frank, no-nonsense fashion and she really states the facts about what happened to her and her family. An amazing book and one that everyone should read.

2 comments about DK Readers: The Story of Anne Frank (Level 3: Reading Alone).

1. Anne Frank is jewish.The Nazis want everyjew to wear a star that says jood.But they are hidingin the secret annex.so that they wont be sent to secret Gearmamany camps to wrok in.
   I feel sorry for anne frank because she did not get to be free. I recommend this book to people who are not prejudice because some people did not like jewish people like Adolf .A.Hitler.I think that the people who read it are going to enjoy it because it was alot of fun reading anne franks diary.Because you can see how she sufferd hiding in the secret anex for 3 years .
   I liked this book because it was fun reading. Anne franks diary and how her life was back then becuse we were not born yet .It was also alot of fun knowing about her life because you can see she is exprissing her feelingswith her diary named kitty AnneFrank had to hide in the secret annex for a reson.If I fauond Anne Franks diary I would not give it to any body so I could read her secrets .so anne frank sufferd a hard life.



2. Anne Frank lived a secret life with her family. She had to hide from the Nazis and she wrote her experiences in a diary. This is written for ages 4-8, however I would recommend it for ages 6-8. This story has more complex sentence structure, information boxes an alphabetical glossary and a comprehensive index.
   
   When Otto gave Anne a red and light-green checked notebook with a metal lock, she never imagined the impact she would have on the world by writing her thoughts down. This is in a story format with snippets from the actual diary.
   
   There is a picture of the place Anne hid and a picture of Anne Frank. This book just brings her story to life for young children. When people think of Anne, they think of her courage, her sense of humor and her hopes for the future.
   
   The actual diary was first published in America in 1952 as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne dreamed of becoming one of the most famous authors in the world. I just wish she had lived to realize her dream.
   
   For me, Anne Frank is symbolic of everything that is right about life and everything that is wrong about war. Thankfully Miep Gies kept Anne's diary which sadly, she had hoped to return to Anne. I think this book will help younger children gain a new appreciation for the lives they have and realize that not all children were as lucky to live the life they live.
   
   Inspirational and sad, all at the same time. I have also reviewed the movie called: The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) which shows the beauty of the her spirit in the midst of an evil and ugly war.
   
   ~The Rebecca Review