2 comments about The Seventh Miracle.

1. I receive many books for review; thus, when I opened Jorge Klainman's The Seventh Miracle I planned to skim through it, but I couldn't;it grabbed me from the start...Klainman relates this tale of horror like a born storyteller; he writes with the great economy and simplicity of on who has lived it, which creates in the reader a high degree of empathy...His story is both heroic and sad, and yet (I can't believe that I am writing this) it also has moments of humor. The saddest part of this incredible story is that his brother Moniek, who had managed to survive the Holocaust, should die shortly afterwards from complications of appendicitis, before Klainman could be reunited with him. Highly recommended reading, gripping, breathtaking until the very end. -- Mario Wainstain, Aurora Weekly, Tel Aviv.



2. It is with deep emotion that I read The Seventh Miracle. To think that a young boy, bereaved of all his family, had to experience what he did; to know that he did not share his horrible experiences with his family or friends for decades--so deeply were they engraved in him; and to understand that they burst out with full force after having spent 50 years in Argentina--this is what the reader of this unique book is requested to do. He has undergone such tortures, physically and emotionally; he spent his boyhood in ghettos and camps--and still he remained an optimist, a man of values and hope. I believe the book should reach a many hands as possible, in order to spread this story of the triumph of the Jewish spirit-- ....

3 comments about The House of Ashes.

1. Oskar Pinkus is a Polish Jew who lived in Losice, located 85 miles east of Warsaw and 10 miles from the Bug River. In 1939-1940, after the German-Soviet conquest of Poland, Losice's Jews didn't believe in Hitler's threats (pp. 50-51). This further shows that the widespread Jewish-Communist collaboration of 1939 couldn't have been driven by fears of Nazi extermination.
   
   The Polish Blue Police (Policja Granatowa) was kept in the dark until the last moment before the August 1942 roundup of Losice's Jews (p. 106). The Germans also forced the local farmers to come with their carts (p. 106). (This corrects the misuse of a painting shown in the movie SHTETL, through which the viewer is misled into believing that the local farmers collaborated willingly in the roundup and transport of Bransk's Jews). At Siedlce, 20 miles from Losice, the Ukrainian police took over (pp. 109-110), and both the Blue Police and Polish farmers were sent home. The Ukrainians and Germans loaded the Jews onto trains for their 60-mile trip to their deaths at Treblinka. At Siedlce, it was the Germans, not Poles, who were jeering the Jews: "As the Jews passed, the Poles fell silent watching the procession of doomed men and women. The German soldiers who stood on the sidewalks commanded in sneering voices...: (pp. 109-110).
   
   Just before the roundup, Pinkus fled Losice. Throughout his treks, he was helped by Poles in numerous, successive occasions (p. 88, 90, 91,128, 129, 137, 212), including once by a Polish Blue Policeman (p. 87). This further proves that many Polish benefactors were necessary for the saving of even one Jew. Pinkus also mentions Poles who refused to help owing to the German-imposed death penalty for such acts (p. 89, 93, 133) and, unlike Jan Tomasz Gross, recognizes the legitimacy of this motive for Polish inaction (p. 119). However, Pinkus criticized overseas Jews for their lack of assistance (p. 119).
   
   Pinkus eventually found "permanent" lodging in a shelter underneath farmer Karbicki's barn. At first, Karbicki helped only because Pinkus paid him but, in time, became more altruistic (p. 199; "But I can't keep you for nothing", p. 220). The reader may exonerate Karbicki after considering his extreme poverty, which included tattered clothes and hole-ridden boots (p. 128; p. 153). (It is unfair that Poles who were paid to help Jews are deemed ineligible for the Yad Vashem medal, whereas Danes, who were incomparably better well-off under German occupation and yet took hefty fees for shipping Jews to Sweden, are eligible).
   
   At first, Pinkus praised the AK and commended it for assassinating Germans, spies, collaborators, and informers (pp. 195, 204), and for making the Germans fearful of entering the woods. As a result of all this, in 1943 the hidden Jews felt safer than ever (p. 196).
   
   In time, Pinkus left his shelter at Karbicki's farm and encountered other Jews in hiding in the forest or nearby farms. They assembled into a band that built an independent shelter within the forest, and that stole feedstuffs and livestock from Polish farmers (pp. 204-206). One may understand why Poles sometimes killed fugitive Jews.
   
   Pinkus then writes: "Shymeluk had gone to Wolki for food one night and did not return. At first the farmers denied that he had even been in the village but eventually we learned that he had been killed by...the AK, the Polish underground. Shymeluk was in a farmer's house when the AK arrived. They took him with them, and although there was no direct proof that they killed him, it remained a fact that Shymeluk never returned from that trip." (p. 213). Obviously, Pinkus didn't see any of this, but was relying on someone else's statements (in other words, hearsay). Besides, could "going for food" include stealing? Finally, in any event, how could Pinkus know that Shymeluk's presumed death didn't occur sometime AFTER the latter's presumed contact with the AK?
   
   Interestingly, Pinkus' only clearly eyewitness experience with the AK was a positive one. The AK visited the area, forced all the Jews out of hiding, and, not only didn't harm them, but encouraged them (pp. 215-218).
   
   But later that night, the AK allegedly returned and "without even looking" threw grenades into the forest shelter in which the Jews had until recently been hiding (p. 218). Considering the darkness of the forest, and unless Pinkus was very close to the shelter (which he doesn't indicate), how could he possibly know such details? Besides, if the AK was out to kill Jews, why didn't it do so earlier that day, in broad daylight, when it had all the Jews gathered together?
   
   Skepticism is justified. The informed reader may recount Polish Jew Jerzy Kosinski's tall tales about Polish atrocities against Jews, exposed as such by independent investigation, or Yaffa Eliach's contradictory, fantastic account of her 7 year-old self counting the number of bullets fired by an AK soldier into her baby brother. (Who counts shots, and what AK soldier would waste multiple scarce bullets on an infant?)
   
   Pinkus even makes a Yaffa Eliach-like accusation of the AK having an order to kill all remaining Polish Jews. He admits the nonexistence of written evidence of it, yet says: "But better evidence lies in their record of persistent and widespread murder...In 1945 alone, 352 Jews were murdered by the AK..." (p. 226). What a non sequitur! A few hundred Jews killed, even if all correctly blamed on the AK, is hardly proof of an AK "mini-Wannsee" (Eliach's term). And 352 killed out of over 250,000 remaining Polish Jews would only mean that the AK did an atrociously poor job of it.
   
   Pinkus claims that, in March 1945, the AK killed 3 of the 20 surviving Jews of Losice (p. 226). This is a flat lie. The AK no longer existed then! It had already been disbanded by Leopold Okulicki, its final commander, in January 1945.



2. Very painful but extremely well written account of the author's experiences as a teenage Jew under Nazi rule. In addition to the horrific experiences of this young man and his family, he gives us a glimpse of the bigotry and ignorance in Europe that allowed Hitler to slaughter so many Europeans, most of them Jews. A must-read for everyone, especially anyone who is so ignorant as to compare Israeli Jews to Nazis.



3. Devastating saga of endurance and inhumanity that makes Anne Frank's fate appear almost benign by comparison - and just ONE of so many individual tragedies. To Pinkus's descendants I can only reach out a hand of solidarity and voice my hope that Palestinians/Moslems/Arabs (do Americans know the difference?) are never so demonized.

No comments about Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization).

5 comments about Go My Son.

1. This book inspired me. It showed how the hand of G-d is present throughout our lives. It also showed the author's courage and determination to do the right thing and to be kind. May Reb Chaim Shapiro's memory be blessed.



2. It has been many years since I last read this book. I first read it when I was 14 years old and I still remember much of the story. I got the book as a gift from my grandmother who then on my advice read and loved the book as well. This book is good for all ages. This true story tops many best selling novels. The book is written so well that the reader is drawn into the story feeling that he is there with Chaim facing the same dangers. From an educational perspective many geographical and historical lessons are built into the book. May Chaim's memory and story be a blessing for us all.



3. Chaim Shapiro's inspiring book is a lasting legacy and wonderful memorial to the author, who unfortunately passed away this autumn, and the European Jewish communities of WWII. Courage and faith combine in this highly recommended, true adventure story of great historical importance.



4. Slow at first, but once you get into it you can't put it down. It really gives you a insiders personal experience about world war II. I think that I'd recommend it to everyone!



5. Awesome book! A must read! Very educational and at the same time its also a book you can't put down until you are done. This should make a great movie one day. The story is about a young jewish boys travels through Russia and Germany during WW2. It shows how he had to escape from numerous situations that normally would have been fatal to a real military man. In the mean time he is only a teenager. Don't start this book unless you have enough time to finish it in one reading!

No comments about Jewish Heroes & Heroines: Their Unique Achievements.

No comments about Escape to Freedom.

2 comments about Jews of Silence.

1. This book, is a classic testament to the brutal persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union during the dark days of Communist opression.
   With both poetic and potent eloquency Wiesel describes the atmosphere of fear and silence, that reigned among Soviet Jewry during the 1960's when this book was written. The attempts to force Jews to abandon their faith and identity, and to cut ties with their brothers and sisters in Israel, by the malignant and brutal Communist tyrants. then there was the daily disparagement of the State of Israel and the maligning of Zionism by the State Media (something we see in may countries around the world today).
   Indeed even though Communist tyranny in Russia has collapsed, the crusade of hate by the Left, formulated by Soviet propagandists has only got more vicious and irascible, in recent years.
   In South Africa, for example, a hard-core Stalinist Cabinet Minister, (of Jewish descent) trained and educated in the old Soviet Union, daily comes up with venomous and ruthless attacks on the Jewish State and it's supporters, and is directing a campaign of ethnic hatred against Israel and it's Jews.
   But the Jews of the Soviet Union refused to forget who they were, or to give up their faith or their love for the State of Israel.
   Reffering to the violent anti-Israel propaganda formulated in the Soviet Union, the author explains : "The purpose of such propaganda is to make Israel seem hateful to the general populace but to the Jews as well, to undermine the esteem in which they hold the Jewish state, and to convince them finally to relinquish an idea which has failed, a vision of redemption which has somehow been made profane..."
   But this form of psychological warfare, directed against the Jewish dream, and designed to divide Jews of the diaspora from their own people in Israel, failed in Russia.
   Jews all over the world need to reject it, wherever it raises it's ugly head.
   As Wiesel describes 'there are Jews who will under no circumstances let themselves be severed from their people'.



2. This report by Elie Weisel on the Jews of Silence helped increase greatly Western interest in the Russian Jewish community. It helped rally the Jewish world in support of the emigration movement. And eventually it helped in the liberation of the Soviet Jews from their prison. Over one million were to come to Israel in the decades ahead.
   It is rare that a book has so much influence. A courageous witness like Elie Weisel deserves great credit for this historical ' miracle'.

1 comments about 163256: A Memoir of Resistance (Life Writing).

1. It is with great sadness that i tell you of the passing of this wonderful man.
   He was my grandfather and i urge you to read this story......it is the story of my family and how he chose to make us his.
   xo
   jenny-bea englishman

No comments about Haim Nahum: A Sephardic Chief Rabbi in Politics, 1892-1923 (Judaic Studies Series).

5 comments about The Defiant: A True Story of Escape, Survival & Resistance.

1. The Defiant is the story of Shalom Yoran (born Selim Sznycer)
   , and his time spent with the partisans fighting the Nazis in Poland. After three years on the run , with his family , from Nazi mobile killing units , the Nazi terror finally caught up with them and in the little town of Kurzeniec , 1 040 Jewish men , women and children where dragged from their homes and hiding places , murdered and burned. Included among those slaughtered where Selim's parents.
   
   Selim and his brother escaped into the woods and joined the partisans , and heeded the last words of their mother to survive and take vengeance for them.
   
   This is the story of the partisan guerilla warfare against Nazi terror.
   Although Selim fought among non-Jews , he always fought first and foremost as a Jew - with them but not as one of them. He dreamed of having his own country , of fighting for it and even dying for it-that is what kept him alive. The dream of surviving and living in the Land of Israel as a free Jew and building it.
   After the war , his dream was fulfilled , and having escaped the Soviet Army that tried to draft him , and the British blockade that tried to keep Jews out of Palestine , he settled in Israel and joined the airforce , becoming a prominent businessman in Israel.
   The Zionists in Europe where always the backbone of Jewish resistance to Nazism.



2. I read the original hardbound edition of this book maybe five years ago, after chancing upon a copy with no prior knowledge of its contents or author. I read the book quickly, and recall being on the edge of my seat with each turn of a page. The author, named at birth as born Selim Sznycer, tells briefly, of his family's flight from the Nazi invasion of western Poland to the eastern, Soviet-occupied town of Kurzeniec, where they remained until the Germans bombed there too, killing his parents.
   
   Rather than surrender to a certain death, Selim (who later changed his name to Shalom Yoran) and his brother Musio fled to a deeply forested swampy area, at whose center they constructed a hidden bunker with some friends. There, they struggled merely to stay clothed, warm and fed. They had little to trade and no money with which to buy, and were reduced to infrequent forays into villages several miles distant, where they could steal enough rags and potatoes to survive. Lighting fires was difficult; the smell or sight of smoke could attract attention.
   
   At one point, Yoran left the hovel to search for food only to return and find several comrades dead. He and his brother then fled further east, and ultimately joined the Soviet and Polish partisans. This was not only an act of extraordinary defiance, it was itself fraught with danger, as both the Polish peasants and Russian partisans with whom they fought were themselves highly distrusting, and hateful, of Jews. At first, Selim was not trusted with guns. He was left to fight with sticks, a fake rifle, and in one case, a pitchfork. But gradually, a few comrades developed trust and respect for him, as he became an expert at bombing the railroad tracks carrying German supply trains. He derailed several trains; the sabotage stopped German war materiel transports--and required extensive new track construction, significantly slowing Germany's war machine in the region.
   
   Ultimately, the author survived and fled Europe for Israel, where he broke through the British blockade, joined the Israeli air force and built a successful Israeli business. Although Yoran necessarily survived only by fighting, success (as I have written before) is the best revenge. And for Yoran, that came through building a new life, business and family in Israel.
   
   --Alyssa A. Lappen



3. A well written story. Consise and able to take the reader on a journey. Full of lessons in life, and examples of what a person is able to live thru and do in their life.
   
   Amazing perspective from a person who was not only able to survive unbelievable odds but do so with a determination and stile.



4. More and more survival accounts are starting to come out in regard to Jewish partisans, whether they were Soviet or Polish. This is one of the most interesting accounts I've read and goes to show that Jews did not just sit by and idly wait for death, on the contrary they tried the best they could to come to grips with reality and take revenge for what was happening to them and their families. A quick and compelling read, the author wrote all his memories down right after the war so that they were still fresh and much of what he describes rings true and is worth knowing and acknowledging. A worthwhile account of a struggle rarely remembered or thought about.



5. The Defiant: A True Story Of Escape, Survival & Resistance is the personal memoir of Shalom Yoran, a young man who dared to become a Jewish resistance fighter in Poland during the grim years of World War II. Yoran's story (and the story of the brave men and women who fought with him), is brought forward from a manuscript which he drafted fifty years ago while recuperating in an Israeli hospital. A vivid and memorable account of survival and fighting back in spite of atrocity and anti-Semitism on all sides, The Defiant is a welcome and highly recommended addition to World War II History collections, Holocaust Studies, and 20th Century Jewish History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.