THE LOST by Daniel Mendelsohn
We lost Six Million souls in the Holocaust. Mr. Mendelsohn sets out to find what specifically happened to six of those holy martyrs. They were his relatives. Mr. Mendelsohn takes us along with him on this “detective story”, through three continents and over many years.
From the back cover:
In this rich and riveting narrative, a writer's search for the truth behind his family's tragic past in World War II becomes a remarkably original epic—part memoir, part reportage, part mystery, and part scholarly detective work—that brilliantly explores the nature of time and memory, family and history.
Praise for the book:
“Daniel Mendelsohn has written a powerfully moving work of memoirist appropriation of a “lost” family past in tones reminiscent of the richly expansive prose works of Proust and the elusive texts of W.G. Sebald—a remarkable achievement.” -- Joyce Carol Oates
“Epic and personal, meditative and suspenseful, tragic and at times hilarious, The Lost is a wonderful book.” -- Jonathan Safran Foer
“The Lost is the most gripping, the most amazing true story I have read in years. . . . Enthralling. . . . An immensely moving and beautifully written book.” -- Charles Simic, The New York Review of Books
“A stunning memoir. . . . Beautiful and powerfully moving. . . . As suspenseful as a detective thriller, and as difficult to put down. . . . . What makes The Lost so extraordinary is how loving it is.” -- Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine
“A remarkable personal narrative -- rigorous in its search for truth, at once tender and exacting. It is deeply moving, often distressing, sometimes funny. . . . Mendelsohn succeeds in assembling an immensely human tableau in which each witness has a face and each face a story and destiny.” -- Elie Wiesel, The Washington Post Book World
“A beautiful book, beautifully written.” -- Michael Chabon
“A grand book, an ambitious undertaking fully realized.” -- The Forward
“A magnificent and deeply wise book. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . Mendelsohn’s accomplishment is enormous.” -- The Los Angeles Times Book Review
RESPONSA FROM THE HOLOCAUST by Rabbi Ephraim Oshry
Even in the death camps and in the Warsaw and Kovno Ghettos, Jews tried to keep the mitzvot as best as was possible. They turned to Rabbi Oshry for the Halacha in these darkest hours.
“Was it permissible to eat treif even when one was not yet in immediate danger of starvation when it was the only food available?” “Under what circumstances was suicide permitted in the ghetto?” “What should the penitence be for Jews who had been forced at gunpoint to destroy a Sefer Torah?” “Could a Jew save his life by purchasing a document that stated he was a gentile?” “May one eat in the presence of a dead body?” “What blessing does one recite before going into the gas chamber?”
112 Halachic responsa (answers to questions on Jewish law) from one of the very few poseks (authorities on Jewish law) who provided such responsa and survived the Holocaust. Rabbi Oshry had access, even in the Kovno Ghetto, to the Rabbinic volumes which he was able to use as references.
112 Teshuvos (these answers) to 112 deeply moving questions. The questions reveal not only the danger and the knowledge of imminent death that these Jews had but equally their commitment to Halacha, to observant Judaism for as long as they lived. The questions and answers are powerful and poignant beyond description.
It is extremely difficult to find this book anywhere.
THE MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK by Walter Lord
The complete, true story of how the British military and British civilians saved the remnants of the French and British armies after the disastrous Nazi blitzkrieg. Trapped in Dunkirk by massively larger numbers of forces, the 338,000 Allied soldiers were all that were left to continue to struggle against Hitler. Churchill did not think that more than a small number of troops could be brought to Great Britain. He put out a call for civilian help. The British people would not let their boys perish. Hundreds of fishing boats, commercial vessels, yachts, even canoes, made the perilous journey across the English Channel, back and forth, under fire from Nazi airplanes, to bring the boys home. Some made numerous trips back and forth. One fisherman had been on the Titanic!
Mr. Lord, the brilliant historian, interviewed hundreds of survivors—soldiers and boatsmen—to tell this powerful history of unimaginable heroism.
Near unanimous highest ranking by almost 1,300 Amazon readers.
From the book cover:
“Stirring...The difference between the Walter Lord technique and that of...academic historians is the originality of his reportage.” -New York Times
“Amazing and unexpected heroism...well worth reading.” -Milwaukee Sentinel
Praise for the book:
“Wow! Mr. Lord took piles of data—names, dates, times, tides, boat types, weaponry—and turned them into a compelling story of bravery, courage and cowardice, determination, devotion, love of country and of comrade, grace, exhaustion, and finally of turning a disaster into as close as you can get, victory.” -Bookman McCoy
“One of the two best books about the Dunkirk Evacuation.” -Hubert de Southchurch
THE LOST: used paperback in good condition, asking 36 shekels
RESPONSA FROM THE HOLOCAUST: used hardback in good condition but dust cover in poor condition, asking 72 shekels
THE MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK: new, never read, asking 54 shekels
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