Customer Reviews

From Ashes to Healing: Mystical Encounters with the Holocaust

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To people who have Holocaust Memories, this book is like a candle in the dark! This is a must-read for anyone interested in Reincarnation or Holocaust issues, and if you could only read one book on this subject, I would recommend this one! Rabbi Gershom and the brave people who share their stories here have done us all a wonderful service.

This was the first book I ever read about reincarnation, and it was a great place to start. Because the stories are each written by the people themselves, they offer a variety of styles and perspectives that provide a great overview of the issues of reincarnation, karma, and healing.

This book is passionately written. The stories, and commentary by Yonassan Gershom, are honest and not fanatical. There is a pointedly open-minded attitude in the presentation, which does not assume that the reader believes in reincarntion. However, by the end of it I found myself believing and wanting to learn more.

For a more scientific approach to the topic, try reading Old Souls, by Tom Shroder. For more detailed descriptions of reincarntion and the spirit world, as recovered through hypnosis, check out Journey of Souls, by Michael Newton.

This book and Rabbi Gershom's first book, "Beyond the Ashes," should really be sold together as a set. "From Ashes to Healing" completes the first book by giving us 15 beautiful first-person stories about healing Holocaust past-life trauma. I applaud the bravery of everyone in the book for sharing such personal things with the public.

Rabbi Gershom is much more than just a "compiler" in this work, though. The book includes some EXCELLENT chapters by the Rabbi himself, as well as very useful footnotes that he added to the articles afterward. Plus, he helped those contributors who are not professional writers to tell their stories.

But perhaps the greatest applause for Rabbi Gershom should be for his willingness to share his own story, too. There are very few books where rabbis are willing to write about their own spirituality. So it was refreshing to see Rabbi Gershom open his heart and share his frustrations, hopes, and dreams. The chapter on "Did the Soul of Hitler repent?" was especially moving, and a big risk for anybody -- let alone a rabbi! -- to write. So was the chapter on "The Circle of Torah," where the reader learns why Rabbi Gershom eventually retired from this work, and how that decision, too, was part of his own healing.

I was really glad when this second book came out because it had complete stories written by some of the people themselves. There's a whole lot of different approaches to healing by the different authors that are very useful for understanding different ways to heal karma.

It also has a REALLY GREAT chapter about "Edgar Cayce on the Holocaust" written by Rabbi Gershom that tells how some of the things that Cayce supposedly said about Jews in the Holocaust were never said by him at all. Such as the Holocaust being a karmic punishment, etc. which Cayce NEVER said! It turns out that the source of these teachings was an American Nazi sympathizer who went to Cayce for a reading in the 1930's and misunderstood it, etc. Everybody who is into Cayce or New Age philosophy really needs to read this chapter -- as well as the rest of the book.

Thank you, Rabbi Gershom, for more wonderful reincarnation stories. "Beyond the Ashes" was beautiful, and you continue to elate and inspire us with "From Ashes to Healing". More! More!

In his kind review below, David R. Moffatt says that I am a Lubavitcher Chassid. (Not "a Chassidim," which is plural. One Chassid, two Chassidim...) This in incorrect for more reason than grammar: I'm not Lubavitch. However, it is an understandable mistake, given that Lubavitch is the best-known Chassidic group to the general public. But it is not the ONLY Chassidic group -- there are many others. I am a Breslover Chassid -- a follower of the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, not Lubavitch. A minor point to some, perhaps, but an important distinction to me. Mr Moffat is correct, however, in stating that my affiliation with Chassidism should not scare you away from reading my books (grin).

This book is really comforting, because it's nice knowing I'm not the only one who remembers dying at the hands of the Nazis when I was a Jew who was a WWI vet in France when they surrendered. Helped me get over that, as "I"-then was really angry about getting killed that way, and, as a consequence, so was "I"-now. Thanks, man, for helping me out.

As I participant in this book, I just want to let folks know that it changed my life even though it was not an easy experience to remember. Rabbi Gershom wanted to show the personal stories from beginning to remembering to how the memories impacted their (our) lives. For me, to discover that life goes on was a huge awakening. More than that, it has given me a renewed zest for this life.

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom is a Lubavitcher Chassidim, a very traditional practitioner of an Orthodox branch of Judaism which incorporates mystical beliefs. By no means should this drive any potential reader away from this eminently readable yet thought-provoking book.

With content provided by contributors ranging from professional authors to a goat farmer, this volume provides 15 views of "mystical encounters with the Holocaust". Skillfully arranged and edited by Rabbi Gershom, the stories run the gamut....from dreams of a clock which prove to have an incredible counterpart in reality to a tourist visit to Auschwitz which proves to be something far more profound, each tale has its own special "grip", and one or another is likely to resonate with any reader.

One cannot help but come away from this book with the realization that the Holocaust, half a century past, is likely to be with us forever. And with the knowledge, as Rabbi Gershom reveals in his own contribution to the book, that the Holocaust holds a lesson not only for Jews, but for us all.

Judaism as a rule does not seek converts, but this book may well tempt you, or at the very least, provide new respect for one of the oldest spiritual traditions on earth.

This book contains 15 stories of people claiming to be reincarnated after living during the holocaust. If we get these stories as true, it is easy to say that almost all of them are ( maybe also unwillingly ) blended with fantasy and imagery. (it is nasty to say, but maybe Gershom should be explained something about the law of cause and effect). Though both the stories and his opinions are a bit arguable, this book is a good one. It may be read from cover to cover in a couple of hours. I consider it as a "light" book. Maybe it is not a good thing to take it too seriously.