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Kaddish

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In his new book Kaddish, the author of House of Dolls, Phoenix Over the Galilee, and Shiviti - A vision continues to honor his deeply felt obligation, to carry out his awful pledge, to accomplish his almost impossible mission; to speak, somehow, for his vanished fellow inmates of Auschwitz, and in such a way that readers who not only were not there but many of whom were not yet born, may feel a hint of the horrors that were done and be moved to vigilance against any such tendencies in their own - as well as others' - hearts and minds.

As many readers know, the pen name K. Tzetnik recalls the term for all concentration camp inmates; K. Tzetnik - Ka Tzet being the German pronunciation of K.Z. for Konzentration Zenter. Each inmate had a Ka-Tzetnik Number tattooed on the left arm. The author of Kaddish was Ka-Tzetnik Number 135633.

In wrestling with his task, the writer seems to use every literary device at his command. There are poems, some tender, some savage; homely family scenes; an intimate essay about his relationship with vanished scholar-colleagues; and always the harrowing first-hand descriptions of physical and mental violence and disintegration, sometimes starkly naturalistic in treatment, sometimes surrealistic. Often the poetic language, and the device of ritual repetition, for example, may make the reader think, for an instant, this is overdone, this is too much. But in the next instant, how on earth could anything be too much when the subject is Auschwitz?

There is a passage in Kaddish in which a group of inmates has been selected and is waiting to be marched to the crematorium, and the author asks himself, "Why don't they scream? Why don't they weep? Why is it so quiet here?" A similar question might have been asked in the world outside Auschwitz, and must be asked in the world since Auschwitz: Why don't we scream? Why don't we weep? Why is it so quiet here? For many, then, the answer might have been that they didn't know. But we know now. K. Tzetnik has told us.

He has also suggested that to call such horrors "inhuman" is to abdicate responsibility for them. Of course they are human. What are they if not human? God-like? Animal? No god worth thinking about would do such things, and no animal but humans could ever conceive them. They are human acts, carrying out human thoughts. We must come to grips with that cold truth before we can learn to avoid them.

I read Kaddish at least five times. Especially chapter 15 titled Father and Son. I believe that every father and every son should read "Father and Son" to truly realize what fatherhood and love is all about...

All mothers and daughters should read chapter 29 titled Wiedergutmachung, where the author describes his mother and sister with such color and poetry that you will need a box of tissues to dry your tears.

Other chapters in KADDISH that left a lasting impression upon this reader are: Operation Children, A Mysterious Melody, A Tear in the Death Camp, A Kindergarten in Auschwitz, Covenant Between the Crumbs and I Kneel at Your Feet.

Sometimes when you read Kaddish you drify off to a different world, back in time fifty years to a moment in our recent history when time stood still and trembled as it choked by the evil deeds and hatred of human beings who were more monster than human.

It is rare that I would say this about any work of literature but I feel that KADDISH borders on the sacred. It is truly a spectacular work that is a must read. The reader drifts to the world of the author and garners a glimpse of the horror and pain he suffered. The individual who gathered these short stories and poems and put them in their order has done a masterful job. The book begins preWWII in Poland and rises to the est. of the modern state of Israel and concludes with recollections of collegues and friends who are no more. The stories are painful to read but are a living testimony to the horror of the holocaust, the cruelty of the Germans and their helpers and a vanished world. This book can be read again and again with every word savored for its impact genius. Bravo Bravo Bravo. This is a must for everyone!!!