13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece! One of the greatest books ever written on the Holocaust!, September 21, 2008
This review is from: Small Miracles of the Holocaust: Extraordinary Coincidences of Faith, Hope, and Survival (Hardcover)
This book, written by highly acclaimed writers Yitta Halberstam and Judith Levinthal has got to be one of the best books ever written on the Holocaust. So well written. I was totally absorbed with all the true to life miracle stories. Story endings so surprising and shocking.
This is not just a book about miracle stories of individuals. The authors so eloquently also documented historical facts of the Holocaust. For those who are educators who want to educate students about the Holocaust, this book is the best book to begin with. For those who want to learn about the Holocaust but find it too difficult to read in depth coverage, this book is for you too. For people who already know about the Holocaust but want to read a great book - this is it! I am not a book reader, but found this book as well as all the other books in the "Small Miracles" series, very interesting, fascinating and amazing stories of Divine Providence.
Besides this being an historical book, the miracles documented by Holocaust survivors and stories of the atrocities that they went through and survived, should make us all appreciate life so much more. So what, if things don't always go our way? And so what if we can't afford to eat in a restaurant or go on a vacation! At least most of us have our family, a roof over our head, no one attacking us physically, etc. After reading a book like this, it's hard to complain about anything! That's one of the reasons why it is so important to read this book!
A lesson we need to learn as well from reading this book too, is how important it is to be kind to everyone. Yes, even people we don't particularly care for. Even if it is someone who doesn't have the same beliefs as we do. Or if the other person is not the same color of our skin. Why? In this book, in many stories, you read about people who were saved by others who did not share their beliefs or agree with them on every day issues. There is a story in this book about a particular Rabbi who always greeted Jews and non-jews alike including a Polish peasant who was a known rabid anti-semite. The Rabbi would always say good morning to this peasant even though the peasant would always ignore him and would never return the greeting. In the end this peasant ended up saving this Rabbi's life, probably as a result of the Rabbi always greeting him
And this great book also has stories about Jewish people who before the war, assisted their non-Jewish neighbors in many ways including one who actually saved a non-Jewish acquaintance's life, which resulted in their life being saved by this same non-Jewish person. These Righteous Gentiles literally risked their lives by hiding them in their homes, sheds, in haylofts, etc. This book is also a great tribute to these beautiful souls. One of the amazing stories of these Righteous Gentiles, is about a non-Jewish woman who took a job as a cleaning lady to steer Jews away from entering an area where they were sure to be doomed.
This extraordinary book also talks about loved ones who perished and came to people in their dreams giving them direction, which ended up saving their lives!
This amazing book also talks about how someone's poor eyesight, saved his life. And also, how people, despite the great risks, celebrated Jewish holidays, even under the watchful eye of Nazis, and were threatened to be killed, but in the end, it was these acts of faith that actually saved their lives!
There is even a great story in this book about a son of a former Nazi who converted to Judaism. The author's made note of the approximately 300 such converts now living in Israel among them, Hitler's nephews grandson. For a more in depth story about these converts - there is a great story I once read in Jewish Action magazine, put out by the organization OU - [...] - Summer 2006 issue,, entitled "Choosing Judaism." Yitta Halberstam wrote this fantastic article as well.
Getting back to the book, what more can I say? So many great stories I didn't get to mention about. Reading this book, I felt like I was there. Thank G-d I wasn't. A lot to be thankful to G-d for!
All in all, this book is a masterpiece and will be talked about for eternity.
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There was a nice story written in the New York Daily News, Brooklyn section on September 23, 2008 about the book with pictures of the authors and a Holocaust survivor who was interviewed for the book. To read this article, go to the NYdailynews.com website and search for the title of the article, "New Book Highlights Holocaust Miracles" written by Joyce Shelby, Daily News Staff Writer.
P.S. For more information on the Holocaust, there is a website that may interest you. You can go to Aish.com and click on the left on the "Holocaust Studies" tab.
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