[ha-Safran] We Who Lived: Two Teenagers in World War II Poland: Review by Rivka Levy
To All My Friends and Colleagues, My new book: We Who Lived: Two Teenagers in World War II Poland has just been published last January, 2018. It is a memoir of my own and my husband's life as teenagers in German occupied Poland during the Holocaust years, 1939-1945. It is an authentic eye witness report and a story of danger, resilience and hope. The book garnered many favorable comments, and will be an asset to all libraries. I enclose a recent review by Rivka Levy, herself an author. Read and remember. A Book Review: We Who Lived: I'm always a sucker for memoirs, and especially memoirs written about experiences or periods of time that capture some of the essence of what it meant to be a Jew at that time and in that place. Hava Ben-Tzvi's memoir, called 'We Who Lived, Two Teenagers in World War II Poland' packs a lot of poignant detail into some deceptively simple and easy-to-read prose - I read the book in one sitting. The story begins in Poland, transverses the horrors of World War II and the holocaust, and then skips over to life in Israel, where Hava meets and marries her husband, Ephraim. Later, Ephraim and Hava are given the chance to study in the US, and even though they intend to return to the holy land, it seems God had other plans. Essentially, Hava and Ephraim were eye-witnesses, deep in the crucible of suffering that would eventually lead to the birth of the State of Israel, and as such, these memoirs are an invaluable snapshot of that time, and those places. I often find with a lot of holocaust memoirs that the material is written in a very pared-back, almost spartan way, and the same is true of We Who Lived. When you're dealing with first-hand accounts of such tremendous human drama and suffering, that understated style seems to be the only way to convey what needs to be said without overwhelming the reader, or the writer, with too much detail and too much pain. Often, these books understandably end up with a kind of distant feel to them as a result, where you feel the writer is trying to reach across the chasm that separates them from people who didn't experience what they went through, but then discovers that words alone are still not alone to bridge that gap. This book also has a little of that 'distant' feel in parts - where I'd like to have known more about Hava's life in the US, and more about the faces of the dead she sees reflected in her very much alive grandchildren. But on the whole, I think the writer has done a very good job of conveying a lot in a little, understated way, leaving it to the reader's imagination to fill in more of the details. So, I highly recommend this book as a snapshot of life in Poland during World War II and in the newly-created State of Israel, and I personally feel that each one of these memoirs that makes it out into the world is a gem, in its own way, that needs to be appreciated and found a place in the crown of Jewish literature. Hava's story is not just her own, it's the story of her people, the Jewish people. And also, a reminder that every day of life God gives us is something to be grateful for. __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] WE WHO LIVED: TWO TEENAGERS IN WORLD WAR II POLAND
Dear Friends and Colleagues, You are cordially invited to celebrate the introduction to the community of my new book: WE WHO LIVED: TWO TEENAGERS IN WORLD WAR II POLAND "No fiction can match this real life tale of struggle and survival" A MEMOIR BY HAVA BROMBERG BEN-ZVI BAGEL BREAKFAST SUNDAY, APRIL 8th, 2018 10 a.m. to 12 noon PASADENA JEWISH TEMPLE and CENTER 1434 NORTH ALTADENA DRIVE PASADENA ,CALIFORNIA 91107 Presentation and slide show led by Alice Shulman, with the book author present to answer questions. Admission is free. Donations are welcome. For information, or to RSVP, call the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center: (626)798-1161 __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] A new book: We Who Lived
Dear Yossi, I am so sorry but in my former message I did not include: Available on Amazon.com Published by McFarland. Please use the article I enclose now, rather than the one I sent before. Many thanks, Hava Article for AJL.docx Description: MS-Word 2007 document __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] Thank You. My new book: We Who Lived
Dear Yossi, Thank you so much for your help. The article about my book is attached. Hava Article for AJL.docx Description: MS-Word 2007 document __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] Multicultural stories
To Eileen Polk, Dear Eileen, In The Bride Who Argued with God; Tales from the Treasury of Jewish Folklore, compiled and edited by Hava Ben-Zvi (Vallentine Mitchell, 2011) you will find another version of Feathers: Cruel words and feathers: A Yom Kippur tale. This book may be of interest to your college teacher, since the source notes list parallel tales in many cultures. __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] Students Learn From and Inspire a Holocaust Survivor
Dear Friends, Below is a letter I received from an organization, Facing History and Ourselves, working with all schools worldwide helping youth connect history to moral choices today. Please include it in Hasafran. Thank you so much. Hava Ben-Zvi, a long time member of HJL Students Learn From and Inspire a Holocaust Survivor November 6, 2013 Over the years I've had the opportunity to develop a friendship with Hava Ben-Zvi, a survivor of the Holocaust, who has spoken to many of our Facing History classes. Hava is one of my heroes, not just for her story of survival and resilience as a young girl hiding from the Nazis in Poland. She is my hero because even though her education was interrupted during the war, she went on to immigrate to Israel, and then the U.S. where she became an educator, and a librarian. She wrote a memoir of her experience, Eva http://www.amazon.com/Evas-Journey-Young-Girls-Story/dp/0595307507 's Journey, and in her 80s she published, Portraits http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Literature-Jews-Poland-Anthology/dp/0853038 732/ in Literature: The Jews of Poland, an Anthology, which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Most of all, I love Hava's generous spirit with students. Last year, she visited Nicole Solig's 10th grade class at the Los Angeles School of Global Studies, (LASGS) across the street from our office in downtown. When she tells her story, you can see the teacher in Hava coming through, the way she engages with the students, asking THEM questions and listening so carefully to their responses. A few weeks after the LASGS visit, I received a letter in the mail from Hava, which she has given me permission to share. It sums up what happens when students are given the tools, trust and time to wrestle with this history: April 8, 2012 Dear LASGS 10th Graders, Thank you so much for your thoughtful, impressive letters. Each one of your precious letters is a testimony to who you are and will be. Many of your words and expressions warmed my heart: Never lose hope; Never give up, even if the struggle is hard; Don't let anyone feel left out; If you see someone being hurt, say something; Stand up for what is right and for what you believe; Do not repeat past prejudices; We are all family; No bullying, emotional or physical; If we forget, there may be another act of violence, and another group may be targeted; If we don't, who will? Hava and we have connected; Be a better example, a better person And more... That one hour visit was the spark of an ongoing reflection about Hava's story, and her engagement with the students. This fall one of our themes has been the act of listening, and I can't think of a better example of what happens when people truly listen to each other-the students to Hava, and her gift back to them of hearing what they had to say. How do you bring voices from history to your students-both in person and through other means? Hava is featured in our Survivor http://www.facinghistory.org/about/who/profiles/hava-ben-zvi Voices section that includes photos from her life, connections and more. Written by: Marti Tippens Murphy, Los Angeles Director Facing History and Ourselves: Helping Classrooms and Communities Worldwide Connect History to Moral Choices Today www.facinghidstory.org __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
[ha-Safran] FW: Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland: An Anthology NEW IN PAPERBACK. Available now!
_ Dear Yossi, This information has been sent to Hasafran some times ago. For some reason it never appeared on my screen, and none of my colleagues -librarians saw it. Could you assist me in printing it again on Hasafran? The book is important, enjoyable and suitable for all libraries. Many thanks. Hava P.S. I am an AJL member and former director of the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles. _ To All My Friends and Colleagues, Good News! My book, Portraits in Literature The Jews of Poland. An Anthology just came out in a paperback edition and is available now. This Finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards for 2011 received many excellent reviews. I enclose the information and one of the reviews from Lindenwood University. The book is enjoyable to all general readers. Portraits in Literature The Jews of Poland: An Anthology Hava Bromberg Ben-Zvi (Ed) The stories continue, running the gamut from wistful to heartbreaking to brave..This Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award is highly recommended. ~ Association of Jewish Libraries .an extraordinarily rich collection of more than 50 excerpts from fiction, reportage, poetry, memoir, correspondence, folklore and humor.. ~ The Jewish Journal Bromberg Ben-Zvi's anthology provides a rich resource for literary and women's studies scholars as well as historians. It is a resource that provides samples of many valuable texts and, perhaps even more importantly, directs readers to further study through the bibliographic and biographical notes at the end of each of the selections. ~ H-Judaic Of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, three million were from Poland. Their literary heritage is a treasure to be preserved, and this lavish anthology - now available in paperback - gathers together the rich and varied forms of magnificent Jewish life and culture from a Poland that is no more. The book includes memoirs, short stories, poetry, eyewitness reports, fragments of novels, essays, letters, folktales, and humor on Jewish life in Poland. The work of writers - both Jewish and Polish, prominent and new - presents a true, valid, rich, and compelling panorama of life as it was. Historically informative, heartbreaking, poignant, and amusing, the book speaks in many voices - those of women, children, and survivors. It is an exceptionally broad range of literature that paints a rich panorama of life before, during, and following the Holocaust, ending with tales of hope and renewal in new centers of Jewish life. With every emotion sensitively and skillfully explored, this anthology will fascinate Jewish and non-Jewish readers, shedding light on the origins and roots of contemporary Jewry in the English-speaking world. A meticulous listing of sources and a bibliography will prove fertile ground for students and scholars alike. Publication Date: January 2013 ISBN: 978 0 85303 923 5, 380 pages, paperback, $34.95 2011 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST IN THE CATAGORY OF ANTHOLOGIES COLLECTIONS Vallentine Mitchell International Specialized Book Services 920 NE 58th Avenue Suite 300 Portland, OR 97213, USA Tel: 800 944 6190* Fax: (503) 280 8832 Email: mailto:i...@isbs.com i...@isbs.com * http://www.isbs.com/ www.isbs.com Libraries can order direct or through their regular library vendor Images of Polish Jewish Literature Reviewed by Justine Pas (Lindenwood University) Published on H-Judaic (May, 2012) Commissioned by Jason Kalman In her introduction to Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland, Hava Bromberg Ben-Zvi writes that Jewish literature and culture did not perish from the face of the earth. Inherited and transformed by a new generation of writers, it was reborn, changed and enriched, finding new configurations, images and expressions (p. xxxv). This sense of homage to a literature and culture of Polish Jews permeates the entire anthology, beginning with Bromberg Ben-Zvi's essay on the historical context of Jewish life in Poland and ending with selections from writers like Anna Cwiakowska, who continues to write and publish in Polish in Israel. Hailing the cultural and literary continuity as the central idea of her collection, Bromberg Ben-Zvi's anthology offers a diverse cross-section of Polish Jewish literature, including memoirs, fiction, and poetry. While the selections appear in English, they originate in a multilingual Polish Jewish milieu and include authors who wrote in Yiddish and English, like Abraham Cahan, and Polish-language writers like Janusz Korczak, as well as those like poet Itzhak Katzenelson, who wrote in Hebrew and switched to Yiddish in response to the German invasion of Poland. Bromberg Ben-Zvi's editorial selections are thus an excellent representation of what literary scholars and historians have acknowledged as modern Jewish multilingualism. Aside from its linguistic diversity, the volume brings together a
[ha-Safran] Holocaust memoir for middle grades through high school
To all my friend and colleagues who are interested in Holocaust literature for the middle grades through high school: Eva's Journey: A Young Girl's True Story, by Hava Ben-Zvi reads like a novel. But it is an authentic tale of growing up in Poland during the Holocaust years. A memoir of childhood and adolescence, true in fact and feeling, and a tale of courage, resilience and hope. Some of the reviewers had this to say: No fiction could match the excitement of this real-life tale of suspense and survival. Eva's Journey zips along, touching only lightly on the tragedy at its core. The focus instead is on the combination of luck and Eva's amazing presence of mind that allows the Jewish teen to evade capture by the Nazis for four years in occupied Poland and Russia. Eva's Journey is a glorious story of the resilient spirit triumphant over some of the worst human savagery our world has endured. Irene McDermott, author of The Internet Survival Guide: Strategies for the High-Tech Reference Desk and Reference Librarian/System Manager, San Marino Public Library, California. I was very moved and often teary-eyed as I read this story of the survival of this amazing child. Tami Cutler, Elementary School Teacher, Duarte, California. I read the whole story and it was excellent. I feel that it makes a significant contribution to the literature reflecting Jewish history and experience of that period, and would be useful to schools and historical and cultural organizations . I got quite caught up in the story, and thought it had a lot of feeling. Kay Haugaard, Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing, Pasadena City College, and author of No Place. Available on Amazon.com from iUniverse .com and from hava.ben...@att.net ISBN 0-595-30750-7 __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) == Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
