Description
Book SynopsisAn annotated edition of a memoir that relates a fascinating life story and contains a wealth of historical information about late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Jewish life in Eastern Europe, America, and Israel.
Trade Review"The full annotations and the general introduction of the translator-editor along with his perceptive and objective introductions to each chapter make the text comprehensible to readers without familiarity with the topic. Frieden was not a leader or an important personage. Precisely for that reason, it is a window into how intelligent and committed ordinary Jews interpreted some of the key developments in modern Jewish religious life. The translation is extremely smooth, and this could easily be used as a source for student research as well as a basis for class discussions. The descriptions of Jewish life 'on three continents' make this book a useful addition to collections with strengths in modern Jewish religious life." -- Shaul Stampfer *
Religious Studies Review *
"Frieden's memoir is a fascinating and useful narrative about Jewish life in Eastern Europe, the United States, and the Land of Israel, and his literary skill will help to make this memoir accessible to non-academic readers. Weissbach has made a significant contribution by adeptly translating and making this illuminating historical source available to the English-language readership." -- Gil Ribak *
H-Judaic *
"Freiden's memoir is a rich source for detailing many aspects of Jewish life in a small rural Jewish community in Lithuania, the Hassidic yeshivot and customs in Latvia and Belarus, the awakening to Western culture of traditional young Jews, the influence of American Zionists on the modern
yishuv, and on the 1948 Israeli war of independence, among others." -- Roger S. Kohn *
Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter *
"This rich memoir captures the tumultuous historical epoch through the prism of individual self-reflection, laying bare the havoc wrought on the Jewish world by processes of migration, adaptation, and nation building a century ago. Indeed, it highlights the transnational character of Jewish life in the early twentieth century." -- Rebecca Kobrin * Columbia University *
