New Review – Dirty Jewess

Elka Weber ● Segula Magazine

This sweet, tough, and charmingly amateurish memoir is the story of a tenacious woman. Sylvia Fishbaum grew up in Slovakia after World War II. Her parents braved anti-Semitism and maintained a traditional Jewish lifestyle in a country where Jews were nearly extinct.

After the rise of Communism, life became harder both materially and emotionally, but Fishbaum’s irrepressible confidence served her well. As a young woman, she sewed clothes and sold them on the black market in the Ukraine to finance her escape to the United States.

A chance meeting with a Jewish family on its way to Israel alerted Sylvia to the existence of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Rome. After careful, clandestine planning, Fishbaum left behind an apartment and a job,made her way to Rome, and eventually moved to New York. There she married a co-owner of an iconic kosher pizzeria in Manhattan, raised two sons, and lived the American dream.

After her husband’s early death from heart disease, Sylvia dedicated herself to reviving Jewish life in Slovakia. Fishbaum’s wellsprings of willpower and self-deprecating humor make for a compelling read.

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New and Forthcoming from Urim Publications

Dirty Jewess – Book Event

Consulate General of Slovakia in New York

and

Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews

cordially invite you to a book presentation

 

DIRTY JEWESS BY SILVIA FISHBAUM

with Andrea Coddington

Author Silvia Fishbaum translated and adapted her memoir to English language from its original version Židovka, a platinum bestseller in Slovakia. Both authors, Silvia and Andrea, will be happy to answer all your questions and sign your copies.

When: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 at 5:30 pm

Where: 6 E 67 st, New York

RSVP by Friday, August 24 at rsvp.cgnewyork@mzv.sk

Special gratitude to the Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the UN

H.E. Ambassador Michal Mlynár for providing his Residence

Dirty Jewess – FROM KOŠICE TO BROOKLYN

Rivkah Lambert Adler • The Jerusalem Post

Silvia Fishbaum fought her way to freedom and a new life in America

After World War II, two Holocaust survivors settled in Czechoslovakia and had three daughters. The youngest, Sophia, “was known as the little rabble-rouser.” Born with an impulsive nature, Sophia, now known as Silvia Fishbaum, fought, practically from birth, against the limitations of her life as a member of the only Jewish family in a small Czechoslovakian village. Her memoir, Dirty Jewess: A Woman’s Courageous Journey to Religious and Political Freedom, tells the story of her life and her adventures.

Though Fishbaum’s mother worked hard at it, keeping Shabbat special and maintaining a semblance of the preciousness of Judaism was a constant challenge in rural Czechoslovakia. Even as a child, she was already accustomed to being publicly insulted for being a Jew. In Chapter 6, she describes a particularly offensive encounter with an old man on a tram in the relatively large city of Košice.

Read more…

From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey

Phil Jacobs • Jewish Links of NJ

Food is at the heart of Jewish life and culture. “From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey” spotlights food in the Torah itself, as it explores themes like love, compassion, social justice, memory, belonging, deception, life and death. Originally an online project to support the food rescue charity, Leket Israel,the book comprises short essays on food in the parsha by 52 internationally acclaimed scholars and Jewish educators, and a verse-by-verse commentary by Diana Lipton.

From Forbidden Fruit – Book Event

 

Author Diana Lipton will be speaking on Wednesday 13 June in Beer Sheva, in English, about her book, From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey.

 

 

 

Details about the Kehilat Be’erot event can be found at this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdkmbN2wNJgQnRKKAUIhNOlbI4KUl6tqARgpGJmbkMW7Yvh5g/viewform

Registration is required.

Memoirs of a Hopeful Pessimist

Debbie Weissman • Times of Israel

In the mid-20th century, the great American Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel credibly wrote “Judaism today is the least known religion.” But recent decades have seen Christians making impressive efforts to fill in the knowledge gap. For many years, I have had the privilege of teaching groups of Christians who come to Jerusalem from throughout the world. Many of them are priests, pastors and nuns on sabbatical; some are lay people. They come from anywhere from a week to a year and my involvement varies, depending on the length and depth of the program. The programs are held at Christian institutions in and around Jerusalem.

I teach them about Judaism and about Israel. I give introductions to the Christians who visit our synagogue on Friday nights for prayers, and we sometimes also provide them with home hospitality for Shabbat dinners. It is fascinating to note what questions they ask. In one case, a young woman was surprised that our sanctuary was not decorated with pictures of Moses. Once, I told a group of seminarians that they were imposing Christian questions on Judaism; what interested them almost exclusively were