04415nam 2200661Ia 450 991096646630332120200520144314.097866134320189781283432016128343201397802520939680252093968(CKB)2670000000187649(OCoLC)785782183(CaPaEBR)ebrary10533477(SSID)ssj0000646895(PQKBManifestationID)11380986(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000646895(PQKBWorkID)10589355(PQKB)10131634(MiAaPQ)EBC3413970(MdBmJHUP)muse23634(Au-PeEL)EBL3413970(CaPaEBR)ebr10533477(CaONFJC)MIL343201(OCoLC)923494329(Perlego)2554205(EXLCZ)99267000000018764919990908d2000 uy 0engurcn|||||||||txtccrThe narrow bridge beyond the Holocaust /Isaac Neuman ; with Michael Palencia-Roth1st ed.Urbana University of Illinois Pressc20001 online resource (223 p.) Includes index.9780252025617 025202561X Cheder years -- Reb Mendel -- The Gate of Tears -- Hanukkah in a monastery -- The pact -- Purim revenge -- Shlomo's last prayer -- The Judenälteste of Zdunska Wola -- My brother's keeper, Part 1 -- Unleavened bread -- My brother's keeper, Part 2 -- Mottl's torah -- Rachel -- Yom Hashoah.As a boy studying Torah, Isaac Neuman learned to seek the spiritual lessons hidden in everyday life. Likewise, in this narrative of occupation and holocaust, he uncovers a core of human decency and spiritual strength that inhumanity, starvation, and even death failed to extinguish. Unlike many Holocaust memoirs that focus on physical suffering and endurance, The Narrow Bridge follows a spiritual journey. Neuman describes the world of Polish Jewry before and during the Holocaust, recreating the strong religious and secular personalities of his childhood and early youth in Zdunska Wola, Poland: the outcast butcher, Haskel Traskalawski; the savvy criminal-turned-entrepreneur Nochem Ellia; the trusted Dr. Lemberg, liaison to the German occupation government; and Neuman's beloved teacher, Reb Mendel. Through their stories, Neuman reveals the workings of a community tested to the limits of faith and human dignity. With his brother Yossel, Neuman was transported to the Poznan area, first to the Yunikowo work camp in May 1941, then on to St. Martin's Cemetery camp, where they removed gold jewelry and fillings from exhumed corpses. A string of concentration camps followed, each more oppressive than the last: Fürstenfelde, Auschwitz, Fünfteichen, Gross Rosen, Mauthausen, Wels, and Ebensee. In the midst of these horrors, the brothers kept their feet on the "narrow bridge" of life by holding to their faith, their memories, and each other. In the end, only Isaac survived. The Narrow Bridge celebrates symbolic victories of faith over brute force. The execution of Zdunska Wola's Jewish spiritual and intellectual leaders is trumped by an act of breathtaking courage and conviction. A secret Passover Seder is cobbled together from hoarded bits of wax, piecemeal prayers, and matzoh baked in delousing ovens. A dying fellow inmate gives Neuman his warm coat as they both lie freezing on the ground. Such rituals of faith and acts of kindness, combined with boyhood memories and a sense of spiritual responsibility, sustained Neuman through the Holocaust and helped him to reconstruct his life after the war. His story is a powerful testimony to an unquenchable faith and a spirit tried by fire. JewsPolandZdunska WolaBiographyHolocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)PolandZdunska WolaPersonal narrativesZduńska Wola (Poland)BiographyJewsHolocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)940.53/18092 BNeuman Isaac1922-1807135Palencia-Roth Michael1807136MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910966466303321The narrow bridge4356700UNINA