A Visit with Sam and Esther – Prelude to Poland

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When we talk to someone at their grave, can they hear us? 

I hope so because yesterday my daughter Shoshana and I visited the graves of Sam and Esther Goldberg, just down the way from Beit Shemesh, Israel.  I spoke to the graves and told them that the book is out – that people are reading all about their lives.

The graves did not speak back and I have no idea what they would say if they could.   But as I visited this  place of contemplation and memory, I thought about all those who died in the Holocaust who have no grave, no place for their loved ones to pause and reflect, no place to tell the world that this person was once here on earth. 

The grave is a stark, but somehow comforting reminder of the person.  As I placed a stone on Sam and Esther’s graves, I felt their presence.   Shoshana and I reflected about our visits to Miami when the kids were young and how we would swim in the Atlantic Ocean and watch boxing on the TV with Sam. 

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In the evening, Shoshana and I ate at our friends’ restaurant – Taco Luis – highly recommend it – and we visited the Jerusalem Shuk after dark.  A magical place. 

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My visit in Israel is a pit stop – on my way to Poland.   I am heading back to Sam and Esther’s place of birth to launch the Polish translation of My Soul is Filled with Joy.  Exactly three years ago, when we first met Jan, Janina and Eugeniusz Stys, I told them that once I publish the book, I hoped to have it translated to Polish so that they could read it.    Well, Jan and Janina have left the physical world and we only have a grave to visit.  But Eugeniusz and his wife Alina are still living in Stare Lipki and next Monday, I will have the honor and privilege to place a Polish book into the hands of the man who brought food to Sam and Esther as they hid in the forest pit.

Stay tune for blog posts from Poland!