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The Bamboo Cradle: A Jewish Father's Story
Adopting a Chinese baby leads an American professor and his wife to the discovery of their own Jewish heritage. An absorbing, true story to read and re-read. .
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 22, 2008
This is a non-fiction book, not a novel, about a American couple who went to Taiwan in the early 70s on a Fulbright scholarship, and ended up leaving with a baby girl that the father, Avraham Schwartzbaum found abandoned in a train station. This couple may have been one of the first couples to adopt from China. There certainly were no established procedures for foreign adoption from China, so the Schwartzbaum couple had to fight tooth-and-nail with both the Chinese and U.S. bureaucracies to take their baby girl home with them.
The Bamboo Cradle continues the adoption story along with the Schwartzbaums's decision to become Orthodox Jews due to their interest in converting their daughter to Judaism, and details about Devora growing up in the Orthodox community in communities in the U.S. and in Israel. They don't gloss over the challenges, racism and difficulties. You read about both their positive experiences along with the negative, and the difficult decisions that they had to make along the way.
What's nice about this book is that the story continues until Devora is a teenager, and doesn't end when they come home from China or soon afterwards like most books do.
I have read this book repeatedly over the last 20 years, each time with a different perspective. I read this book as a fascinated teenager, as Devora is my age and we attended the same school for a year, so I actually knew who she was, but had no idea how a Chinese girl ended up in a school in Israel (in the mid 80s, there were very few Asians in Israel at all, so she definitely was noticeable). I then read it as an adult who understood more of the story line and issues than a teenager did. After marrying, I read it as an infertile woman, struggling to conceive. Now I read it as a potential adoptive parent who is concerned about her decision to adopt a child from a different race, and integrating the child in the Orthodox Jewish community. Obviously, I find this book very, very relevant.
An Amazon reviewer complained that they didn't know what happened next, and doubted that it had a happy ending. I can tell you that the book *does* have a happy ending. Devora occasionally gives speeches about her childhood and her current life, and I've made contact with her with the hope that she can later advise me and serve as a role model for my daughter(s) (or sons). She married an Orthodox Jewish man (another famous Jewish writer, Ruchoma Shain, made her "shidduch", match), has several gorgeous children, and currently lives in the U.S. She seems well integrated in her community, and pretty well-adjusted.
As you may be able to guess from the fact that they were in Taiwan on a Fulbright scholarship, the Schwartzbaum couple are very, very well educated. Avraham is a sociologist, and his wife, Barbara, is an accomplished linguist. The book is therefore exceptionally well-written and absolutely fascinating. Avraham pulls you into their story from the very first paragraph, and doesn't let you go until the end. There is also a chapter written by Barbara that explains her perspective. The end of the book includes excerpts from Devora's diaries, which I really enjoyed as a teenager! She and I had very similar feelings and writing styles.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. My copy is beginning to fall apart, and other people always want to borrow it after I rave about it, so I need to find two hard cover copies for my personal library.
The Bamboo Cradle continues the adoption story along with the Schwartzbaums's decision to become Orthodox Jews due to their interest in converting their daughter to Judaism, and details about Devora growing up in the Orthodox community in communities in the U.S. and in Israel. They don't gloss over the challenges, racism and difficulties. You read about both their positive experiences along with the negative, and the difficult decisions that they had to make along the way.
What's nice about this book is that the story continues until Devora is a teenager, and doesn't end when they come home from China or soon afterwards like most books do.
I have read this book repeatedly over the last 20 years, each time with a different perspective. I read this book as a fascinated teenager, as Devora is my age and we attended the same school for a year, so I actually knew who she was, but had no idea how a Chinese girl ended up in a school in Israel (in the mid 80s, there were very few Asians in Israel at all, so she definitely was noticeable). I then read it as an adult who understood more of the story line and issues than a teenager did. After marrying, I read it as an infertile woman, struggling to conceive. Now I read it as a potential adoptive parent who is concerned about her decision to adopt a child from a different race, and integrating the child in the Orthodox Jewish community. Obviously, I find this book very, very relevant.
An Amazon reviewer complained that they didn't know what happened next, and doubted that it had a happy ending. I can tell you that the book *does* have a happy ending. Devora occasionally gives speeches about her childhood and her current life, and I've made contact with her with the hope that she can later advise me and serve as a role model for my daughter(s) (or sons). She married an Orthodox Jewish man (another famous Jewish writer, Ruchoma Shain, made her "shidduch", match), has several gorgeous children, and currently lives in the U.S. She seems well integrated in her community, and pretty well-adjusted.
As you may be able to guess from the fact that they were in Taiwan on a Fulbright scholarship, the Schwartzbaum couple are very, very well educated. Avraham is a sociologist, and his wife, Barbara, is an accomplished linguist. The book is therefore exceptionally well-written and absolutely fascinating. Avraham pulls you into their story from the very first paragraph, and doesn't let you go until the end. There is also a chapter written by Barbara that explains her perspective. The end of the book includes excerpts from Devora's diaries, which I really enjoyed as a teenager! She and I had very similar feelings and writing styles.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. My copy is beginning to fall apart, and other people always want to borrow it after I rave about it, so I need to find two hard cover copies for my personal library.
March 25, 2022
A truly beautiful story of a magnificent journey towards becoming an "Eved HaShem" brought about from the most unlikely of places.
While a fantastic "Baal Teshuvah" story, I do personally wish more time had been devoted to the peculiarities of raising an adopted daughter throughout that time. While the passages from Devorah's diary do somewhat expound on such peculiarities and the, for better or worse, unique experiences that come with being raised by a community of people who look nothing like you, it would have been quite nice to hear how the parents dealt with these aspects and for them to give some detail, warning, and advice for Orthodox couples who may see adoption in their future. Sadly, adoption in the Orthodox Jewish world is often looked at as a decision of last resort, and valuable stories such as these are therefore hard to come by. As such, while The Bamboo Cradle excellently details the wonderous, positive ways an Asian child brought a childless couple towards centering their lives around HaShem that culminated in making Aaliyah, it unfortunately glosses over many of the more complicated aspects of raising such a child in such an environment and passes on the opportunity to serve also as a valuable teaching tool for for Orthodox couples who may find themselves in similar circumstances.
While a fantastic "Baal Teshuvah" story, I do personally wish more time had been devoted to the peculiarities of raising an adopted daughter throughout that time. While the passages from Devorah's diary do somewhat expound on such peculiarities and the, for better or worse, unique experiences that come with being raised by a community of people who look nothing like you, it would have been quite nice to hear how the parents dealt with these aspects and for them to give some detail, warning, and advice for Orthodox couples who may see adoption in their future. Sadly, adoption in the Orthodox Jewish world is often looked at as a decision of last resort, and valuable stories such as these are therefore hard to come by. As such, while The Bamboo Cradle excellently details the wonderous, positive ways an Asian child brought a childless couple towards centering their lives around HaShem that culminated in making Aaliyah, it unfortunately glosses over many of the more complicated aspects of raising such a child in such an environment and passes on the opportunity to serve also as a valuable teaching tool for for Orthodox couples who may find themselves in similar circumstances.
January 19, 2025
“I saw the wisdom of this approach and knew from my many travels that a society’s attitude toward its dead was one of the surest indications of its attitude toward the living.” pg. 199
“You must realize, however, that none of us controls anything. HaKadosh Baruch Hu determines what happens to us, He makes things occur, He restrains things.” pg. 205. I really needed this reminder at this point in my life.
“You must realize, however, that none of us controls anything. HaKadosh Baruch Hu determines what happens to us, He makes things occur, He restrains things.” pg. 205. I really needed this reminder at this point in my life.
January 11, 2022
The parents felt incredibly self absorbed.
They broke their housekeeper’s gift, smugly noting their superior religion.
The father agrees to never embrace his daughter, in the name of religion.
Most of the book has nothing to do with The daughter but how superior orthodoxy is
I feel like that had they stayed irreligious, they would be happier.
They broke their housekeeper’s gift, smugly noting their superior religion.
The father agrees to never embrace his daughter, in the name of religion.
Most of the book has nothing to do with The daughter but how superior orthodoxy is
I feel like that had they stayed irreligious, they would be happier.
April 28, 2019
Touching story of a family coming to understand its ancestral faith and that Judaism is something that doesn't have anything to do with race, but with the covenant that one makes with God.
August 15, 2019
One of the best books on faith there is. It swelled my heart with joy and inspired me greatly. The writing was wonderful as well.
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August 30, 2020This book was donated to our synagogue library, and I finally got around to reading it. It was really very good, an honest, heartfelt sharing of a family's path to observant Judaism.
March 20, 2021
The parts I particularly liked where those when the author gave a short Dvar Torah in each of the Brits of his boys.
January 18, 2025
Easy to read account of the author's journey to authentic judaism catalysed by adopting a Taiwanese baby he found abandoned in a train station.
May 28, 2022
I received this book as a bat mitzvah gift in the 1990s and at that age, I was more interested in reading Seventeen and YM magazines. It wasn't until several years later, that I sat down and read this cover to cover. It became so special to me as it really connects a lot of personal issues in my own Yiddishkeit. I've reread it several times over the years, and it always holds a special place in my heart.
February 28, 2008
This is the story of a Jewish couple living in Taiwan who find an abandoned baby girl in a train station, and then adopt her. I really enjoyed the story, but I found myself at odds with the author. He at times seemed prejudice towards people who's beliefs, or level of commitment to Judaism differed from his. I found this to be especially ironic considering what his daughter had to go through when they moved to Israel. Perhaps some of his views changed after their move, he doesn't really say. I just felt shocked by some of his opinions, and even found it hard to finish the book after a few of his comments. I did stick with it to the end though, and it was worth it just to hear his wife and daughter's side of things.
July 31, 2013
Nice story. Childless superficially-Jewish couple find and adopt an abandoned little girl while living in Taiwan; their later quest to have her converted to Judaism leads the whole family to become Orthodox and eventually move to Israel. There was LOTS of Hebrew in this book; I knew some of it, but had to imagine meanings for some of it--not always successfully. Then at the end I discover--a glossary. Well. LOL
June 16, 2008
This book is eight subcategories of problematic. I can't even repeat half of the stuff in here. It starts out being a book about adoption and then...whoa, unnecessary proselytizing about not doing your laundry on Shabbos.
February 19, 2008
A very touching story about an unusual adoption.
March 23, 2014
Loved this book, now my girls are reading it. True devotion
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews