
Defiance

There was also a good deal of bartering in the matter of rations, and several food pools were formed. Typical of these was the “sugar pool” in which each man who belonged passed up one of his three lumps of sugar each day in order to partake of a feast when his turn came around every sixth or seventh day. Wild made no objection to this sort of thin
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“You are entering into a tradition of manhood, or personhood, in this troubled world,” Hershey said. “You are taking a full responsibility for the Torah and its laws, and you are responsible not just for perpetuating Judaism but for making sure that there are still Jews in the world. On this day, we ask of you that you build a Jewish home, that you
... See moreTaffy Brodesser-Akner • Long Island Compromise: A sensational new novel by the international bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble
Primo Levi, who wrote about his survival at Auschwitz, described Elias, a dwarf who was interned in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. He was enormously strong, bestial, and quite insane, and with those qualities he not only navigated the Auschwitz system, where so many died all around him, but actually thrived. He ate, stole, an
... See moreJeff Bridges • The Dude and the Zen Master
ON APRIL 5, the wheel of history turned. It was late afternoon. We were standing inside the block, waiting for an SS to come and count us. He was late. Such lateness was unprecedented in the history of Buchenwald. Something must have happened. Two hours later, the loudspeakers transmitted an order from the camp Kommandant: all Jews were to gather i
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