The Boy Who Lost His Birthday: A Memoir of Loss, Survival, and Triumph

by Laszlo Berkowits, Robert W. Kenny, Jody I. Franklin

Overview

The Boy Who Lost His Birthday is the uplifting story of one man's journey from boyhood in rural Hungary to triumph over oppression during the Holocaust and finally to a role as a spiritual leader in America. Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits' compelling memoir recounts his happy childhood memories in Derecske, Hungary where he was a member of a thriving Jewish community and aspired to become a cantor. Stricken with wartime poverty, Berkowits and his father left their home and family behind to seek work in Budapest. It was there that they were rounded up with other Budapest Jews and shipped by sealed train to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. Berkowits vividly narrates his treacherous experience as a sixteen year-old boy surviving in the notorious Nazi concentration camp until its liberation by American troops. After recovery in Sweden, Berkowits immigrated to America were he completed his education, joined the United States Army, and became a chaplain's assistant. After leaving the Army, he undertook graduate study at Hebrew Union College, married, and became the founding rabbi of the largest Jewish congregation in Virginia, Temple Rodef Shalom. Berkowits' story shows that he emerged victorious over deprivation, cruelty, and tragedy to become an exemplar of American success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761840664
Publisher:	Hamilton Books
Publication date:	09/05/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 9.09(h) x 0.42(d)

About the Author

Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits earned a Master of Hebrew Letters degree and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College. He is the founding Rabbi of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia, where he served from his ordination in 1963 to his retirement as Senior Rabbi in 1998.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Acknowledgements
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 Preface
Chapter 4 Chapter 1: My World
Chapter 5 Chapter 2: Our Jewish Community
Chapter 6 Chapter 3: The World Changed
Chapter 7 Chapter 4: Budapest
Chapter 8 Chapter 5: Arrest and Deportation
Chapter 9 Chapter 6: Arrival
Chapter 10 Chapter 7: Auschwitz-Birkenau
Chapter 11 Chapter 8: After
Chapter 12 Chapter 9: Toward Recovery
Chapter 13 Chapter 10: A New Life
Chapter 14 References

Editorial Reviews

Laszlo Berkowits' life, his song, and this memoir remind us that there is a path to harmony that can bind the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, Orthodoxy and Reform, even Derecske and Washington. The voice of Laszlo Berkowits, though tinged with past sadness, resonates with hope for the future.

Paul A. Shapiro

Laszlo Berkowits' life, his song, and this memoir remind us that there is a path to harmony that can bind the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, Orthodoxy and Reform, even Derecske and Washington. The voice of Laszlo Berkowits, though tinged with past sadness, resonates with hope for the future.--Paul A. Shapiro, Director, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

This is a marvelous tale of the deepest tragedy and the slow climb back to a full, meaningful life. I've long known that Laszlo Berkowits was a marvelous man and a rather ideal rabbi but just learned here that he's a masterful story-teller.--Ambassador Ken Adelman, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Arms Control Director in the Reagan Administration

Laszlo Berkowits' story is compelling, his narrative moving. . . . He does not exalt in his survival, but the reader must exalt in what Berkowits has done with his survival. He made his witness an offering and this work is testimony to the grace of the offering.--Michael Berenbaum, director, Sigi Ziering Institute, American Jewish University

From the Publisher

This is a marvelous tale of the deepest tragedy and the slow climb back to a full, meaningful life. I've long known that Laszlo Berkowits was a marvelous man and a rather ideal rabbi but just learned here that he's a masterful story-teller.

Ambassador Ken Adelman

Laszlo Berkowits' story is compelling, his narrative moving. . . . He does not exalt in his survival, but the reader must exalt in what Berkowits has done with his survival. He made his witness an offering and this work is testimony to the grace of the offering.

Michael Berenbaum