A Reason to Rise

Rabbi Jeremy Barras

Description

Miami Beach, 1946. For Rabbi Sam Groh, the sparkling waters and sandy shores of Miami Beach should have symbolized salvation. World War II was over, but his personal success as newly anointed head rabbi of Miami’s most esteemed reform congregation could not be enjoyed in the wake of the Holocaust’s devastating toll on his people. When given the chance to help survivors leave Europe for a new homeland of their own in Palestine, Rabbi Groh is desperate to join the cause.
Generations later the torch Rabbi Groh once ignited finds its way to his successor, his grandson, Rabbi Eitan Groh. Plagued with virulent antisemitism, the Jewish community of Europe is once again the target of hatred and bigotry at the scene of one of its darkest memories. Inspired by the bravery of his grandfather, Eitan is determined to go to the center of the controversy and do his part to prevent another mass Jewish tragedy on European soil. A turn in world events thrusts Eitan into battle against one of his people’s darkest enemies, and powerful forces he knows little about. Racing against the crimes of the past in order to prevent crimes of the future, Eitan sets out on a journey that could prevent catastrophe. That is if it doesn’t get him killed in the process.
In A Reason to Rise, The Groh rabbinic dynasty takes the reader on an international journey of the Jewish experience in the 20th century. From the depths of the Holocaust to the establishment of the state of Israel, to the systemic rise of antisemitism across Europe, one family does their part to keep Judaism alive. In the spirit of Leon Uris and Daniel Silva, A Reason to Rise challenges readers to consider how and if Judaism outside of the State of Israel will continue to survive.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 21 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9798369401194
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A REASON TO RISE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rabbi Jeremy Barras
 
Copyright © 2023 by Rabbi Jeremy Barras.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023911306
ISBN:
Softcover
979-8-3694-0120-0
 
eBook
979-8-3694-0119-4
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 06/20/2023
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
854046
CONTENTS
Prologue : Odessa, Ukraine 2020
 
Chapter 1       Amsterdam, 1946
Chapter 2       Miami Beach, 1946
Chapter 3       Miami Beach, 1946
Chapter 4       Miami-Nova Scotia, 1946
Chapter 5       Loma, Poland, 1898
Chapter 6       Somewhere Over the Eastern Seaboard, 1946
Chapter 7       Thessaloniki, Greece, 1946
Chapter 8       Nova Scotia, 1946
Chapter 9       Thessaloniki, Greece 1946
Chapter 10     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 11     Auschwitz, 1944
Chapter 12     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 13     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 14     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 15     Mauthausen, 1944
Chapter 16     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 17     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 18     The Maharhash, 1946
Chapter 19     Haifa, 1946
Chapter 20     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret, 1946
Chapter 21     Odessa, Ukraine
Chapter 22     Odessa, Ukraine
Chapter 23     Kiev, Ukraine, 1941
Chapter 24     Odessa, Ukraine
Chapter 25     Paris, 1959
Chapter 26     Odessa, Ukraine
Chapter 27     Odessa–Miami
Chapter 28     Kiev, Ukraine
Chapter 29     Kiev–Israeli Embassy
Chapter 30     Jerusalem
Chapter 31     Jerusalem
Chapter 32     Jerusalem
Chapter 33     Miami
Chapter 34     Washington, DC
Chapter 35     Washington, DC
Chapter 36     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 37     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 38     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 39     Jerusalem
Chapter 40     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 41     Miami
Chapter 42     Kiev, Ukraine
Chapter 43     Athens, Greece
Chapter 44     Miami
Chapter 45     Tel Aviv
Chapter 46     The Road to Jerusalem
Chapter 47     Tel Aviv
Chapter 48     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 49     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret, 1952
Chapter 50     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 51     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 52     Tel Aviv
Chapter 53     Tel Aviv
Chapter 54     Tel Aviv
Chapter 55     Bat Yam
Chapter 56     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 57     Tel Aviv
Chapter 58     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 59     Bat Yam
Chapter 60     Kibbutz Nof Kinneret
Chapter 61     Jerusalem
Chapter 62     Jerusalem
Chapter 63     Miami Beach
Chapter 64     Miami Beach
Chapter 65     Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia
Chapter 66     Miami Beach
Chapter 67     Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia
Chapter 68     Miami Beach
Chapter 69     Miami Beach
Chapter 70     Miami Beach
Chapter 71     Miami Beach
Chapter 72     Brickell Key, Miami
Chapter 73     Miami Beach
Chapter 74     Miami Beach
Chapter 75     Miami Beach
 
Acknowledgements
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For my wife Jodi, my children Ella and E than,
and my parents David and Shelley Ba rras
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Zionism finds in it, for the Jews, a reason to ra ise their heads, and, taking their stand upon the past, to gaze straightforwardly into the fu ture.
Louis Bran deis
PROLOGUE
Odessa, Ukraine 2020
The rash of antisemitic attacks sweeping the nation had nothing in common with what had just happened. Two foreign rabbis, one Israeli and the other American, stood in the street waiting to be interviewed by local police. It was the flat they were sharing into which someone had just thrown three Molotov cocktails. As the fire department was finishing off the last of the flames, Eli, the Israeli rabbi, broke the silence.
“This is not a random incident,” he said to his American colleague, a well-known rabbi from Miami named Eitan Groh.
“How do you know that? These attacks are like a nightly occurrence these days.”
“You think thugs randomly targeted the flat of an American rabbi and an Israeli rabbi employed by Israeli intelligence?”
“It’s possible,” Eitan said.
“Trust me, this is not a coincidence. You will see. The police aren’t going to find any fingerprints. There aren’t going to be any skid marks from a car skidding away. No witnesses will have seen anything useful. Whoever did this knew well what they were doing, and what message they were sending,” Eli explained.
“What message?”
“A message to us. That we better find what we need and get out of this country before it’s too late.”
“Well, it’s either that or just another random attack on the local Jewish community,” Eitan responded.
The two men stood quietly for several minutes before a local policeman approached them.
“Well, gentlemen. It seems someone doesn’t like you very much,” he said with a healthy hint of sarcasm.
“Really, there is someone who doesn’t like rabbis in Ukraine?” Eli answered.
“Keep your comedy to yourself,” the policeman said changing his jovial tone to anger.
“We will investigate further, but so far, we see no clues here. I hope you have somewhere else to stay tonight,” the policeman said unempathetically.
Eli glanced at Eitan. Eitan wasn’t convinced that this was anything more than a random antisemitic incident, but he was certain that the police were not at all interested in their plight.
“You don’t have to say it, Eli. I know, our time here is coming to an end,” Eitan said.
“It’s not just us. Once again, the presence of our people is no longer tolerable in this land.”
PART I
Palestine
CHAPTER 1
Amsterdam, 1946
No matter how much Jan Gruber looked forward to the end of each day, when night fell, he could never fall asleep. During the day, the other broken souls around him kept their silence about the horrors of the past. At night though, they were betrayed by the world of the subconscious. Their dreams rattled their being, and details of their unimaginable ordeals were released bit by bit. For any human being with a shred of emotion remaining, falling asleep was no simple exercise.
The first night amongst the cots in Amsterdam’s once-grand Portuguese Synagogue was tense. Jan lay awake in the middle of the night surrounded by various other lost souls with nowhere else to turn. The ray of moonlight beaming through a cracked stained-glass window provided enough illumination for Jan to notice that the young man across from him was awake as well.
He whispered carefully, “I’m Jan. Does anyone ever fall asleep here?”
“I’m Samuel,” the man whispered back. “I don’t know. I’ve only been here a few days. But I haven’t fallen asleep here yet. Well, actually, I do get tired during the day, and sometimes I daydream about Palestine and where I am going…”
“Where you are going to what?” Jan asked, eager for Samuel to finish his thought. But it was no use. Samuel was in a daze. Even though his eyes were open, he was lost in another world.
Jan looked around to see if there was anyone else with whom he could make conversation. He wanted to talk but was afraid to wake any of the lucky survivors who had succeeded in falling asleep. Instead, his only option was to stare at the artistry on the synagogue ceiling until the sun rose.
In the breakfast line the next morning, Jan again encountered Samuel, but Samuel did not seem to remember him. Nevertheless, Jan engaged him in conversation, and the two sat down together. At a long table where others were drinking coffee and eating pastries and fruit provided by the Red Cross, Jan and Samuel skirted around their pasts. They didn’t need to ask each other much. Without one question, Samuel had a good idea of where Jan had been. The tattoo on his forearm also betrayed his past.
No other background was needed. It wasn’t necessary for Jan to tell Samuel about his first deportation to Westerbork, the transit camp in the northeastern part of the Netherlands where Jews worked as forced laborers. Or that after that he was sent to Auschwitz just in time for his sixteenth birthday. Or that after that he was shipped to another hellhole known as Mauthausen.
Normal people might have asked about each other’s families and the cities that they came from, but Jan and Samuel knew that the past was off-limits. It was a lot easier to discuss the future. Remembering what Samuel was saying before he lost consciousness, Jan asked, “So where do you want to go from here?”
“There’s only one place for us now: Palestine. I am going to go there and become a farmer and a soldier and help to