Chaim Shapiro was born in Lomza, Poland. On September 1st, 1939, the Germans invade Poland, quickly annihilating many of the people, including his younger brother Nosson. Soon after the Soviet Union signs a treaty the Germans, giving over Poland to them. Out of fear that he would lose his religion under atheist communist rulership, his mother pleads with him to leave, saying the fateful words “Go My Son.” He leaves war-torn Poland for Vilna, Lithuania, joining with the rest of the Kamenetz Yeshiva. Because of the frequent casualties of war people were forced to move from place to place for safety, because of which he eventually finds himself alone on a train bound Moscow, deep within the Soviet Union. Upon arrival he is sent to work repairing tractors in a small backward village called Karobka, in the Booyan region.
Throughout his time in the USSR Chaim constantly tries to enlist in the army in order to help in the fight against the Germans, but is repeatedly unsuccessful. He ultimately decides to chase after a division of the Polish army in the USSR, but misses them. and ends up being drafted to work Kazakhstan, a hot, sandy, desert among a nomadic Muslim tribe.. He works there for many months….
While spending time in Kazakhstan, his desire to go out and fight grows stronger and stronger. Through much hard work and planning he eventually manages to enlist in a Polish Army division called Battalion 92, which helps maintain the railways which deliver supplies to the fronts. After nearly starving to death on an assignment in the Ural Mountains, he deserts the Battalion, escaping to Chelyabinsk, where he joins a military school. Upon completion, he is sent to fight at the front in a Polish Army Reserve, achieving his goal o...
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...that it is really Hashem who is orchestrating every detail and helping us continue.
Once we realize that nothing is by chance and it is really Hashem who is leading us through our lives every day, we can come to a renewed sense of appreciation for everything that happens. Even though we are not b”h not living during the Churban, the lessons on Hashgachah we can take are just as relevant, since Hashem guides us through all situations, the good and the bad. We too go through times where we cannot understand how something that seems so bad can be good, or can’t seem to find a way to solve a nisayon we are put through. We are even sometimes blindsided when we do receive the yeshua, not realizing it was sent by Hakadosh Baruch Hu. By implementing the lessons of “Go My Son” and having the outlook of it is really Hashem arranging everything, we will be able to
In the book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz, the author followed the lives of two young brothers (Lafayette and Pharoah) while they grew up in the harsh streets of Chicago in the late 1980’s. The author uses the story of the two boys’ lives to discuss the social divide in our very own society and to persuade readers that there is a major problem in “the projects” of the United States.
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
Robert Laurence Moore has written a delightful, enlightening, and provocative survey of American church history centered around the theme of "mixing" the "sacred" with the "secular" and vice versa. The major points of conversation covered include the polarization caused by the public display of religious symbols, the important contribution that women and Africans have made to the American religious mosaic, the harmony and friction that has existed between science and religion, the impact of immigration on religious pluralism, and the twin push toward the union and separation of religion and politics.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
“Blood Brothers” by Willy Russell Blood Brothers seems to have been set in the 1970s/80s around Liverpool. There is a lot about striking and major redundancies in it. Also about people moving "out of Liverpool" into the "country" ( Skelmersdale ), in order to provide better housing and better prospects for everyone. The social climate of the working class appears to highlight the differences between working and middle classes.
Michael MacDonald’S All Souls is a heart wrenching insider account of growing up in Old Country housing projects located in the south of Boston, also known as Southie to the locals. The memoir takes the reader deep inside the world of Southie through the eyes of MacDonald. MacDonald was one of 11 children to grow up and deal with the many tribulations of Southie, Boston. Southie is characterized by high levels of crime, racism, and violence; all things that fall under the category of social problem. Social problems can be defined as “societal induced conditions that harms any segment of the population. Social problems are also related to acts and conditions that violate the norms and values found in society” (Long). The social problems that are present in Southie are the very reasons why the living conditions are so bad as well as why Southie is considered one of the poorest towns in Boston. Macdonald’s along with his family have to overcome the presence of crime, racism, and violence in order to survive in the town they consider the best place in the world.
The Soviet-Afghan War changed the course of millions of lives. Samady’s father is no exception. He went from an engineering student to a person devastated by war. Without the war, he would have never endured a coma or known what it was like to live in a refugee ghetto. More importantly, he would not be the person his daughter has
"Las Papas" by Julia Ortega is a story that tries to convey a simple yet a very realistic message. The story tries to reveal the fact that how over the years, as generation changes, we lose touch to our family values, our history as well as our very own culture. Las Papas is a Spanish word for Potatoes. The story is based on a man and his son. The man tries to pass on his family culture and history to his son, which in this story is more of connected to potatoes. Potatoes in this story symbolizes the memories and history of his family and his motherland Peru. This story highlights the fact and difficulties relating to the migration of people from one country to another, the hardships they face to adjust and settle in new place and how over the course of time, in the process of
The book “A Long Way From Chicago” is an adventurous and funny story. The story takes place at Joey Dowdel’s Grandmothers farm house in the country. Joey and his sister Mary Alice were sent to their Grandma’s house during the summer because their parents had to go to Canada for their work. At first, Joey felt uncomfortable with his Grandmother because he had never met her before but eventually he got to know her and they became close friends.
In the short story “Being There”, by Jerzy Kosinski, there are multiple examples of satire that are displayed throughout both the book and the movie. A few of them are: media, death, politics, and racism. The satire of the media was very similar in the book and the movie. Media played a big role in society and still does to this day.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
“Sonny’s Blues” revolves around the narrator as he learns who his drug-hooked, piano-playing baby brother, Sonny, really is. The author, James Baldwin, paints views on racism, misery and art and suffering in this story. His written canvas portrays a dark and continual scene pertaining to each topic. As the story unfolds, similarities in each generation can be observed. The two African American brothers share a life similar to that of their father and his brother. The father’s brother had a thirst for music, and they both travelled the treacherous road of night clubs, drinking and partying before his brother was hit and killed by a car full of white boys. Plagued, the father carried this pain of the loss of his brother and bitterness towards the whites to his grave. “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”(346) Watching the same problems transcend onto the narrator’s baby brother, Sonny, the reader feels his despair when he tries to relate the same scenarios his father had, to his brother. “All that hatred down there”, he said “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”(355) He’s trying to relate to his brother that even though some try to cover their misery with doing what others deem as “right,” others just cover it with a different mask. “But nobody just takes it.” Sonny cried, “That’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!”(355) The narrator had dealt with his own miseries of knowing his father’s plight, his Brother Sonny’s imprisonment and the loss of his own child. Sonny tried to give an understanding of what music was for him throughout thei...
The poem 'Homecoming' originates from Bruce Dawe. Its journey depicts the aspects of war and its devastations upon human individuals. Using mainly the Vietnam War as a demonstration for its destructions.
Who is the birthday party a rite of passage for, the birthday boy or his mother?
Father and Son by Bernard McLaverty 'Father and Son' by Bernard McLaverty is a short story which is set in