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`SUDDENLY JEWISH'

from page 81

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Holocaust as children with
gentiles; children of
Holocaust survivors who
gave up their Judaism; and
adoptees whose biological
families were Jewish.
Interestingly, about 10
percent of her subjects con-
verted to Judaism before they
learned of their Jewish roots.
And many more than that
spoke of feeling drawn to
irWS RAISED AS GENTILES
Jewish people, or inexplica-
C, ISCOVERTHEIR JEWISH
bly moved by events like
ROOTS
watching films of the
Holocaust, before discover-
ing that there was something
Jewish in their backgrounds.
One man from Holland
who grew up in a non-prac-
ticing gentile home was
drawn to the Bible (he tore
out the New Testament sec-
tion) and Hebrew. After
deciding to convert to
Judaism, he discovered that
BARBARA KESSEL
his mother was a Holocaust
survivor who cut all ties
with her Jewish past after all "Suddenly Jewish" is heavily based on actual tran-
scripts, so the stories appear in the tellers' own words.
of her immediate family
members were killed by the
Nazis. She made him
promise not to tell anyone, and he
to do this book was Madeleine
understood. The one person he told
Albright. After the secretary of state
was his rabbi, who shared his shock,
said she was unaware of her Jewish
and likened his story to "a tiny oven
roots when the press revealed that her
pilot light that's always on but wait-
parents were Jewish refugees from
ing to be fueled into a blazing flame."
wartime Czechoslovakia, the author
Not all of those interviewed
"couldn't let go of it."
embraced Judaism after learning of
She adds: "I couldn't imagine how
their roots. For some it was indeed a
she could not know. I tried to imag-
"homecoming" of sorts, but for oth-
ine what it would be like for me if I
ers, it was devastating news. Some
found out I wasn't Jewish. It captured
entered a kind of "spiritual no man's
my imagination."' •
land," Kessel notes, where they didn't
Kessel speaks with great passion for
know who or what they were.
her topic and loves telling the stories
"The themes that come through,"
that didn't make it into the book. She
Kessel explains in an interview "are
says that many of the people had a
the need for an honest knowledge of
sense of urgency in talking about
who you are. Without that you can't
their experiences and were relieved to
move ahead psychologically. People
finally go public, to some degree.
desperately want to know the truth."
Many wondered whether Kessel
She adds, "There was a certain-
came from a similar hidden back-
amount of anger. A lot of people
ground, but the 50-year old Modern
wanted to make the leap to under-
Orthodox Edison, N.J., resident was
raised in a thoroughly Jewish home.
stand why their parents lied. They
Suddenly Jewish has a timely quali-
came to see that they were trying to
protect them."
ty about it: If these stories hadn't
been told, they might have been lost
She also believes that people have
forever. The author spent 18 months
"a deep need for spirituality. If you
live a contemporary life devoid of
researching and six months writing,
either religion or connection to the
and says it was though the book
Divine, it leaves you with a gaping
"wrote itself."
hole."
"My fingers would move from let-
ter to letter as though I was channel-
For Kessel, director of administra-
ing these people's stories," she says.
tion at the Board of Jewish Education
of Greater New York, the. inspiration
"That's how intimate it felt." ❑

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