a backdrop to
this story — it
shapes the lives
of the characters
who inhabit
it, for better
or worse. The
author’s own
family history
inspired this
debut novel and
the writing pro-
cess helped heal
old wounds.
■ Winner of
the Sami Rohr
Prize for Jewish
Literature, Israeli Ayelet Tsabari’s
debut collection of 11 tales, The
Best Place on Earth: Stories
(Random House), daringly takes
on the complexities of Israeli life
and its diaspora. Called by some a
“complicated love song to Israel,”
the stories often focus on Israel’s
Mizrahi Jews searching for their
place in the world. The stories are
global in scope yet intimate in
feel, beautifully written and emo-
tionally powerful.
■ In The Book of Esther: A
Novel (Tim Duggan Books),
Emily Barton (Brookland)
reimagines some of history’s
darkest period. On the steppes
between the Black and Caspian
seas, Esther seeks a fabled village
of kabbalists who can change
her into a man so that she can
save her nation’s existence from
the Nazi threat. In the style of
Cynthia Ozick and Italo Calvino,
Barton invents an otherworldly
uprising with a Jewish Joan of Arc
at the center of it.

■ The Chosen
Ones: A Novel
(Farrar, Straus
and Giroux)
takes place
inside Am
Spiegelgrund, a
children’s clinic
in Vienna where
hundreds of
children were
killed under the
Nazi Regime
Children’s
Euthanasia
Program.
Focusing on
a child inmate and a nurse,
author Steve Sem-Sandberg (The
Emperor of Lies) brings readers
into the experiences of the abus-
ers and the abused as they under-
take daily rituals of psychological
and physical torment.
■ The Devil in Jerusalem (St.
Martin’s Press) is the eighth novel
by Naomi Ragen, an American
who has lived in Israel for the
last 40 years and has been voted
one of the three most popular
authors in Israel. This novel is
inspired by the true story of a
man who started a dark, secret
sect in Israel and corrupted a
young Orthodox family. Two chil-
dren are admitted to Hadassah
Hospital with terrible injuries;
their mother, a young American
heiress, recites psalms and refus-
es to answer questions. The story
follows Detective Bina Tzedek
as she unravels the mystery by
encountering kabbalists, mystical
ancient texts and horrifying cult
rituals.

FICTION continued on page 52

THE HOLOCAUST
■ East West Street (Alfred A.
Knopf), a moving personal detec-
tive story, begins when author
Philippe Sands, an international
lawyer, accepts an invitation to lec-
ture at Lviv University — with the
intent of learning about the city,
home to his maternal grandfather
before the war. While there, Sands
explores the personal and intellec-
tual evolution of the two men who
simultaneously originated the ideas
of “genocide” and “crimes against
humanity.”
■ In In Those Nightmarish
Days: The Ghetto Reportage
of Peretz Opoczynski and Josef

Zelkowicz (Yale University Press),
editors Samuel D. Kasow and
David Suchoff provide the powerful

THE HOLOCAUST continued on page 52

Moshe And Asa

Jennifer Lovy | Special to the Jewish News

Moshe &
As
a

The true story
of a remarkable
friendship.

D

arcee Matlen arrived
at Sample Wearhouse
Who knows
expecting to do what
what Sacha will do with
she does every Thursday: sort
that knowledge and his
through new shipments and
experience with Asa.”
help customers find clothes at
Matlen was anxious
her family’s West Bloomfield
Asa and Sacha smooch as Eddie watches.
to write their story and
store. She happened to be
immediately began
unpacking a box of T-shirts
collaborating with
when a 4-year-old boy walked
In addition to working in her
Aguilar as well as Asa’s son
in with his mother. He said five
words that inspired her to write family’s clothing store, Matlen is Eddie Shapiro. He liked the idea
a manifestation coach, helping
immediately: Because his par-
and publish her first children’s
clients accomplish their busi-
ents survived the Holocaust but
book, Moshe & Asa.
Just as Sacha Aguilar and
ness and life goals.
much of their family did not,
his mom, Alyssa, came into the
In 2011 she self-published
he felt it was especially impor-
store, the preschooler noncha-
Bask: The Dreamer’s Guide to
tant for his grandchildren and
lantly said, “My best friend is 93.” Reaching for the Stars While
his brother’s grandchildren to
Matlen learned that when
Realizing You Have Already
know the story.
Sacha was 2 he met his best
Caught the Moon, written to
Sacha also likes having a
friend, Asa Shapiro, follow-
inspire readers to appreci-
book written about him and
ing a shabbat service at
ate where they are while still
his friend Asa. When Matlen
Congregation Beth Am in
dreaming about the future.
approached Aguilar, it was the
West Bloomfield. According
Four years later she published
first time she really stopped to
to Aguilar, Sacha saw a man
20 Steps to Launch and Grow
think about the uniqueness of
in a wheelchair and noticed
Your Small Business: Grow Your
their relationship.
he wasn’t eating during the
Etsy Shop, Multi-Level Product,
“This has been our quiet
Kiddush and announced that
Personal Brand or Service. Both
story so when Darcee asked if
he was going to bring him
are available for download on
she could write a book about
something to eat. So Sacha
Kindle.
their friendship it was a little
grabbed some cantaloupe
Moshe & Asa is available on
overwhelming, but very excit-
and kichel and climbed into
Amazon as well as online at
ing,” Aguilar says. “It’s amazing
Shapiro’s lap.
Mosheandasa.com.
how Darcee put all those years
This seemingly small act
According to Matlen, the
of a friendship into a story.
was the start of a weekly ritual
book is also slated to be sold
It’s not just a Holocaust story.
between Sacha and Asa, both
during the Jewish Community
It’s about not noticing differ-
West Bloomfield residents.
Center’s annual book fair this
ences. Asa is in a wheelchair.
The two became insepa-
fall.
He doesn’t walk. He doesn’t talk
rable at shul. Shapiro became
Matlen hopes to distribute
much. Yet Sacha knows how
Grandpa Asa, and Asa dubbed
the book to Jewish schools, syn- much he loves him.”
his friend “Moshe.” Despite
agogues and Holocaust centers
Aguilar, along with Eddie,
Shapiro’s limited ability to speak around the country. She also
worked closely with Matlen
following a stroke, the pair
plans to donate proceeds from
to ensure that the author
shared a special connection
book sales to charities dedi-
captured the essence of this
that the rest of the congrega-
cated to autism awareness (her
unique friendship.
tion couldn’t help but notice.
son is on the autism spectrum)
“There is truly so much love
“Their story captivated me,”
and Jewish causes.
in this story and the connection
says Matlen, a West Bloomfield
“All of our kids need some
between everyone involved
mom of two boys. “What makes connection to the Holocaust
was incredible, including the
it so special is the fact that Asa
before it’s gone. As Sacha [now
illustrator who went out of her
is a Holocaust survivor who
5] gets older, his parents will
comfort zone to work on this
at 93 is still building relation-
teach him more about Asa’s
project and nailed it. It was
ships. It’s such a great story, and story,” Matlen says. “When I
truly an honor to work with
I want to get it into as many
think about my kids, they don’t
them.”
hands as possible.”
have an experience like this.

*

June 23 • 2016

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