My Father, His Daughters #926097

"Listen to me, Stasha," Rutka grasped both her friend's hands and confided to her about the diary she is writing. "Soon, according to the rumors, they will transfer us to the ghetto in the Kamionka neighborhood. It is a closed ghetto, surrounded by a wall. Before they take us away from here, I will hide the diary. I have it all planned. I will hide it on the staircase leading to the apartment entrance... Please, make sure to take it with you after we are no longer here."
The diary that Rutka hid in the staircase, was discovered sixty long years later and that is how this book came to be written The book spans the entire twentieth century up to the present. It tells the true-life story of Jacob, who was born into a Hasidic family in Bendzin, Poland, and chose a different path, under the influence of the ideological revolution and socialist movements that stirred Europe at the time. Towards the end of World War I, he made his way to Palestine with a group of friends, as a pioneer. He settled on a kibbutz in the Jordan Valley, while taking an active part in the significant events of the period. This is a story that begins with a sense of drive and youthful enthusiasm, and continues with a twist of fate, by which Jacob finds himself back in Poland, married and the father of two' when the ominous approach of the German Nazi Army draws near. Joining the narrative are his two daughters – Rutka in Poland and the narrator from Israel – who found each other sixty years later, thanks to the diary. Together they piece together secrets, loves, youthful adventures, the story of their father, and the thread of their lives.
Dr. Zahava Scherz (Laskier) was born and lives in Israel; she is married and the mother of a son and daughter. For four decades she has been an academic faculty member at the Weizmann Institute of Science, engaged in research and development in science education. She has published dozens of scholarly articles and scientific textbooks. This is her first narrative book.