A Miraculous Escape and Selected Writings on Jewish Themes

In recent years, a number of people have been arrested on entering a country when drugs have been found on their bodies or in their luggage. In some cases, they were indeed knowingly smuggling, and needless to say this is a very serious crime. However, there have been a number of cases where highly respected people with good hearts, were asked to take a suitcase which they were told contained, for example, clothes to another country. Unfortunately, but completely unknown to the carriers, drugs had been secreted in the suitcase. This has often resulted in these innocent carriers finding themselves in jail and then being put on trial, often after several years of incarceration.

The first section of this book describes a case of drugs being found on a person entering India, who claimed that he did not know that his luggage contained drugs. He was transferred to an Indian prison where he was held for an extended period without even a trial, under the most inhumane conditions. There he contracted malaria and as a result his life was in danger. He was therefore advised to escape from the prison.

In my book "A Miraculous Escape," I have written a comprehensive commentary on this escape. Details of this escape were written by Avigail Myzlik, and were translated into English under the title "Escape from India" by Shoshie Nissenbaum. In the course of the escape, the escapee utilised taxis, buses, railways and rickshaws, and as a result he managed to cross the border from India to Nepal, and finally arrived back in Israel. In my commentary, I use detailed maps and train timetables, to reconstruct the possible route he took in his escape. In addition, I give detailed background information which includes information on the various places he passed through, the various organisations he came in contact with, and who greatly helped him, and details of the different modes of transport that he utilised. The positive side of this incarceration was that when he entered the prison, he was a non-observant Jew and as a result of his incarceration he became observant. The Jewish practices that he began to observe are elaborated on in my commentary.

Another paper in this book concerns the Holocaust where six million Jews were murdered, a number which is hard to visualise. Description of a particular family who perished makes it easier to understand the Holocaust, and a classic case is that of Anne Frank's family. One branch of my family who were living in Poland at that period were almost entirely victims of the Holocaust. When I began this research, I knew almost no details of the family. I divided my paper into three parts: a history and description of the city where my family lived; how I obtained information to ascertain details of the family history; the results of my research.

There are also three scholarly papers. Two of them are on the Feast of Lights - Chanukah which discusses the "The Chanukah Miracle of the Cruse of Oil - Is it to be interpreted literally or is it just an allegory?" and "Lighting Chanukah Candles with Pig Fat." The third paper is on the Feast of Lots - Purim and is entitled "The Date of Purim in Kiryat Arba."

The final section of the book is a selection of my autobiographical jottings. These include "Three Times Birchat Hachamah," "Reminiscences of the Period of the Six Day War," "Yeshivah Students are not Students!" and, how in the case of an uncle of mine, the wrong body was almost buried!