THE TWINS.

As the brutalities of World War II tore mercilessly through the towns and cities of Poland, helpless Jewish communities by the thousands were ravaged and left in ruins and misery. When Yudel and Esther Glick were forced into the ghetto of Nachrovah, they did not give up in despair. They were determined to keep the light of the Torah burning brightly in the dark night of the ghetto; and when death had to be faced, they went on willingly, as Heaven's martyrs, al kiddush haShem.

Their surviving twin children, Chaim and Brachah, become separated in all the chaos and confusion of the war. Years of turbulence and upheaval pass. Yet even over great stretches of time and space, there are bonds of the spirit within them that cannot be cut. In this unusual, poignant story that vividly portrays a period of Jewish suffering and despair in our time, the central characters of the novel journey with heartwarming courage and faith across a landscape of death and destruction, to find, eventually, new shelter and new hope in the Land of Israel.

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

Shlomo came from the beis midrash, a microcosm of intensive religious study; Zissel was the daughter of a wealthy assimilated lawyer. In fervor of idealism, both left their small town in Poland and joined the chalutzim on their way to Palestine to rebuild the Jewish homeland. However, a tempestuous whirlwind of conflicting Zionist ideologies makes life in the Promised Land bewilderingly difficult. Few of their ideals are fulfilled, and Shlomo is bitterly disappointed. Though no longer observant, the concepts and values absorbed in the yeshivah stay rooted within him; and in an unending search for an ideal, truly just society, he leaves Palestine for the "utopia" of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Zissel also returns to Europe, and both are caught up in the maelstrom of World War II. Subjected to intense suffering, they must each come to terms with their existence as Jews in order to find meaning in their lives.

Although a complete story in itself, The Long Journey Home is interlinked with the author's earlier novel The Twins

About The Author

Born in Poland in 1914, Benzion Firer succeeded his father as av beis din in the town of Rimanov. Following World War II, Rabbi Firer was assistant director of a displaced persons camp, working tirelessly to help Jewish refugees reach Eretz Yisrael. After 1948, he lived with his family in the Holy Land, serving as rabbi of Moshav Nir Galim and lecturer at Yeshivah Kerem b'Yavneh and Giv'at Washington Seminary, while writing extensively on Jewish subjects. His most original contribution was a series of novels that combine insight, firsthand knowledge, and good writing. Firmly anchored in Torah ideology, they depict with clarity and sensitivity the complex, bewildering events of the last fifty years of Jewish history.