Riches

by Esther Hautzig, Donna Diamond

After following the advice of the wisest rabbi in the area, a rich storekeeper discovers that giving of himself is better than merely giving money

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Esther Rudomin was born in Wilno, Poland (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Her childhood was interrupted by the beginning of WWII and the conquest in 1941 of eastern Poland by Soviet troops.

Her family was uprooted and deported to Rubtsovsk, Siberia, where Esther spent the next five years in harsh exile. Her award winning novel The Endless Steppe is an autobiographical account of those years in Siberia.

After the war, she and her family moved back to Poland when she was 15. Hautzig reportedly wrote The Endless Steppe at the prompting of presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, to whom she had written after reading his articles about his visit to Rubtsovsk.

Hautzig helped to discover and eventually publish the master's thesis in mathematics written by her uncle, Ela-Chaim Cunzer, at the University of Wilno in 1937.

Rudomin met Walter Hautzig, a concert pianist, while en route to America on a student visa in 1947. They married in 1950, and had two children, Deborah, a children's author, and David. She died on November 1, 2009, aged 79.

Reviews

[Christina CK · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very simple but beautiful children's book in which the main characters learn the difference between charity and justice. A shopkeeper and his wife, approaching retirement, wonder what they should do with their time. A wise rabbi advises the man to go out and drive a cart in the countryside each day, and the woman to read religious texts. While the man thinks he is doing nothing important, he is busy helping people who each think that he is, in disguise, one of the figures from his wife's studies. They realize that while they have been blessed with material wealth and have shared it generously, the greatest way to honor The Almighty is to give of themselves to others and to appreciate even the humblest gifts that others share with them.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am very interested in this author (the endless steppe: growing up in siberia). this was a nice little children's book with a message for us all if you don't have the excuse of reading it to a little one - read it just for yourself

[Fred Kohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a children's book; I would guess about fourth grade level. But it makes wonderful reading for adults, too! And I loved the black-and-white illustrations.