To Remain a Jew: The Life of Rav Yitzchak Zilber

by Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber

To Remain A Jew ups the ante on what it means when we claim truth is stranger than fiction.
Yitzchak Zilber was born in 1917, several months before the Russian revolution, and all he experienced most of his life was the daily inhumanity, tyranny, suppression, and cruelty of Soviet Communism. In those years it was virtually impossible to live as a Jew, and if you were caught in the act, the consequences were horrifying.
Against this terrible backdrop, Yitzchak Zilber lived a life of courage, perseverance, and self-sacrifice to maintain his identity and Jewish practices. Along the way he attended university, became a famed mathematician, and spent ample time in Stalin s gulag for living out his beliefs. In 1972, he was allowed to emigrate to Israel where he spent the rest of his years teaching and influencing fellow Russian Jews.
If there was ever a story of how one man can stand up against a totalitarian state, this is it. If there was ever a story of David vs. Goliath, on a grand scale, where the individual emerges free, then this is it.
In this remarkable testimony to the daily struggle for survival, meaning, and identity, you will read incredible stories, meet extraordinary people, encounter heroic circumstances, and be uplifted by a memoir that is as unforgettable as it is inspiring, from beginning to end.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Biography, Nonfiction, Holocaust, History

508 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kressel Housman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Rabbi Herman of All for the Boss was for the Lower East Side in the 30's, Rabbi Zilber was in the post-war Soviet Union, except not only was he facing mass assimilation, it was by government mandate, so he had to engage in all sorts of subterfuge just to practice and teach Torah and mitzvos. Eventually, he was imprisoned for it, but even that didn't stop him; he kept Shabbos and organized Yom Tov celebrations in the Gulag!

As you might well imagine, this book is cover-to-cover inspiration. If there's any flaw in it, it's in the organization. The book was based on interviews, so Rabbi Zilber's narrative is sometimes interrupted with related memories from family and friends. That makes it seem a little choppy at first, but once you understand the people and their relationships, the book is pure chizuk. As I said when I read Voices in the Silence, which is another Soviet memoir, why couldn't someone have given this to me when I was a young and foolish self-proclaimed Communist? But as I also said in that review, would I have listened?

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

ביוגרפיה שנכתבה על הרב יצחק זילבר, שחי ברוסיה הקומוניסטית, ונלחם להישאר נאמן לעקרונותיו הדתיים והמוסריים בתקופה החשוכה הזו, לרבות בעת שהיה במחנה עבודה.
ספר מעורר השראה ומפעים.

[Sergei Shnitman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. For a non-Jewish or secular person with Jewish roots these memoirs provide a great insight into what it takes to be a Jew, an Orthodox Jew in extremely unfriendly circumstances.

[Meilech · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing story of an orthodox jew who in the most strenuous conditions under Stalin and while being imprisoned fought to keep his faith and not let go of even the slightest commandments and to raise his family as orthodoxjews as well.

Not only did he fight for himself but wherever he could help another jew he went far far out his way to do so.

Even after finally immigrating to Israel in the 1970's he still did not rest and constantly tried to bring back other Russian jews to the faith.

The writing style i didn't enjoy as much but it's absolutely worth a read to see how much persecution the jews went through under the USSR and to see the amazing sacrifice jews made to not let it deter them.

Highly recommend!!

[Talya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time reading this book. Wonderful read.

[Esther Husni · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites! A must