The Diary of Anne Frank In the early 1940's, World War II had a profound affect on the Jewish community. Men, women and children were prosecuted by German armies (the Nazi's) for practicing and participating in the Jewish faith. In The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne and...

A thirteen year old girl begins to write a diary because she finds it difficult to confide in her friends. She continues to write for more than two years, while suddenly confined to a small apartment annex, because writing the diary helps her to sort out her thoughts about the future and fears about...

The Assistant is about Frank Alpine's transformation from a petty thief into a compassionate, self-sacrificing and loving a human being. Frank is a 25 years-old wanderer of Italian extraction, who came from San Francisco to New York in search of a new and better life. He is the protagonist of the s...

Themes are literary tools used by authors to enhance their writings. When a similar theme exists in two different novels, parallels can often be drawn between the characters and structures of literary work. Such is the case for Bernard Malamud's The Assistant and Chaim Potok&ap...

When we think of the quite courage of Miep and Henk Gies, and Oskar Schindler, and all others who refused to turn their backs on the Jews of the Holocaust, we ask ourselves how it happened that these few men, women, and children gathered the courage to face the risks they had to take. Who were these...

Two Women One Struggle for Freedom The name Ann Frank has become so popular from a required reading in high school that she needs little introduction. She was a school girl in Nazi Germany, during World War II, that was forced into hiding because she was Jewish. This particular essay gives you s...

These "Annex" people could live with hope by remembering all of the good times they had together, before they had to go into hiding. They had hope because they knew one day this would all have to end. Although the "Annex" people were probably stronger than most ...

ON FORGIVENESS IN JUDAISM Our topic this morning is forgiveness at the end of life, and I have been asked to comment on this from the perspective of Judaism. Now, forgiveness is one of those topics like Mom and apple pie – it's hard to imagine how anyone could possibly be opposed to th...

Elie Wiesel was a great man as well as a humanitarian. His works told of the many harsh realities of Jewish life. Due to the way he was brought up in a strict family, where he was taught the importance of family ties, all those lessons helped him live through the concentration camps. All the le...

The Longest Hatred-Part I How can one race be hated for so long? This question came to mind when evaluating the PBS broadcast television series on anti-Semitism, The Longest Hatred. Not understanding and having never experienced racism in my life and witnessing the testimonies of real-life sur...