Stay Jewish

Rav Its Hutner asked me, one day, how I had managed, in the midst of the Soviet Union, to raise my children in religious practice. I began to tell him ... when, suddenly, I felt like I was too wide on a certain subject and to have abused his patience. I apologized: "Forgive me, rav, I talked too much." But he replied: "On the contrary, believe me, it was not my embarrassment, I could not have held my tears! Continue your story, please, and make everyone enjoy it!" Through this fascinating autobiography, the Rav Its'hak Zilber - which was, during the past three decades, the charismatic leader of the Russian -speaking community in Israel - tells us about his life and that of the Jews of the Soviet Union. At that time when our brothers had to overcome unspeakable trials to practice their religion, the Rav Its’hak Zilber was valiantly defending his convictions and encouraginghundreds of other Jews to do the same - as much in the USSR as, later, in Israel. The Russian edition, published during the Lifetime of the Rav, and its translation in Hebrew and English have had an undeniable success. In its French version, this testimony will still fascinate thousands of readers. Throughout these lines, they will discover the fight of a man who, in the midst of communist hell, knew how to remain Jewish against and against everything!