A Jewish Journey is the memoir of Sam Ron, born Shmuel Rakowski in Kazimierza-Wielka, a tiny village, or shtetl, near Krakow, Poland, in 1924, which was overtaken by the Nazis in 1939. As opposed to other Holocaust memoirs, the book takes the form of a Q&A with students who have met him to hear his story, underscoring the importance of Holocaust education not only for Sam himself, but also for all those who will never have the opportunity to meet a survivor. It is written in a novelistic form, in order to touch the heart as well as the mind. Ron is one of the oldest living survivors of the Nazi death camps. After the war, he worked for Bericha, an organization that resettled in the Land of Israel orphaned refugees from Europe. He also served in the Haganah fighting force and was what is known as a chalutz, an early settler before the founding of the State of Israel, where he helped found a settlement and served as a soldier in the Haganah, the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces. He subsequently immigrated to the U.S. and was a successful land developer in Akron and Canton, Ohio. Now Sam lives in Boca Raton, Florida, and continues what he has done for over half a century: educating young and old about his experiences of the momentous historical events in which he has taken part. Along with his acclaimed work as a volunteer educator, until 2019, Sam Ron was a regular volunteer for the March of the Living, a longstanding educational program that takes students and adults to Poland and Israel to visit many of the same places where he survived-and thrived.

She's an iconic Jewish storyteller. She's a widely acclaimed professor and folklorist. She's the one and only Peninnah Schram, and Peninnah's World: A Jewish Life in Stories is her authorized biography, told through individual stories. What is a biography told through stories? Because Schram's art form is storytelling, Peninnah's World dramatizes in vivid scenes her extraordinary trajectory from the New London, Connecticut-born child of immigrant parents steeped in Jewish tradition in the 1930s and '40s to award-winning, New York-based performer, writer and scholar. The book features landmarks such as the old Mohican Hotel in New London and Stern College for Women in Manhattan. Along the way, Schram enjoys close encounters with such luminaries as Noble Laureates Elie Wiesel and Isaac Bashevis Singer, as well as famed Yiddish-theater actress Molly Picon, actor Jeff Goldblum, singer/ethnomusicologist Ruth Rubin and others. Written by storytelling studies professor and performer Caren Schnur Neile, the stories are in a form tailor-made to enjoy and share aloud. At the same time, they serve as models for all those interested in creating their own life and family stories, whatever their background, whether on the page, on the stage, or among neighbors and loved ones. Welcome to Peninnah's World. Prepare to explore your own.

This study examines U.S cultural values through the lens of family storytelling. Through an examination of 53 family stories, it addresses: the role of family storytelling in the transmission of cultural values; the existence of shared American cultural archetypes, motifs and themes; the existence of shared national values and the role of storytelling in promoting peace. As dynamic folklore, family stories are ideal instruments with which to tease out deep-rooted values. Stories are rich repositories of cultural schemas, the bricolage of information and attitudes that form our identities. They are also repleted with symbols that reflect shared, unconscious understandings. Unlike many other cultural products, moreover, they are relatively unaffected by government or corporate agendas. More unlike, many other types of folk narrative, they typically resonate with Americans. Finally, storytelling both reflects and comprises the social drama characterized by anthropologist Victor Turner, which leads to communitas, the spirit of community. The study attempts the promotion of communitas by demonstrating how humankind makes connections through the shared elements found in our stories.