The Rose Temple: A Child Holocaust Survivor's Vision of Faith, Hope and Our Collective Future

by S Weitzman, Lucia Weitzman (Translator)

Overview

A Jew­ish girl saved in infan­cy by a Catholic cou­ple dur­ing the Sec­ond World War dis­cov­ered her true her­itage after the war, but remained with her adop­tive fam­i­ly. In her ear­ly twen­ties, how­ev­er, cir­cum­stances forced her to escape Poland and begin a new life in Amer­i­ca, where she mar­ried and raised a Jew­ish fam­i­ly. With her hus­band’s unex­pect­ed death, at 53 years old Lucia Weitz­mann embarked on a spir­i­tu­al jour­ney that began with con­fronting God at the West­ern Wall. Mys­ti­cal expe­ri­ences then began to pop­u­late her dreams and writ­ings, lead­ing her to dis­cov­er who she real­ly is and what her life pur­pose is about. Inspired by his moth­er’s expe­ri­ences and embold­ened to share its mes­sages of hope and heal­ing, Luci­a’s son tells her sto­ry in The Rose Temple.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780996117708
Publisher:	Bartleby Press
Publication date:	01/19/2016
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mitchell is an attorney working with the FDA in the Washington, DC area. He is a graduate of New York University and the George Washington University Law School. He was a longtime columnist for the Washington Jewish Week and has written for several healt

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Prologue: August 2011 New York, Ny 1

Part 1

1 September 1994 Jerusalem, Israel 5

2 January 8, 1940 Bochnia, Poland 7

3 Late August 1993 Wiesbaden, Germany/Tyrol, Austria 11

4 1942 Bochnia, Poland 15

5 December 1993-September 1994 New York, NY/Jerusalem, Israel 19

6 1942-1943 Bochnia, Poland 22

7 Winter 1994 New York, NY 24

8 1944 Bochnia, Poland 26

9 Spring 1994 New York, NY 28

10 Spring 1945 Bochnia, Poland 33

11 1995 New York, NY 38

12 Spring/Summer 1945 Bochnia, Poland 40

13 June 1996 New York, NY 43

Part 2

14 1945-1946 Bochnia, Poland 44

15 June 1996 New York, NY 48

16 1946 Bochnia, Poland 50

17 September 1998 Bochnia, Poland - Istanbul, Turkey 53

18 1948 Bochnia, Poland 59

19 June 1997 Rancho La Puerta, Mexico 61

20 1948 Bochnia, Poland 64

21 June 1997 New York, NY 66

22 1948-1949 Bochnia, Poland 67

23 October 1997 New York, NY 72

24 1950 Bochnia, Poland 74

25 July 1998 New York, NY 77

26 1952-1954 Bochnia, Poland 81

27 May 1999 New York, NY 83

28 Tune 1954 Bochnia, Poland 86

29 May 2000 Machu Picchu, Peru 89

30 August 1954 Bochnia, Poland 94

31 February - August 2001 New York, NY 97

32 April 1955 Bochnia, Poland 99

Part 3

33 September 2001 New York, NY 103

34 June 1959 Bochnia, Poland 106

35 November 2001 New York, NY 112

36 Winter-Spring 1960 Bochnia, Poland 116

37 May 2002 New York, NY 120

38 September 1960 Bochnia, Poland 122

39 June 2002 Rancho La Puerta, Mexico 125

40 September 22, 1960 Krakow, Poland 130

41 August 2003 Washington, DC 135

42 October 1960-Winter 1961 Bochnia, Poland 138

43 September 2004 Warsaw, Poland 141

44 Winter 1961 Bochnia, Poland 143

45 September 2004 Warsaw/Bochnia/Szebnie, Poland 146

46 Spring 1961 Bochnia, Poland 150

47 January 2005-Apnl 2006 New York, NY 153

48 June 1961 Bochnia, Poland 158

49 August 2007 New York, NY 161

50 Juno 1961 Bochnia, Poland 164

51 October 2007-February 2008 New York, NY 167

52 June 1961 Bochnia, Poland 170

53 April 2008 New York, NY 174

54 June 1961 Petach Tikva, Israel 177

55 August 2008 New York, NY 185

56 March 1962 Brussels/Antwerp, Belgium 187

57 October 2008 Jerusalem, Israel 193

58 June 1962 Long Beach, NY 196

59 August 2009 New York, NY 204

60 August 1962 Long Beach, NY 206

61 September 2009 New York, NY 217

62 January 1963-Summer 1981 Southfield, Michigan 220

63 March 2010 New York, NY 227

64 April 1993 Hallandale, Florida 229

65 August 2011 Krakow, Poland 232

66 January 2012 New York 237

67 September 2012 Jerusalem, Israel 239

Epilogue 245

Acknowledgments 249

Editorial Reviews

Lucia Weitzman lives within the awareness of [her dreams] each day, somehow having this inner knowing they will ultimately lead her to the heart of her authentic self. And most beautifully, she understands that this journey never really ends—it is just the beginning of a soul finding its wings and living from the center of that truth.

Barbara Techel

More than a Holocaust history or memoir: a heady read that ultimately asks readers to examine their own lives…fueled with the passion of an individual’s journey, accessible to a wide audience: a standout read in the literature of Holocaust survivors and Jewish spiritual exploration.

Midwest Book Review

The spiritual lessons of The Rose Temple open to a future where the spiritual paths of many traditions may flow together within a deep and common stream of human spirituality.

Rabbi Gerald Serotta

2016-02-26
A debut memoir about adversity, identity, and a mystical quest for spiritual succor.When Lucia Weitzman was just a child in Poland and still known as "Rose," her Jewish parents were desperate to shelter her from the occupying Nazis. Their first attempt to place her with a Christian couple backfired; the two quickly returned the girl but not the money her parents had given them. Determined to find her a new home, they tried again; this time, their daughter was placed in the custody of the Swiateks, a couple that raised her as if she was their own. She grew up largely unaware of her Jewish heritage, disconnected from her own bloodline—an estranged diaspora of one. Years later, while living in the United States, her husband, Herman, died, and she was once again wracked with grief. She traveled to Jerusalem and visited the Western Wall in search of spiritual guidance, and she challenged God with a question that bordered on insolence: "God, why were You removed and not involved during dark periods on the planet, like the Holocaust, 9/11, and other tragedies?" Theologically speaking, she was posing the classic question regarding the problem of evil. On a more personal level, though, she was taking God to task for his ostensible abandonment of her in particular. She then had an overwhelming moment of mystical epiphany, sincerely believing that God had furnished her with an answer. This remembrance is co-penned by S. Mitchell Weitzman, Lucia's son, and the intimacy and affection of their relationship emanates from every page. However, the narrative jumps back and forth between Lucia's childhood and adulthood, and these quick chronological transitions can be disorienting. The poignancy of her revelations, though, and her lifelong quest to rediscover her lost self will enthrall even readers who are skeptical of all things mystical. Although there's no shortage of stories out there recounting the depredations of the Holocaust, it's especially stirring to see one from the double perspective of youth and adulthood. A beautiful, meditative account of literary and historical merit.

Kirkus Reviews