NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: Armed With Spirit, by Rabbi Shalom Hammer

Armed With Spirit, by Rabbi Shalom Hammer, is a book in which Rabbi Hammer really wrote via Whatsapp.

Rabbi Hammer's son enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, in the Nahal Brigade. As a religious soldier, his father felt it important to not just stay in regular contact with him but also to lift his spirits with spiritual messages - so he sent him a weekly dvar torah on the weekly portion of the Torah reading, or for holidays or other events. The divrei torah were not just nice vertlach on the parsha, but they were lessons relevant to a soldier int he IDF, deduced from each parsha. Those divrei torah sent to his son in the IDF are what became the book Armed With Spirit.

The personal touch and connection Rabbi Hammer worked to maintain and develop is touching on its own. Even more is that often his son, Soldier Hammer, would write back his own thoughts in response, and sometimes it would lead to some back and forth discussion, which is also included in the book. It is touching to see the relationship. It is touching to see the respect with which each holds the other.

I did find it very impressive that Rabbi Hammer was able to take a lesson relevant to a soldier in the IDF from every single parsha and holiday. That could not have been easy.

It is admirable, and I am a bit jealous, that Rabbi Hammer thought to do this and did it - a  feat on its own, as surely he and his son both had busy schedules and surely some weeks it might have been difficult to find the time or to remember to do it or even to come up with an interesting message to pass on.

I suspect that if all IDF parents could work to keep or develop a relationship with their soldier in a similar way, both our soldiers and we would all be the better off for it.

Armed With Spirit is not just a book, it is a look at the relationship between father and son both tasked in holy work.


You can buy Armed With Spirit on Amazon

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: Dreams Never Dreamed, by Kalman Samuels

Wow! What a book! What a story!

Kalman Samuels is one of the founders of Shalva, a home and center in Jerusalem for special needs children.

Many of us, or maybe I should only say I, only knew about Shalva peripherally - knowing it existed, knowing it is there to help special needs children and their families - without really knowing much about it. Until last year when the Shalva Band took center stage in the Israeli consciousness. They blew everyone away with their performances in the competition to represent Israel in the Eurovision contest - but more than their music which was also phenomenal was their attitude and composure. They captured the hearts of Israel. And they piqued curiosity and interest into Shalva - what kind of organization is this that can take such challenged children and work with them to produce such phenomenal people, possibly doing a much better job than many of us with children without those challenges?

Dreams Never Dreamed, by Kalman Samuels, is complicated because I am not sure what story it is telling us. Is it the story of Kalman Samuels, the young man growing up secular in Canada who ends up in Israel, becomes religious and then founds Shalva with his wife after their child gets injured from a tainted vaccine? Is it the story of Malka, Kalman's wife, who founds Shalva and works tirelessly to help her children and then the special needs children and their families? Is it the story of Yossi, the child injured by a tainted vaccine and then develops tremendously through hard work, his and his parents and the that of the therapists and doctors and becomes a talented adult? Is the story of the families, including thee Samuels family, and the donors? Is the the story of Shalva - how it came to be and how it became what it became?

Or maybe it is the story of all of them together, intertwined as their lives and beings were.

Kalman grew up in Canada, with little connection to religious Judaism. While on his post high school travels he finds himself in Israel and ends up becoming religious and Hassidic and staying in Israel, for the rest of his life. Samuels goes pretty extreme in yeshiva, marries young and starts his family. Yossi's first birthday throws the family into the whirlwind of life that will eventually lead to the foundation and growth of the tremendous organization called Shalva.

The story is emotional, enlightening, humorous, educational and fascinating, as it takes us on the ups and downs of Yossi's treatments and diagnoses, the decisions to create a center for similar children, to provide support for the families, to grow the organization to support more children, to fund the organization and to build and design a world class building so as to be able to provide the best environment and most professional services for the children and their families.

Malka and Kalman's drive to create a place that would provide the best possible opportunities for the children to thrive is astounding. Their drive brought them to tremendous successes in creating such a center and in helping the children succeed and reach their potential, while giving the families of the children some peace and ability to deal with the rest of the family. The power of their will and persistence is a central theme, never giving up despite the adversities they were met with at every step of the way. Most normal people would probably have given up pretty quickly, but they dreamed big and grew their dream each time a new reality hit. They set their goals and did not rest until the goal was realized, and then set new goals.

I expect that people who read the book Dreams Never Dreamed will be inspired by their leadership and drive, but will also be more patient and appreciative, and especially more accepting of others who are different.

You can buy Dreams Never Dreamed on Toby Press - Koren

NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.