Features
New book tells riveting tale of World War II experience for Jewish family living in British Mandate Palestine – but oh my gosh, I’ve never read more mistakes in a book
“The Long Way Home from Crete”
By Isaac Kal
Self-published, 2021
Available on Amazon
Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN
I don’t think I’ve ever had quite the experience reading a book that I had reading one that was recently sent to me by the author of “The Long Way Home from Crete”.
The story, in itself, is terrific – but the mistakes – oh god, I’ve never read anything that has mistakes in just about every paragraph, from grammatical mistakes, to omitted words, to usage of the wrong word entirely – and, to top it off, an absolutely egregious error when it comes to writing about what was known as British Mandate Palestine, but which the author insists on referring to as “Israel”. It wasn’t Israel yet – not until 1948!
Despite all that, I told the author that I was going to give his book a good review in our paper (also on our website). Why? Because the story he tells is so engrossing that I actually found myself riveted to the book. However, that being said, I’m not so sure that the typical reader would be able to forego wanting to grab the author by the neck and say to him: Why didn’t you have someone edit the book before you published it?
To illustrate, here’s just the third paragraph in the opening chapter: “As the ship pulled up its anchor, the tossing waves beneath me, made me feel though the world I once knew, was losing its stability.”
Okay, how many mistakes can you find in that one sentence? For one, why does he separate the sentence with three commas? For another, that phrase “made me feel though the world I once knew” has a word that is totally misplaced. Take out the “though” Isaac, and lose two of those commas! And – talk about awkward syntax!
Finally, as I’ve already noted, the ship wasn’t headed to Israel, it was headed to Palestine.
Now, if you’ve made it this far in my review, you might be wondering how someone who’s as interested in proper grammar, vocabulary and attention to historical accuracy as I like to think I am, could have persevered in reading a book that was almost comically poorly written.
The reason is that the story of the protagonist, an individual by the name of Abraham, which is told in the first person, along with the parallel story of Abraham’s wife, Genia, which is told in the third person, offers an intriguing glimpse into what life might have been like for Jews who had come to Palestine in the late 1930s, after fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany.
Abraham’s story in itself is especially absorbing. Born into a poor Jewish family in Poland, he makes his way to Konisberg in Germany, where he is taken in by the family of a well-to-do uncle. In time, Abraham discovers that he has a talent for business and, along with a cousin of his, opens up a successful sauerkraut business.
At the same time, Abraham, who is somewhat of a playboy, it seems, ends up meeting the love of his life, a beautiful but very observant young Jewish woman by the name of Genia. After promising her that he will modify his lifestyle to the point where it will be acceptable for her to marry someone who is clearly not the type of person to whom she would have previously been willing to marry, they eventually settle into a very happy life in Konisberg, and have one child, a boy named Aaron.
The story does go back and forth in time at the start, moving from 1938 “Israel” to 1930s Poland and Germany. I suppose the author was attempting to emulate other writers who decided they didn’t want to tell their stories in chronological form, and although it can be a bit confusing, using that particular device can help to hook the reader who might want to find out how a character ended up where they are.
But, given the era in which the book is set, it comes as no surprise that Abraham and Genia decide they must leave Germany. I have my qualms though with how easy it is for them to get into “Israel” in 1938: no British blockade – and no difficulty in entering the country. That simply doesn’t jive with the reality of the time, in which the British had imposed severe quotas on the number of Jews allowed into Palestine. Still, for the sake of the author being allowed some latitude in telling his story, I’ll allow him some discretion in handling the historical accuracy of that particular aspect of his story.
It’s when Abraham and Genia do settle into their new home in Herzlia though that the story really picks up. Abraham cannot find suitable employment and, even though he had been quite wealthy in Germany, when he tries to import funds from that country, they’re frozen, and the couple finds themselves quite desperate just to feed themselves.
One day, however, Abraham happens to chance upon an advertisement in a paper seeking men to enlist as support workers for the British army. It’s at that point that the story starts to move at a much faster pace. The author provides a detailed description of what life was like for Jewish men in Palestine who volunteered, not to serve in the British army itself, but rather as support workers. This was an aspect of history about which I had never read anything, so I contacted Isaac Kal while I was reading the book to ask him whether the story which, to that point, I had thought might have been a work of fiction, was actually true?
Isaac responded that the story was indeed true – it was his grandfather’s story. He also suggested that I take a look at his website for further information. That didn’t prove at all helpful, but what did help was going to the Amazon website and entering the name Isaac Kal. It was then that I discovered a fair bit more information about what led Kal to write this book – along with some further information about the unit in which his grandfather served.
Here’s what the website says: “In the midst of the Covid-19 closure, the author had plenty of time to go through the photos and documents of his family. He found his grandfather’s soldier certificate and the date of his enlistment. While browsing online, he came across a group of relatives of the Israeli POW from WW2. he discovered the name of the unit in which his grandfather served (Port Operation Unit 1039). Interestingly enough, his captain kept a war diary until his capture.
“Through the stories and the dates in the diary, he was able to trace the route that his grandfather took until his capture.”
As Abraham completes his training, which is to enable him to work in ports helping to unload cargo ships – eventually leading to his becoming a skilled crane operator, he is fairly quickly thrust into an ongoing series of dangerous situations, in which he and the other members of his unit are required to work under enemy fire.
The scenes move from battleground to battleground as German forces advance, first in Africa – in Tobruk (Libya), then in Greece, leading to British forces, along with the support units, such as Abraham’s, constantly retreating.
Again, if the author’s descriptions of events are true, then the vivid accounts of all the near misses that Abraham experiences, often when others nearby get killed, provide descriptions of battlegrounds, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, that are perhaps not as well known to many of us as battlegrounds in western Europe.
At the same time though that Abraham is experiencing the arduous life that anyone who is attached to a combat unit during a war would no doubt experience, his loving wife, Genia, it turns out, is not quite as virtuous as one might have thought. Left alone with her young son she turns to a younger man by the name of Jacob who works in a store and who offers to assist Genia, first by attending to some repairs needed at her home, then by offering her a job helping him in the store.
It doesn’t take long though for the reader to realize that Jacob has an ulterior motive, which is to bed Genia. I was somewhat surprised to read that she wasn’t all that reluctant to give into Jacob’s advances. The whole time I was thinking: “Isaac (Kal), is this your grandmother you’re writing about?”
Thus, while the book evolves into quite the exciting war story – as Abraham escapes from one near-death situation to another, eventually finding himself on Crete – surrounded by Germans, until he is finally captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Silesia (in Poland), Jacob has moved in with Genia, while Aaron has been sent to an orphanage in Jerusalem.
Abraham does survive – of course, otherwise the title of the book would not have been what it was, and is reunited with Genia.
But, the story suddenly ends with the couple back together and no clue as to whether Genia ever confesses her marital infidelity to Abraham. (To be fair, he was gone five years and had been reported as “Missing in Action”, but even when Genia learns that Abraham is indeed alive, she finds herself still drawn to Jacob and unable to resist his sexual advances.)
I note that, of the reviews on Amazon, a number ask whether there will be a sequel to “The Long Way Home from Crete”? I suppose that if what happens to Abraham and Genia following Abraham’s return to “Israel” was nearly as interesting as what preceded his return, then it might make for a very good sequel. But, for gosh shakes, Isaac Kal, get someone to proofread your writing!
Features
Rabbi Gary Zweig’s new book provides humorous and moving accounts of making minyans in unlikely circumstances
By MYRON LOVE The recitation of the kaddish is a central tenet of Jewish religious life. Even members of our community who are largely secular will likely recite the words of the kaddish for a parent, sibling or spouse at some point in their lives – even if only at the grave site.
The kaddish can only be recited publicly in the presence of a minyan – a gathering of ten (men in the Orthodox tradition. The number, as explained by Rabbi Gedalia (Gary Zweig), stems from the number of spies – as written in the Torah – whom Moshe rabbenu sent into the promised land and who came back with negative reports as compared to the two spies – one of whom was Joshua – who said that the land was flowing with milk and honey.
It is this challenge of putting together minyans for a mourner to recite the kaddish in different locales and circumstances – when a minyan in a shul is not possible – that is the subject of Zweig’a newly released book, “Kaddish Around the World” – a 90-plus page compilation of short stories – some humourous, some heartwarming – of successful efforts to recruit enough daveners for a kaddish minyan, ranging in time and space from a Super Bowl game in San Diego to the middle of a game reserve in South Africa to a Jewish museum in Cordoba in Spain – in a city largely devoid of Jews.
Zweig, who hails from Toronto, was in Winnipeg over Yom Tov to lead services – along with Toronto-based Chazan Manny Aptowitser – at the Chavurat Tefila Talmud Torah Synagogue. On the Tuesday just before Yom Kippur, the synagogue hosted an evening to provide the rabbi with a venue to discuss his new book – a sequel to his first book, “Living Kaddish,” which he released in 2007 (and has been translated into Russian and Spanish).
Zweig is one of the original Aish Hatorah-trained rabbis – having attained his smicha in 1982 from Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish Hatorah. He (Zweig) is much travelled, himself having led Yom Tov services in such exotic locales as Bermuda, Barbados and Curacao in the Caribbean, Mexico and Sweden.
Zweig noted that he was inspired to write “Living Kaddish” after his mother passed away in 2002 when, on one occasion, he was not able to find a minyan so that he could say kaddish.
In his presentation at the Chavurat Tefila, he observed that the first Jew to mention kaddish is purported to be Rueven – about 3,500 years ago – on the passing of his father, Yaacov (Israel). About 900 C.E., Zweig continued, kaddish became part of the liturgy and, 200 years later, was included in the siddur.
It is interesting, he noted, that kaddish is said not for the deceased, but, rather, the living. There is no mention of the Lord in the kaddish either. Kaddish is actually a prayer for hope and the future.
For a parent, one is required to say kaddish three times a day – morning, afternoon and evening – for 11 months. For a sibling, child (God forbid), relative or others, the requirement is just 30 days.
One of the stories in “Kaddish Around the World” tells of one of Zweig’s own experiences – after his father died in 20201 at the age of 101. The author happened to be at a family bar mitzvah in Orlando several months later. He fully expected that in a city with a Jewish population the size of Orlando, he wouldn’t have any trouble putting together a minyan for a Sunday morning. He felt even more confident when he noticed that an AMOR Rabbis convention was being held at the same hotel. On inquiring which sort of rabbis these were, he learned that AMOR stood for “Association of Messianic Rabbis”.
Come Sunday morning, most of the bar mitzvah guests had gone home. He could only muster eight for the minyan. He thought he could try the messianic group in the hope that some of them may have been born Jewish. Four of the group offered to help. A Chabad rabbi suggested that Zweig ascertain that each had two Jewish parents. Two qualified.
Zweig quoted one of the two messianic rabbis who said, after the service that ”this was the most moving service I have ever experienced.”
“Maybe Hashem brought me to that particular hotel at that particular time so that I could provide them with little spark of what Judaism is about,” Zweig said.
Another of the stories in the book concerns a shopkeeper in an American mall where many of the other store owners were also Jewish. The individual, Yossi, needed a minyan for mincha (the afternoon prayer) but couldn’t afford to close his business. He figured he could round up enough of the other store keepers to form a minyan. Everyone he approached was willing to come if he were to be the tenth. (In my own years organizing minyans, that was something I heard often enough – “call me if I will be the tenth”). Yossi’s solution was to assure each one he asked that, yes, he would be the tenth.
“Kaddish Around the World” is available on Amazon and also in digital ebook format and as an audio book.
In addition to being a rabbi and author, Zweig also is a singer/songwriter working in his own genre – Jewish rock and roll. He has a band called “The Kiddush Club,” and a CD called “TOYS.” In addition, he has recently launched a YouTube channel called “Living Kaddish”.
Features
The Gaza Peace Plan is not a Done Deal, but an Opening
By HENRY SREBRNIK (Oct. 23, 2025) The idea that Hamas will voluntarily disarm, that international forces will deploy in the Gaza Strip, and that the process of building a Palestinian government by people like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which a disarmed Hamas does not participate, are false hopes, if not fantasies. But does this mean U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan was useless? Of course not.
Trump understood the necessity of bringing the war to an end. But he also believed that endless debate among experts or, worse, historian and lawyers, would never produce an agreement. He presented an offer – actually, an ultimatum – to Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas that neither could refuse: immediate, unconditional and complete release of all hostages and missing persons, something the Israeli public longed for, in exchange for a final end to the war, which a humbled Hamas needed.
Two years of war has left Hamas weaker than it had been in decades. Israeli bombardments had shattered the group’s military capabilities and depleted its arsenals. In many neighborhoods, control had drifted to local clan networks and tribal councils. This hinted at something that could one day replace Hamas’s iron grip. To prevent this, Hamas has been ruthlessly murdering all potential rivals in the areas of Gaza it controls since the ceasefire went into effect.
Despite the severe degradation of its military capabilities during the war, Hamas still has more soldiers and weapons than all its rival factions in Gaza combined. Hamas has managed to redeploy approximately 7,000 militants to reassert control over the territory. They have publicized photographs and videos of their forces murdering and torturing; the victims include women and children.
The ceasefire is a temporary reprieve for Hamas: a chance to regroup, rearm, and prepare for the next round of fighting. In Islamist political thought there’s a word for it, hudna — a temporary truce with non-Muslim adversaries that can be discarded as soon as the balance of power shifts. Then the time for jihad will arrive again. Hamas was established in 1987 and isn’t going to disappear.
In fact Hamas also says it expects an interim International Transitional Authority to hire 40,000 Hamas employees, and Hamas spokesman Basem Naim says he expects its fighters to be integrated into a post-transition Palestinian state.
Still, Trump has succeeded in ending the current war in Gaza, where Joe Biden failed. Biden’s national security team, drawn almost entirely from his supposed expert class, didn’t even see the crisis coming. Just five days before the attack, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had published an article in Foreign Affairs in which he wrote that “the region is quieter than it has been for decades.”
Biden also had insulted the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, by publicly condemning the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And, of course, there was Biden’s poor relationship with Netanyahu, and his chronic inability to get the Israeli prime minister to do what he wanted.
By contrast, Trump returned to office with substantially more influence in both the Gulf and Israel, based on his first-term successes in the Middle East, especially the Abraham Accords (for which he’s never been praised by his political enemies).
Four Arab countries formally recognized Israel, beginning with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Sudan and Morocco. The next stage was intended to include Saudi Arabia. One motive put forward by some analysts for the October 7 attacks was that they were intended to provoke Israel into a response that would derail Saudi Arabia’s admission.
Instead of sitting Israelis and Arabs in a room and expecting them to negotiate an outcome, Trump’s approach has been to exert leverage through other players in the region, especially, Egypt, Turkey, and – most importantly – Qatar.
In Jerusalem, they call Qatar “the spoiler state.” Israelis describe the emirate as two trains running behind the same engine. One, led by the Qatari ruler’s mother and brother, supports the Muslim Brotherhood and is an unmistakable hater of Israel. The other, led by the prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and several other senior figures, seeks rapprochement with the West.
The Qataris were shocked when Israeli jets on Sept. 9 conducted an airstrike in Doha targeting the leadership of Hamas. They then signed onto Trump’s peace plan at a meeting in New York Sept. 23, hosted by Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Ibn Hamad Al Thani, and attended by the leaders of eight Arab states, along with members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Netanyahu was then browbeaten into accepting the plan (and also forced to apologize to the Emir for the airstrike). It was somewhat ironic that the airstrike made the peace plan possible. As well, Trump’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June gave this negotiation some very sharp teeth.
“If you would rather leave peacemaking to the historians and diplomats, then you may wait a long time for wars to end,” suggested Niall Ferguson of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, in an Oct. 15 Free Press article. His advice? Go to the “deal guys: They get the job done.”
In a sense, both Israel and Hamas had accomplished their goals. Israel had broken the Iranian axis of terror by eliminating Hezbollah and Hamas as a fighting force, along with the Iranian nuclear threat. Hamas had succeeded in luring Israel into a trap that led it to become hated and isolated around the world. This included the labelling of Israel as genocidal and the global call for a Palestinian state.
The rest of the 20-point peace plan will be addressed in a step-by-step fashion. Meanwhile, Israel must ensure that it retains freedom of action in Gaza, by decisive action against any attempt by Hamas to rebuild its army, its rockets, its battalions and its divisions.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Features
Why Fitness Routines Fall Apart — and How to Rebuild Yours
Every spring, gyms see a flood of hopeful faces. New shoes, fresh playlists, unwavering intentions, by mid-summer? Half of them vanish into the fog of abandoned routines. The story repeats year after year until it starts to feel almost scripted. Why does enthusiasm evaporate? The easy answer involves willpower but that explanation misses the point. Habits don’t fail because people are weak. Life stress, boredom, and monotony ruin routines. Timely lever pulls can change narratives. The hardest part is persevering when motivation wanes.
Mistaking Motivation for Momentum
Most chase that opening surge, the lightning strike of motivation, but then stop searching once enthusiasm fizzles. A scroll through sites like PUR Pharma (pur-pharma.is/) or a glimpse of an influencer’s progress triggers a burst of action: new workout gear ordered, plans scribbled in planners destined for dusty drawers. Yet momentum fades when small setbacks pop up (a late meeting here, rainy weather there). Real progress comes from building systems stronger than any fleeting pep talk. Those who frame fitness as something owed to motivation end up back at square one every time life interrupts, which it always does.
Overcomplicating Everything
It’s tempting to turn wellness into a science fair project with spreadsheets and specialized equipment lined up on day one. This is the allure of complexity disguised as seriousness, a new diet paired with seven types of supplements and four color-coded bottles. Simplicity gets lost in the noise almost instantly. Most successful routines rely on two principles: keep it simple and keep showing up even when everything else is chaos outside those gym walls. Anyone insisting that perfection is required before taking step one has already constructed an excuse not to begin at all.
Forgetting Fun Completely
Who decided exercise must hurt or look like punishment? Somewhere along the line, fun got swapped out for grind culture and “no pain, no gain.” That isn’t just unappealing, it’s unsustainable over months or years. If sessions feel like torture devices borrowed from medieval times, nobody should be surprised when commitment falters fast. Seek activities that actually spark some joy or curiosity, a dance class instead of yet another treadmill session, maybe, or play a pickup game rather than slogging through solo circuits again and again.
Ignoring Recovery (and Reality)
Sleep deprivation, disguised as discipline, fools anyone, except perhaps uncritical Instagram followers. Ignoring recovery turns ambition into tiredness faster than any missed session. Because bodies break without rest, routines must breathe with owners. Cycling, real leisure, and honest self-checks regarding weekly goals build endurance, not continual pushing.
Conclusion
Change rarely arrives by force alone but usually grows quietly from patterns repeated imperfectly over time, even if last month looked nothing like this week so far. Drop the hunt for nonstop inspiration. Instead of breaking behaviors at the first hint of stress or boredom, build habits that last. People who rebuild methodically after every stumble or detour make progress, not those who peak and then fall.