The Kosher Bookworm

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“Nine Out of Ten” by Moshe Katz

The heroic story of a family’s determination to outlive and survive the Nazis

Reviewed by Alan Jay Gerber

Issue of August 1, 2008

Of one thing I am certain: the average reader of Holocaust literature is familiar with this genre of book. Hundreds of them abound; however, this one is unique, in both style and content.

Since the 1970s, Holocaust survivors by the hundreds started to open up, by writing articles and books, participating in interviews and speaking to classes and religious groups about their horrific experiences. As the years pass and the number of survivors declines, the legacy of the Holocaust experience becomes increasingly prevalent within the literary world.

The book under review is a modest and unassuming memoir by one survivor, who not only tells his story of survival, but also gives the reader an historical perspective of that which was destroyed, a history, a culture and way of life that was never to be reconstructed.

This is the legacy that our neighbor and community activist and benefactor, Dr. Moshe Katz has given in “Nine Out of Ten,” as told to Nachman Seltzer, and published by Israel Bookshop of Lakewood, NJ.

Within the 232 pages of the book, Katz details in graphic yet precise language his experiences as a youth, a teenager witness to the destruction of a way of life. No sympathy is asked for and no verbal tears are shed. Just the facts, which are the literary signature of this book, and the lack of tears, are its strong points.

Dr. Katz was born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia in 1924. His story of survival is centered on his ability to present himself as a gentile, changing his religious and personal identity as needed and dictated by the change of locale. During the Nazi occupation, his family faced this situation, vulnerable to the brutality and murder, same as the others. However, due to their resourcefulness and strong religious faith, nine out of 10 family members survived the ordeal.

Katz relates a saga replete with acts of heroism, imprisonment, deportations, beatings, shootings, and ultimately escape and liberation. All this is detailed within the framework of continued deep faith, and prayers to a G-d that others of weaker spirit and faith had given up on. Yet the Katz family never gave up hope that the Divine would ultimately see and help them through all adversity.

What I found most appealing about this presentation was Katz’s unique combination of stories and events that carry the narrative in a seamless and coherent manner, thus keeping the reader’s interest throughout.

What gives this work an extra dimension is the extensive treatment to the author’s communal activities after arriving on the south shore of Long Island. At that time, Dr. Katz found himself in the vanguard of those who helped establish a viable and vigorous Jewish community here by laying the groundwork for the establishment of numerous religious and educational institutions in an area that had previously been devoid of them.

Within these concluding chapters can be found the legendary names of those who were helped by Katz’s leadership and resources that proved to be crucial to their success. For this alone, we are indebted to Katz, who never used his harsh youth as an excuse to shirk his communal and religious obligations.

On Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 8:30 p.m., The Red Shul, under the leadership of Rabbi Yaakov Feitman, will sponsor a special forum featuring Dr. Katz, who will share his experiences and give a firsthand account of his impressions of those events that were to form his life’s work. The program’s theme will be in keeping with the tone of The Nine Days.

The evening will be sponsored by David and Penina Klein, with a light buffet to follow the presentation. All members of the community, both men and women, are invited. There will be no charge of admission. The shul is located on Oakland Avenue, just off West Broadway, in Cedarhurst, next door to the site of its new shul building, now under construction.