{"id":718,"date":"2015-12-23T15:30:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T15:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/nash-holos-a-remarkable-childrens-book\/"},"modified":"2017-08-18T19:25:10","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T19:25:10","slug":"nash-holos-a-remarkable-childrens-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/nash-holos-a-remarkable-childrens-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Nash Holos: A Remarkable Children\u2019s Book"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome to Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio. I\u2019m Peter Bejger.<\/p>\n

Today we will play a game with the alphabet. \u201cA\u201d is for aristocrat, someone who is privileged but also someone who can be considered the best of its kind.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u201d is also for ascetic, someone who practices profound self-discipline and abstains from the worldly pleasures of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cA\u201d is also for Andrei, as in Andrei Sheptytsky, a legendary Ukrainian religious leader and moral authority in the very much-tormented Galicia of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

A remarkable children\u2019s book\u2014and a book that will delight not only children\u2014created a stir at this year\u2019s Lviv Book Forum.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky from A to Zed, or if you prefer, from A to Zee, offers a delightful yet thoughtful account of a renowned figure\u2019s life through the letters of the alphabet.<\/p>\n

Of course, in the original Ukrainian the last letter is not zed, but rather \u201cya,\u201d which means \u201cI.\u201d I, and you, and anyone else reading the book will get an invaluable tip when we reach this letter. But more about that later.<\/p>\n

The book, written by Halyna Tereshchuk and Oksana Dumanska, and illustrated by Romana Romanyshyn and Andrii Lesiv, covers with wit and panache all the highlights of a great man\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Count Roman Aleksander Maria Sheptytsky was born in 1865 into a wealthy family of landowners whose noble Ruthenian lineage dates back to the 13th century.<\/p>\n

Sheptytsky\u2019s family was Roman Catholic Polish aristocracy whose household language was French. A life of ease only available to the upper classes of that era awaited the young man.<\/p>\n

But he chose another path. Defying his father, he became a monk at the Basilian monastery in the western Ukrainian town of Dobromyl. He returned to his family\u2019s ancient roots to serve in what was then regarded as the very unfashionable and peasant Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

He took the name Andrei, or Andrew, after the younger brother of Saint Peter, who is considered the founder of the Byzantine Church, and specifically of the Ukrainian Church.<\/p>\n

He rose rapidly. In 1901, at the age of thirty-six, he was enthroned Metropolitan Archbishop of Lviv and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Despite his illustrious background and exalted position, he remained a man of simple tastes. German officers who called on him during the Nazi occupation of the Second World War were surprised to witness his meager meal of potatoes, bread, and water. \u201cI eat what my people eat,\u201d said Sheptytsky.<\/p>\n

The German visitors were interested in more than the churchman\u2019s cuisine. While still a student at Krakow University, Sheptytsky learned Hebrew and read widely on Jewish history, religion, and culture.<\/p>\n

And in the bleak terrain of Nazi-occupied Ukraine, Sheptytsky hid Jews in his palace, including Kurt and Nathan Lewin, the sons of the rabbi of Lviv. Additional Jewish children were hidden throughout Ukrainian Catholic monasteries in Galicia, a complex operation coordinated by Sheptytky\u2019s brother Klement.<\/p>\n

In addition to this dramatic account of his moral choices, Sheptytsky\u2019s achievements as a scholar, philanthropist, patron of the arts, and leading public figure in Ukrainian society are covered in this charming and engaging book.<\/p>\n

At the very end of the book we reach the Ukrainian letter \u201cya\u201d or \u201cI.\u201d And I, and you, and all our listeners are reminded that as individuals we each have choices in the path we choose to follow. Some are more constructive. Sheptytsky\u2019s example offers a clue, and not only for children.<\/p>\n

The illustration of a lock and a key on one of the last pages offers the reader of this book an open-ended question. What does faith, hope, and love mean to you?<\/p>\n

This has been Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio. From San Francisco, I\u2019m Peter Bejger. Until next time, shalom!<\/p>\n

The audio file is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio. I\u2019m Peter Bejger. Today we will play a game with the alphabet. \u201cA\u201d is for aristocrat, someone who is privileged but also someone who...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,64,124,8,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literature","category-nash-holos","category-sponsored-projects","category-culture","category-audio-visual-media","primary-category-124","primary-category-sponsored-projects"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5492,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/5492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}