The Inheritance (Yurusha) by Israel Rosen

A young boy, Elliot Rosen, watched his Zayda (grandfather) writing in Yiddish and drawing pictures with his fountain pen in a book that was kept hidden and secret. After his Zayda’s death in 1948 the book was kept from the young boy’s eyes. In 1960, when the boy’s Bubba (grandmother) died, the book was taken by the boy’s oldest uncle Max, and no one wanted to talk about it. In 1979, Uncle Max gave the book to his youngest brother, Dave (the boy’s father), and the next day, Max died. The young boy, now a married man, took the book and made it his responsibility to get it translated. Now, after many decades, Elliot Rosen has been able to bring the amazing story of survival and life’s journey of Yisroel Ayzik Rosen (Israel Rosen) to the public. This extraordinary work about a man whom Neal Karlen describes as a mensch in the book’s brilliant foreword, might only be one man’s story, but it is also every immigrant’s story in one way or another. It is tearful, painful, and sometimes depressing, yet funny, uplifting and ultimately spiritual.