The Swastika on the Synagogue Door (A Lazarus Family Mystery)

By J. Leonard Romm

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1881283054
• ISBN13: 9781881283058
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Alef Design Group
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.3" x 4.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Good Story

This is a good book for Jr High kids. The story is dramatic and shows what anti-Semitism can do and what it is.

Outstanding

This is a delightful, little book. An educational novel for pre-teens and adults alike. I picked it up out of curiosity and read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.Set on Long Island, the story is that of a single-parent, Jewish family with a live in care provider from the Old Country who is also the spiritual and instructive medium in the children?s lives. Most of the adults depicted, as well.Covering just about every aspect of Jewish life in such a funny, informative, and realistic way, I began to wonder if the author, a Rabbi himself, had not been a member of my own congregation. I think all readers will feel the same way. His grasp of the internal dynamics of the Jewish community and synagogue life is incredible.Almost every word describing Conservative Jewish religious practice is included in the narrative. There is a lesson to be learned on almost every page, from anti-Semitism to internal prejudices, few if any subjects are left unexamined in a positive, thought provoking way.Comprised of a story about vandals motivated by a former Nazi officer with several intriguing subplots, at no point does the reader get lost or chance being overcome by one subplot or another. The reading experience is thus very enjoyable.Comprehensive and utterly charming, the only drawback is it is obvious this was meant to be one of a series of mysteries. Mysteries to be solved by the Lazarus family and their cast of colorful, supporting characters. Sadly this appears to be the only edition published.Very young readers make take notice of the era the book was set in, the mid 1980's, but other than a few dated chronological references, this book is timeless.