Children of Job: American Second-Generation Witnesses to the Holocaust (review)

Book Reviews 151 Children of Job: American Second-Generation Witne~ses to the Holocaust, by Alan L. Berger. Albany: State University ofNew York Press, 1997. 241 pp. $19.95. With the passing oftime, the number ofHolocaust survivors is constantly diminishing. This means that in another ten to twenty years there will be no eyewitnesses left to relate, write, or commit to film the story ofhow millions ofinnocent Jews, their parents, sisters, brothers, and children among them, had been turned into smoke and punished for a sin they could not help but commit-being bO!fi Jewish. Through the post-war years, the survivors' testimonies, published and unpublished alike, had invariably called into question the very foundation of modem civilization-the trust in both God and man, coming perilously close to asserting the meaninglessness of human existence. Their insistence, however, on the continued need to chronicle the tragedy and keep the memory oftheir murdered brethren alive, allows forthe possibility of transcending the seemingly godless and existential void created by the Holocaust; and their ability and willingness to give birth to a new generation of children, at times "replacement" children, reflect an inexplicable belief in the resiliency of the human spirit. Implicit in their deeds is a simple dictum: authoring testimony and creating new lives secure the continuity of Jewish life and identity whose very essence denies the forces of evil a chance to triumph. Whether the world will heed the lessons of the Holocaust remains an open question. What is unquestionable, though, is that the Shoah's legacy will continue to be transmitted, for it has inspired many of the survivors' children to bear witness through their literary and cinematic efforts to a catastrophe they have not personally experienced, but one that has left an indelible mark on their identity. Although most ofthese second-generation artists came of age in the last fifteen or so years, they have generated an impressive body of fiction and documentary footage to warrant attention and study. In his latest book, The Children ofJob: American Second-Generation Witnesses to the Holocaust, Alan Berger closely scrutinizes the texts and films produced by second-generation artists, since he firmly believes that their work "comprises a secular midrash ofPost-Auschwitz Jewish identity" and will "have a great bearing on how the [Holocaust] will be commemorated in the future." His readings and observations reveal a deep respect. and sympathy for his subject matter and are permeated by an awareness ofhow formidable a task it is to bear witness to "a presence of an absence." Elie Wiesel, in his moving Foreword to Children ofJob, declares his high regard for the strength and courage children ofsurvivors exhibit when faced by their parents' painful memories or when trying to overcome the guilt for failing to alleviate their parents' suffering. These present-day children of Job, maintains Wiesel, "will never detach themselves from the tragedy that gave birth to them." Berger shares the Nobel Laureate's sentiments and acknowledges the potentially damaging consequences the Holocaust could have had on the second generation. He argues, however, that it is 152 SHOFAR Fall 1998 Vol. 17, No. 1 precisely this connectedness to their parents' past that shaped the identity of the many writers and filmmakers under his consideration and endowed their artistic journey with a sense of mission to bear witness, shape Holocaust memory, and search for ways to make the world a safer place for all. The efforts of second-generation artists to transform their parents' Shoah experiences into works of art without denigrating or idealizing their pasts, notes Berger, are informed by both Jewish particularism and universalism, mirroring, thus, the characteristic features ofbiblical and rabbinic thought. The particularists' questioning of God, the Sinai Covenant, and the feasibility of ever attaining a meaningful dialogue with the non-Jewish world leads toward introspection, self-examination, and the repair of self-tikkun atzmi. Those who adopt the universalist path go beyond the queries specific to Judaism and God's relationship with his people and set their sight towards the establishment ofa moral code founded on the ashes ofimmoral destruction that will lead to the repair of the world-tikkun olam. Whether they adhere to Jewish particularism or...