Siblings in Chula Vista Capture Survivor Story

Sisters Eliana and Salma Chabner worked diligently to write and illustrate the important story of Jewish survivor Ruth Goldschmied Sax. It was Eliana's bat mitzvah project and her older sister was happy to give her a hand completing it. The girls loved meeting Ruth and hearing her story, then documenting it for young readers.

As a young girl in Czechoslovakia, Ruth's parents tried to escape the Nazis horrors but weren't able to. They suffered in the death camps watching thousands upon thousands of people die there. Thankfully, they survived and after the war, Ruth married survivor Kurt Sax. They lived a happy life in San Diego, CA. Kurt passed away in 2012 but his memory lives on through Ruth, their children and grandchildren.

Ruth is part of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Visita, CA. This is the same synagogue where the Chabner's attend. Their Rabbi, Michael Samuel, is no stranger to A BOOK by ME. He was Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Rock Island, IL where my project started. In fact, he worked with a young author to tell his father's story.

A book entitled The Tailor's Life was written about his father by Rachel Lagerstam and illustrated by Molly Dietmeier. This book, along with many others is currently available on Amazon. Readers learn how the rabbi's father worked directly with the evil Amon Goeth, who was made famous by Stephen Spielberg in Schindler's List.

Ironically, the current rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Rock Island is Rabbi Jeffery Lipschultz who was rabbi to Kurt and Ruth Sax at Temple Beth Shalom many years ago.

I'm finding out the world is very small.