Deja Views Of An Aging Orpan by Sam George Arcus (Hebrew National Orphan Home, Yonkers, NY)

The Hebrew National Orphan Home : Memories of Orphanage Life by Ira A. Greenberg (Editor), Richard G. Safran (Editor), Sam George Arcus (Hebrew National Orphan Home, Yonkers, NY)

Journeys by Sam George Arcus (Sequel to "Deja Views of An Aging Orphan")

An Orphan Has Many Parents by Stan Friedland and Phil Craft (Pride of Judea, Brooklyn, NY)

A Girl From The Home by Muriel Fox (Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn, NY)

A Life Without Consequences by Stephen Elliot (Jewish Children's Bureau of Chicago, Chicago, IL)

KOLA: Episodes in the Life of a Siberian Husky by Sam George Arcus

HOME KIDS The Story of St. Agatha Home for Children by Nancy Canfield

These books may be purchased by accessing the ONLINE BOOK STORE Page

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DEJA VIEWS OF AN AGING ORPHAN by Sam George Arcus

(Forward written by E. M. Nathanson, author of The Dirty Dozen, plus others)

Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan,
Growing Up in the Hebrew National Orphan Home
by Sam George Arcus

CONTENTS of DejaViews Reviews

A BOOK OF MANY PARTS	Dr. Ira Greenberg
"ORPHANOLOGY" HAS A NEW GEM!	Stan Friedland
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS!	Marjorie Spears-Soloff
BENCHMARK FOR THE GENRE	Dr. Roy Lachman
A WELCOME CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA	American Jewish Historical Society
AN EXCITING TIME TRAVEL ADVENTURE AND A VOYAGE OF DICOVERY	E. M. Nathanson
PASSIONATE, INSIGHTFUL AND FILLED WITH WISDOM	Jeff Needleman
ARIZONA SUNDAY STAR - February 18, 2001	J. C. Martin
OTHER BRIEF QUOTES	Various

A BOOK OF MANY PARTS

Dr. Ira Greenberg* Examines Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan

Sam George Arcus's Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan is a book of many "parts", both literally and figuratively. Regarding "literally" the many "parts" are Sam's way of telling the story of the Hebrew National Orphan Home--which existed from 1912 (when a few poor immigrants from Rumania pooled their meager resources to found a home for orphaned Jewish boys) through 1962 when it was finally absorbed into the Jewish Child Care Association of NY.

The "parts" tell of such aspects as dormitory life and the movement from younger to older--and literally from lower to higher--dorms on the upper floors. It tells of the many clubs and athletic activities, of the friendships that became life-long relationships, of the farm and the boys involvement in planting and harvesting crops, both officially and surreptitiously. And it tells of the orthodox Jewish religious aspects and its emphasis on rote-learning and its impact on life in the Home. And it also tells of the Dark Side of orphanage life, such as sadistic beatings and sexual molestation by older boys and corporal and group punishments by adult supervisors and some of their sadistic older boy monitors during the 1920s and '30s.

It also tells of the heroic efforts by Superintendent Harry Lucacher to keep the Home operational during the days of the Great Depression and of the changes for the better with the coming, in 1939, of Executive Director Reuben Koftoff, the institution's first trained and experienced child-care professional. These are some of the aspects of the Home told in the book, and the common thread that binds them is the personal involvement of Sam Arcus, his friends and institutional brothers. And yet,, as interesting as is this literal depiction of growing up in the Hebrew National Orphan Home, the figurative aspects of all the "Parts" may be even more interesting and possibly more important in terms of the underlying messages and its effect on the current and future policies and procedures affecting the dependent and disadvantaged child. What are some of the messages?

Mostly, what comes across is pride of , and personal identification with, this institution, this Home, this point of reference for al of us who had the good fortune to be reared and raised there. Sam Arcus's book clearly reflects his pride in the Home when he writes about the athletic, scholastic and vocational achievements of so many of its teams and boys while in the Home and after their departures. The pride shows itself in the many friends from among his peers and from among so many of the younger boys he had occasion to mentor at one time or another, or to lead in the activities he headed (and at one time or another he headed ALL of them), and in the many adult lives that were enriched by his influence during their years at the Home.

Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan is a book that provides intellectual enrichment and emotional warmth, particularly for those who identify with the Home (and by this I mean anyone who has grown up in an institution) and thus relive the bondings, yearnings, hurts and happiness experienced during our formative years. For in spite of the cruelties this book describes, it is basically a happy book reflecting the many experiences that the author, his friends and "Home brothers" endured and learned to turn to their advantage. There was, figuratively speaking lots of lemonade made at the HNOH.

Examining the book from a practical perspective--in terms of what it means today and where it best belongs--I would say it is the story of an orphanage that needs to be told, not only to fill out the history from the American Jewish Historical Society's viewpoint, but for the edification of all of us in the general reading public. I say this because it is an interesting story, with many fascination anecdotes that are well-told and that make for "a good read."

But more than that, this book has many practical aspects and lessons to impart, among which would be its use as an educational tool in the training of child-care professionals and specialists. Even tough Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan was not meant to be a textbook, it is nevertheless a testament to orphanage or institutional life and as such could very well serve as supplementary reading for child-care courses in social work, sociology and chid or developmental psychology. And it could also well serve those already working in the child welfare field as social workers, psychologists, teachers, counselors, researchers, administrators and yes, even policemen. But the ultimate beneficiaries would be the children the above-cited professionals are charged with helping. It is the children that this basically happy book is all about.

*Ira Greenberg succeeded Sam Arcus as the Editor of THE HOMELITE when Sam left the HNOH at the end of August, 1940. After leaving the Home, in 1942, Ira went on to a successful career as a journalist and then obtained his Ph.D degree in psychology and launched another successful career as individual and group counselor specializing in clinical hypnosis. He is also the co-editor, along with Richard Safran of "the other book about the HNOH" titled Our Village, The Home, soon to be published.

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

"ORPHANOLOGY" HAS A NEW GEM!

A Review by Stan Friedland*

In the genre of books by orphans about their respective orphanages, a new gem has just hit the market. "Deja Views" enables the reader to walk in the shoes of a fascinating man and re-live his development from an orphan in dire straits to that of an impact individual who has made strong contributions to our society. The author, Sam Arcus, details his childhood experiences of his life in the Hebrew National Orphans' Home and of its impact and influence on his entire life. His narrative is colorful, richly detailed and viewed from all sides. The reader is able to "feel" each experience, which gives rise to that enjoyable reading sensation of, "What's next?" The"Aging Orphan" in the title refers to the sequencing of the author's life. After leaving his own orphanage, he became a beloved supervisor in another one and then started a long and illustrious career in Jewish Community Centers where he developed a national reputation for creating some of the best Centers in the country. So, in a manner of speaking, he remained in related institutions all of his life and retained a good humored self concept as an "aging orphan." Given the width and breath of his total experiences, which are richly detailed in the book, the author is uniquely well qualified to add some new and valuable insights and observations to the emerging field of "orphanology".And he does so, eloquently, informatively and interestingly. Whether you are a scholar in this field, or just looking for a good read, I would recommend this book to you with great enthusiasm. It is, indeed, a gem!

*Note: Stanley Friedland is a retired, renown doctor of education, former principal of a high school in the New York area and a co-author (along with Phil Craft) of "An Orphan Has Many Parents," published by KTAV, Yeshiva University Press, in 1999. And in that work he coined the term "Orphanology."

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS!

A Review by Marjorie Spears-Soloff*

Growing up in a family consisting of two loving parents, a sister and doting grandparents, it is hard to fathom that there are others in this world not as fortunate as you are. But Sam George Arcus's book, Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan will prove to anyone who reads this most wonderful descriptive book, that there still can be love and devotion and a sense of family with children bonding together to form a "brotherhood" of long lasting and loving relationships. Intertwined with the trials and tribulations of being designated as "orphans" or "inmates", these children searching for love and acceptance do come to find their Home does have some heart.

To anyone not familiar with orphanage or institutional life, and most are not, one must first understand what is an orphan? Not all orphans had two deceased parents. Some have had one and were called half-orphans, others might even have/had both, but abandoned because of ill health, poverty or other reasons. These children were placed in institutions through no fault of their own. Many carrying resentment of other relatives, i.e. aunts, uncles and cousins who refused to "save" them from this new and scary life. For those lucky few that still had some family, their Sunday and holiday visits meant the world to them. The caring women's auxiliaries and other organizations that went out of their way to donate their time and monies to make life as pleasant and normal as possible for these children were to be commended.

Throughout the pages of Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan, Sam Arcus brings to us 50 to 60 years of memories, stories, columns and thoughts of what life was like and how it was lived at the Hebrew National Orphan Home on Tuckahoe Road, in Yonkers, NY. Laughter and tears are contained in "all the parts" of this book that makes it "whole".

A wonderful read! "You Are There!"....just as Edward R. Murrow used to say.

*Marge Spears-Soloff is the author of this website, HNOH Welcome-Jewish Orphanages in the United States.

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

BENCHMARK FOR THE GENRE

A Review by Dr. Roy Lachman*

*Professor Roy Lachman reviews DEJA VIEWS of an AGING ORPHAN; Growing Up in the Hebrew National Orphan Home (Xlibris, Philadelphia) by Sam George Arcus.

For the first time in over 50 years, there is a resurgence of interest in a "faith-based" approach to social services, driven by the current administration in the White House. Sam George Arcus' book, a retrospective on his childhood and youth in a pre-WWII Hebrew orphan home, provides invaluable data and insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of the faith-based services delivered by these homes.

During the first half of the twentieth century, institutions dealt with several constituencies: orphans, criminals, and what were then called the "insane". The care of criminals and the insane was the province of government, except for a few private clinics serving the well to do mentally ill. The care of orphans, on the other hand, was almost exclusively the province of faith-based institutions such as the Hebrew National Orphan Home (chronicled by Arcus), Academies of the Sacred Heart, institutions sponsored by other denominations and the well-known Boys Town located in Nebraska.

Today, these roles are very different. The mentally ill, if they have insurance, are treated by private, for profit institutions. Government handles the criminally insane. There are relatively few asylums for the uninsured mentally ill. These people make up a disproportionate number of what are now called "the homeless," and are served largely by faith-based, not-for-profit organizations. There are virtually no longer any orphan homes; instead, orphaned children without family are usually assigned to foster homes under the auspices of the state. Criminals are still the province of government, with a prison population that has expanded beyond the wildest predictions that could have been made, say, in 1950.

Into this milieu President Bush has declared his intention to invite faith-based institutions once again to deal with contemporary social problems. So how can a book like Deja Views of an Aging Orphan enlighten our approach to the social issues of today? Although the data presented are anecdotal, they are very rare. No controlled studies exist comparing the effectiveness of orphanages with that of foster care - there was limited temporal overlap, and the social contexts of the different historical periods in which they occurred rendered comparison futile. However, the anecdotal evidence, as well as some of the reflections offered by Arcus, suggests that group homes may well work better than foster care in terms of protecting the children from the type of abuse that contributes to the burgeoning prison population.

If government funds are to be funneled to faith-based programs while foster care is still the primary method of serving orphaned or dependent children, and if some of these programs return to traditional group homes, a golden opportunity exists to equate many of the variables that affect outcomes, thus permitting a principled evaluation of foster care as opposed to congregate group care. Arcus' book provides a rich source of hypotheses for such work. In fact, it can be perceived as a benchmark for the genre labeled "Orphanology" by Dr. Stanley Friedland, co-author of an earlier work An Orphan Has Many Parents (KTAV Publishers, NY) to which Arcus also contributed. Besides its value in support of research, Deja Views is an entertaining and often touching account of one man's journey to adulthood through a non-traditional path. Arcus has captured the flavor of the orphan homes in which he was placed, as well as their lasting influence on him as a person and the definition of himself as an "aging orphan." It is well worth reading.

*Dr. Roy Lachman, is Professor and Director of Graduate Training and Chairman of the Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston TX.

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

A WELCOME CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF JEWS IN AMERICA

A Review by the American Jewish Historical Society

Among the most compelling stories told by our documents is the story of the Hebrew National Orphan Home and Hartman/Homecrest (successor to the HNOH). These institutions played such an important role within the Jewish community over many decades. Their story is integral to that of an understanding Jewish philanthropy. Their role, however, is under-documented and their story largely untold. Efforts such as Sam Arcus's to shed light on this important area of American Jewish history would be a welcome contribution to the story we try to tell, that of the history of Jews in America.

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

AN EXCITING TIME TRAVEL ADVENTURE AND A VOYAGE OF DICOVERY

A Review by E. M. Nathanson

To anyone who shared those times, Deja Views of an Aging Orphan will be an exciting time travel adventure, comprehensive, varied, textured and evocative. To those who lived in those times but had no knowledge of the milieu of the book's real life characters and stories---and to those generations that followed, such as the children and grandchildren of the Home boys---the book will be a voyage of discovery.

E. M. Nathanson is the author of "The Dirty Dozen" and many other works, plus the soon to be published, "Lovers and Schemers".

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

PASSIONATE, INSIGHTFUL AND FILLED WITH WISDOM

A Review by Jeff Needleman

To all that have had close relatives in HNOH during the 20's and 30's; this is a must read. I understand why this book is being purchased for the adult kids and grand kids. To not come away affected and a little changed is impossible.

Although Deja Views is neither a fine grammatical work or a non-fiction masterpiece, Sam's passion, insightful anecdotes and wisdom brought me back to the book day after day until it was finished being devoured. The short stories that Sam has thoughtfully interspaced throughout are polished, cohesive and a joy to read. They seem to come at just the right time to lighten the emotional load of what it was really like to live in an orphanage.

This book has created an understanding of the man that was my father in ways that were unavailable to me while he was alive. I am only sorry that this book was not published and in my possession prior to his passing. I find myself fascinated and filled with a multitude of questions that will now remain unanswered.

So Sam, thank you for sharing your joy and pain with us!

Jeff Needleman (son of HNOH "Brothers", Max Needleman and nephew of Milton Neidleman)

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

ARIZONA SUNDAY STAR
February 18, 2001

A Review by J. C. Martin

Two years ago, Sam Arcus and his wife, Adele Rosenthal Arcus, alumni of New York Jewish orphanages, compiled "An Orphan Has Many Parents." The institution central to this first book was Pride of Judea, located in Brooklyn, NY, where Mrs. Arcus, as a child, was a resident and her husband was a member of the staff. Pride of Judea got high marks for its compassion and professionalism.

Not so in the case of the Hebrew national Orphan Home on New York City's Lower East Side, where Sam Arcus spent 12 years starting at age 7.

To his own memories, he adds a lively and varied collection of essays, memories and comments by his fellow inmates. Arcus now a 78-year-old retired social worker, recalls a small, untrained staff dealing with 300 boys ages 6 through 16. they relied on discipline, sometimes teetering on the edge of abuse.

But improved staffing and money, Arcus writes made things go "from 'bad' to 'better.'"

"Deja Views" is an insider's clear-eyed look at the problems facing institutional child care.

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

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OTHER BRIEF QUOTES

"Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down." ----- Ed Lippman

"A masterpiece! It has everything!" ----- Charlie Vladimer

"I relived my entire boyhood." ----- Sidney Boison

"Two thumbs up!" ----- Jerry Pincus

"Congrats Sam! A great book!" ----- Sam Meyers

"I really enjoyed it. It filled gaps in my memory." ----- Sy Growick

"I'm left breathless! I can't understand how the major publishers passed this book up!" ----- Bill Weinstein

"(The) book is a great memorial to all the boys from the Home." ----- Doris Boisen, widow of Jerry Boisen

"Deja Views Of An Aging Orphan...unique and interesting....." -----Jewish Child Care Association of NY

Deja Views Contents

Books Reviewed

 THE HEBREW NATIONAL ORPHAN HOME:
MEMORIES OF ORPHANAGE LIFE
by Ira A. Greenberg (Editor),
Richard G. Safran (Editor),
Sam George Arcus

Editorial Reviews

Some two dozen "boys" tell of growing up in the Hebrew National Orphan Home. Though punishment was often brutal and where a few boys were victims of sexual predators, residents had many religious, recreational, educational, cultural, and athletic opportunities. Most agree that the good far outweighed the bad.

About the Authors

IRA A. GREENBERG is Executive Director of the Group Hypnosis Center, Los Angeles, a clinical psychologist, and a business coach.

RICHARD G. SAFRAN is an educational consultant in New York City.

SAM GEORGE ARCUS is Coordinator, Long-Term Care Advocacy Program, Pima Council on Aging, Tucson.

This book may be purchased by accessing the ONLINE BOOK STORE Page.

Books Reviewed

JOURNEYS
by Sam George Arcus

All of the stories in this volume are "free-standing" short stories, but stories I through VIII can be regarded as "sequels" to the author's previous work, DEJA VIEWS OF AN AGING ORPHAN, since they pick up on many characters and themes first introduced in that book and deal with the trials and tribulations of the Arcus/Erkes family, both in the "old Country" and in America. The central plot and theme involving Nochem, Bashya and her children, Nochem's sister Sonia, Mollie and her children is told from various perspectives and points of view-not unlike the famous Japanese story Rashomahn.The remaining stories are rooted in the United States, albeit in different cities as the author and his growing family move from one community to another as he climbs the ladder of greater responsibilities and financial reward within the Jewish Community Center field.

While all of the stories are based on actual events and real people, some fiction was required to fill gaps and round out the stories. In any event, each story can be perceived as a "Journey"---actual or figurative---with some of the "Journeys" providing some rare insights into the eleemosynary world of community centers and capital fund-raising.

A Book Review by Stan Friedland,Ed.D.

"JOURNEYS" is an interesting book and a most surprising one, as well. After reading the author's initial book, "Deja Views of an Aging Orphan" and knowing that "JOURNEYS" was to be its sequel, I expected it to be just that, a straightforward sequel. But, it isn't.

All of the stories in this volume are, what the author calls, "freestanding short stories." While the first eight such stories are sequels to the "Deja Views" book, the rest are quite different, although they do follow the author's life and remain true to his "journeys' theme.

In the initial eight stories, the author shares with us the dramatic twists and turns of his family in "the old country" as they attempt to survive and emigrate to the "new world." It's small wonder that the dominant theme, expressed by the author for this part of his history, is the Robert Burns aphorism, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray!" Consider, if you will, his father, Nochem, (Nathan) going to the New World, and inadvertently disappearing, for years; the willful torching of the family house that killed nine family members, and the harrowing journey of some 600 miles by foot, in the dead of winter, by Bashya, Nochem's wife, and their two small children, who were the only survivors! After finally rejoining her own family, on a journey worthy of Ulysses, Bashya has to wait years before being able to locate Nathan, in America, only to learn, that because he had heard that she and his children had perished in the fire, had remarried and had three children by his second wife, Mollie. Sam Arcus is one of these three children!

Mollie, upon learning that her husband's first wife and children are alive, immediately believes that she and her three children are "illegitimate" and becomes acutely distressed by the "shame." The upset is so severe that when young Sam is but seven years old, his mother throws herself off her apartment house roof and dies. Nathan cannot work and care for his 3 youngest, American-born children and has no recourse than to place them in orphanages. As the doors close on their baleful cries of "Papa, why are you putting us here; don't leave us here, Papa", this painful segment comes to an end.

As indicated above, this segment of early Arcus family history was gripping and powerful; lives forever shaped by anti-Semitism, accidents, murder, poor decisions, miscommunications, and the like, that sent people, young and old, in all directions! It is an account that most of us can identify with. Don't each of us have, in our ancestries, just these sorts of  "journeys" that enable us to say,"almost the same thing happened to my family!" Or, if we were luckier, "There but for the Grace of God, go I!"

Upon conclusion of this segment, the author reminds the reader that his entire 12 years in the HNOH orphanage is covered in his book, "Deja Views of An Aging Orphan." Part two really begins with Story XI when we next meet Sam, not only married, but a father as well. There's a great sense of paternal pride in this story, "Norman's First Journey", where little Norman Arcus, son of Adele & Sam, and just 19 months old, goes for an unexpected neighborhood walk, much to the near heart failure of his parents.

But, then we say goodbye to Sam Arcus and say hello to his pseudonym, Sol Wise, as Sam takes us through his interesting career in directing Jewish Community Centers. That he adopts this literary ploy is a clever thing to do because he obviously wants to remain accurate to his stories, and yet he needs to disguise the colorful characters that populate the different stops in his illustrious career. So, in story, #12, we meet Sol Wise, assistant Y director, young, dynamic, idealistic, but about to be "set-up" in this story, aptly entitled, "The Set-Up." And so the reader is introduced to the typical JCC, a world of politics, power, and maneuvering, that always makes the director feel as if he's constantly being tiltedtoward the exit door!

But "JOURNEYS" takes some interesting "rest" time as well, to share some enjoyable anecdotal stories, that certainly can and do "stand on their own." One such story is "The Jaywalker," in which the author, with much self-deprecating good humor, recounts the embarrassment of getting a ticket for jaywalking, while attempting to get change for a parking meter! My favorite one, however, was "Zweitack's Boil," a poignant human interest story about a farmer, who, dissatisfied with his Catholic religion, becomes fascinated with Judaism and goes through conversion, with the help of his new friend, Selwyn Arons. (Recognize the initials?)

A half dozen other such human-interest stories dot the landscape of this enjoyable book, and they each flesh out the warm humanity and good humor of the author. They reflect his pride in his family and in his work, where he came to be known nationally as the "JCC Doctor." It is this strong reputation that brings Solomon Wise to his last and perhaps most challenging JCC stop, Rincon, Arizona (read Tucson). In the book's final chapter, the author colorfully details the task of building a truly state of the art JCC, despite every conceivable obstacle. Ten years of hard work pay off as Sol Wise, even though let out to pasture, has the pleasure of presenting the history of the project at the dedication of the beautiful and spacious new Jewish Community Center. The title of his piece? "In The Beginning"! How appropriate!

"JOURNEYS" is a delightful book, enjoyable to read, with a variety of stories that cover the human condition quite thoroughly. There is much in it for people of all ages and backgrounds to identify with and this reviewer recommends it most highly.

Stan Friedland, Ed.D.   

Books Reviewed

A JOURNEY WORTH TAKING, A BOOK WORTH READING

Review by Roy Lachman, Ph.D.

I have reviewed many books in the past, mostly for scholarly journals. This is, however, a new experience for me. I know the author; he was a beacon in my own bleak childhood and after fifty years of journeying in different directions, we are once again in touch. On every page of JOURNEYS I recognize the beam of hope that he has cast for all who entered his life-long journey as a MSW social worker, colleague, friend or even as a casual acquaintance. If this review appears as much a tribute as a critique, it is only fair to tell the reader where I am coming from.

JOURNEYS (together with its predecessor work, Deja Views of an Aging Orphan) is a combination of mostly autobiography and history of the author's family in the early chapters. The second part, that is autobiography, has a deep structure dealing with the perennial struggle of conscience over expediency, and between principle and self-interest. In this connection, the book describes the bureaucracies that the author has battled, interspersed with stories of the many troubled individuals that the author befriended and to whom he provided non-intrusive and invaluable guidance. This is all done without self-congratulation; in fact, he gives himself various pseudonyms as he relates these stories.

My own relationship to the author is not described in the book, but those that are reported are highly representative of it, and perhaps of a thousand unreported others. Here it is impossible not to interpose a personal account of what Sam meant to me. I too was an orphan. Although she was not dead, my mother was institutionalized when I was ten, and although he was not dead either, my father was unable to care for a grieving and desperately unhappy pre-adolescent. After family members gave up on me, I was deposited on the doorstep of the Pride of Judea Children's Home, where Sam Arcus, only eight years my senior, was a supervisor/counselor. Sam, a caring and dedicated mentor, taught us all that a thousand mile journey begins with one step,î and he encouraged us to get all the education we could for that journey. He shared with us, his charges, what he was learning as a nighttime college student. Although I believed, at the time, it to be far beyond my capacity to achieve, he gave me the strength and longing for knowledge that ultimately would lead me to a Ph.D. and a deeply satisfying academic career. At twelve years of age, I felt I had only one true friend, and that friend was Sam.

At age sixteen, in early 1944, I joined the wartime merchant marine. Sam and I had many conversations about the wisdom of that decision prior to its implementation. I hear echoes of those discussions in several chapters of the book. For instance, one chapter deals with a family contemplating and pursuing conversion from Catholicism to Judaism, and another is about a frightened, lonely and bewildered youngster who had been through them all--counselors, social workers, parole officers, cops--without relief. Among the many reasons the author is able to help where other fail is that he never forgot the loneliness, bewilderment and fright from his own childhood and adolescence.

The earlier book, Deja Views of An aging Orphan, told of Sam's own experiences as an orphan at the Hebrew National Orphan Home, and later, as a counselor at the Pride of Judea Children's Home. JOURNEYS contains historical accounts of Sam's family in Russia and then the USA explaining how he came to be an orphan and placed in The HNOH, and autobiographical accounts of his career as a social worker and administrator of various Jewish Community Centers in the United States. (Never mind the pseudonyms used in the book; all the protagonists are Sam!)

The family history is fascinating, giving the reader a glimpse into the true meaning of the phrase: The best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray.î As the middle son of a relatively prosperous Jewish horse breeder in Russia, Sam's father Nathan (Nochem in the Old Country) came to the United States with plans to bring his wife Bashya and two young children along as soon as he had the means to do so. However, his younger sister, Sonia, was involved with a non-Jewish Army officer, and the scandalized family agreed that Nochem should bring her to the New World first, using the papers he had obtained for his wife. But his children would not leave Russia without their mother, and so Sonia came alone.

Then came The Great War--also known as World War I and the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Bashya and her two children fled a pogrom and, believing they were dead, Nathan married Mollie in America. And it wasn't until after the birth of their first child that they learned that Bashya and Nathan's children had in fact survived the Great War, revolution, civil war and pogroms! Although the NY Rabbinate granted him a divorce from Bashya, Nathan endeavored to send monies to his first wife and children. But the financial burden of supporting Nathan's two families and the unfortunate accidental death of Nathan and Mollie's first-born son plunged Mollie into a depression from which she never recovered. She died in a fall from a building that may or may not have been suicide, and that is how Sam and his older brother, Alex, came to be wards of the Hebrew National Orphan Home.

These stories are told with warmth, sensitivity and an occasional dash of humor. Even those who were the villains in young Sam's life are given a voice to tell their version of the truth. The story of a family torn asunder by its cultural placement, its own values (even if self-destructive), and the inexorable march of history is rich and textured. It neatly places the young Sam in the milieu in which he appeared in Deja Views of an Aging Orphan.

The second half of JOURNEYS is an account of what became of Nathan and Mollie's third young son, who found himself an unwilling orphan. From the eighteen-year-old he was in 1940. to the octogenarian that he is today, Sam's goodness has never tarnished. He has consistently maintained the values he shared with his orphaned charges as a youth, and has never sacrificed integrity for expediency. No human institution is perfect; all serve the needs of the people who staff them whether or not these needs are congruent with the institutional mission. Sam always tried to do what he believed he had been hired to do, and not surprisingly, this resulted in an employment history that did not progress on a smooth and straight line. He encountered men whose wealth and power substituted for learning and talent. He ran up on the political rocks of organizations whose rifts were there long before he arrived. But through it all, Sam never lost his belief that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, he never stopped working to improve social institutions and he never stopped counseling troubled young people to take that first step. His relatively newly minted career as an author show that his own Journey is far from over.

Note: Doctor Roy Lachman is chairman of the Psychology Department of the University of Houston and a renowned authority on artificial intelligence.

Books Reviewed

AN ORPHAN HAS MANY PARENTS
by Stan Friedland and Phil Craft

REVIEWS for this book may be found on the PRIDE OF JUDEA Page on this web site.

This book may be purchased by accessing the ONLINE BOOK STORE Page.

Books Reviewed

A GIRL FROM THE HOME
by Muriel Fox

Muriel Fox tells the story of her childhood years in an orphanage and eight foster homes. She reaches back to the year when her story begins, 1925, when she was seven years old. She relives the events and presents them as she perceived them in childhood, speaking with a child's voice. Her material is drawn exclusively from her life experience.

During the Great Depression, beginning in 1929, many families took orphan children into their homes as a means of economic survival. The author was one of these children. In each home, she tried to be accepted as a member of the family, but came to realize that she was an outsider, a girl from the Home.

In recent years, the plight of homeless or unwanted children has brought forth a controversial suggestion: Perhaps unwanted children would be better off in orphanages than in private foster homes. The author felt motivated, even obligated, to add her voice to this public forum. She hopes that her book will offer some insight into the thoughts and feelings of today's orphaned, homeless, and unwanted children who find themselves powerless in the hands of those who make the decisions that define their lives.

Ms. Fox grew up, married and had children of her own. Always a writer and an artist, she returned to college in the 1960's, earning both her undergraduate and Masters degrees in English literature. Her Masters thesis was published as an article in the Emily Dickinson Bulletin. She then pursued a career as a high school English teacher, teaching literature, English as a second language and creative writing. In addition, she has conducted workshops in "Understanding Poetry" in libraries and community centers. A volume of her poetry is soon to be published.

Books Reviewed

A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
by Stephen Elliot

Raised in a Home for Troubled Youth, A Writer Soars to Literary Acclaim
By Lisa Keys

For many Jewish families, the American story is an uninterrupted upward trajectory from inner cities and crowded tenements to leafy suburbs and split-level houses.

But for Stephen Elliott, who was living on the streets of Chicago at age 13, the American-Jewish dream was the stuff of nightmares.

Having suffered a traumatic childhood - replete with an abusive father, drug abuse, homelessness and suicide attempts - Mr. Elliott bounced among group homes before being taken in by the Jewish Children's Bureau of Chicago. With its help he overturned the odds against him, garnering full scholarships first to the University of Illinois and then to Northwestern University. Now an established writer at age 30 and the recipient of the prestigious Wallace Stegner fellowship for emerging writers, Mr. Elliott has transformed his experiences into a harrowing and gripping autobiographical novel, "A Life Without Consequences" (MacAdam/Cage, 2001).

In the voice of his alter ego, Paul, Mr. Elliott writes:

They all knew I slept on a rooftop at the corner of California and Devon. They all knew I was sleeping over the store that sold fake leather and furs to people that couldn't afford real leather and furs. The teachers knew, the lady that worked the counter at the diner knew, her husband the cop knew, the neighbors knew, the Indians that run the corner store knew, people I didn't even know knew. And all the parents in the PTA kept telling their kids to keep away from me, I'm a bad influence, a drug addict.

On the phone, however, the author is charming and eloquent, exuding a laid-back style of speech that sounds like he's lived in the Bay Area his entire life. When a reporter pointed out that he sounded like a full-blooded Californian, Mr. Elliott laughed. "That's messed up," he replied. "If you talked to me at one point, you'd think I was black. I've lost my 'hood - now I'm Cali-soft."

Far from denying his past, however, Mr. Elliott hopes his book will help others who have suffered similar experiences. Since the publication of "A Life Without Consequences," this past fall, Mr. Elliott has run workshops at group homes, places for youths too old or too troubled to be adopted or placed in foster care. "I want everybody working in a group home to read this book," he said. "I want them to know that the children under their care are people who have had a great loss and their responsibility is not just to earn their eight bucks an hour but they have an obligation to do more than that."

Born in Sheffield, England, to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, Mr. Elliott moved to Chicago with his family at age 3. As his mother's health declined and his father, a writer of pornography, had trouble making ends meet, Mr. Elliott and his sister lived for a few years with his grandparents in a two-bedroom apartment. After Mr. Elliott's father earned some money in real estate, the family moved into their own place.

His mother died when he was 13, and Mr. Elliott ran away from his father's physical and emotional abuse. Mr. Elliott spent a year living on rooftops, showing up for eighth grade only some of the time. "I didn't want to go, but it was cold, and it was warm in the school," he said.

After he was picked up by police for living on the street, the state took custody of him, and Mr. Elliott was shuttled from a mental hospital to group home to group home. "A group home is kind of the end of the line," Mr. Elliott writes. "Charming people don't end up in group homes too often. Of course, there are levels of group homes, the worse the kid, the worse the home he's likely to end up in."

One of his first breaks came in the most unlikely setting: a synagogue. "In the synagogue, you could smoke," he said. "I would go to the synagogue, me and the black kids, smoke and eat some food - the food was good." It was there that Mr. Elliott met a rabbi - whose name he no longer remembers - who persuaded the Jewish Children's Bureau of Chicago, a social-service agency for troubled children, to take in the young Mr. Elliott.

At the bureau home, "The kids weren't as bad," Mr. Elliott said. "The really tough kids wouldn't get into a home like JCB." This home was in a better neighborhood and had a larger staff with fewer kids. Still, he said, "You can't replace the family with someone who makes an hourly wage."

Today the Jewish Children's Bureau runs five homes in the Chicago area, housing 40 children with the support of 50 staff members. Robert Bloom, the executive director of the bureau, agrees that group homes are not ideal living arrangements for troubled youth. "Any time you have to put kids with problems into a group setting with just kids with problems, that's an additional problem," he said. But it's an option for those at the end of the line. "You'd rather not [place kids in a group home], but if your kid can't stay home, and you can't do a foster home, then that's your job.

In fact, Mr. Bloom, on leave as a professor from the College of William and Mary, first arrived at the bureau 14 years ago with the intention of writing an exposé on the horrors of group homes. Instead, Mr. Bloom "discovered they weren't so bad. I found out many of the kids needed to be there."

Mr. Elliott, for example, had just come under the care of the Jewish Children's Bureau when Mr. Bloom began his job. "His intellect is rare - he's a kid with an IQ that's off the charts," Mr. Bloom said. "Had he not ended up here, he would have been on the streets."

It was at the bureau's Campbell House, in Chicago's Rogers Park area, that Mr. Elliott, at age 16, kicked his drug habit completely. "I was doing so many drugs I was saying my sentences backwards," he said. "I literally couldn't get an idea out of my head, I thought there was something wrong with me. I had always thought I was one step ahead - I guess I was arrogant - and then one day I wasn't. So I quit cold."

And although he lost most of his friends - "the dregs of the neighborhood" - he started excelling in school. "Once I turned around, I went all the way," he said. After failing his first two years of high school, Mr. Elliott doubled-up on classes, completing four years of high school in two years with a straight-A record. Scholarships provided by the Jewish Children's Bureau, combined with funding from the state of Illinois, enabled Mr. Elliott to become one of the few group-home kids to have a bona-fide success story.

Despite his accomplishments, he's never turned his back on his past. "Being a group home kid is part of my identity. A lot of people I know have hidden it from other people, but I've always associated it with who I am."

He maintains ties to the bureau, appearing in a promotional video and fund raising on its behalf. "When I had a good year, made a few bucks, I sent them $1,000," he said. "They sent me to college. They put me up. I'm definitely indebted to them."

"I was in Chicago recently, I saw a lot of my good friends from the group homes," Mr. Elliott said. "It's sad what's going on: One passed away from an overdose; my old roommate committed suicide; several are in jail. Friends have robbed each other. A couple do all right, but the percentages are horrible."

In San Francisco, he surrounds himself with a "solid, stable" group of friends. Still, he says, "Sometimes we'll be playing poker, drinking, telling stories, I'll say something [about my past] and even good friends won't believe me."

As a result, said Mr. Elliott, many of the events in "A Life Without Consequences" are understated. "I wanted to focus on the homes and a guy trying to be straight, to do okay, in a system that doesn't nurture that, isn't used to it, doesn't know how to respond to that."

For the time being, home is a studio apartment in San Francisco's rapidly gentrifying Mission district. Yet Mr. Elliott's is a dilapidated, industrial block, where, he says, watching the junkies and prostitutes on the streets provides endless entertainment. "I feel pretty comfortable," he admits. "I don't know if I'd like a neighborhood to be too nice."

Books Reviewed

KOLA: Episodes in the Life of a Siberian Husky
by Sam George Arcus

Kola: What a Pleasant Surprise!, December 7, 2005
Reviewer:
Stan Friedland (Long Island, NY)

I wasn't sure that I wanted to read this book. I'm not a dog-owner or a dog-lover and I figured that the book would be enjoyed best if I was one or the other. I was wrong. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book right from the opening page because it is a rich human interest story that has wide universal appeal and I unequivocally would recommend it to everyone.

Linda, in her last year of college, wants to adopt a dog, preferably a Golden Retreiver. One day,accompanied by her father and boy-friend, she goes to the local animal shelter in her New England town hoping to do so. Instead, she walks out with a seven month old Siberian Husky female with one blue eye and one brown eye, whom they eventually name Kola. When she asks the attendant why such a beautiful animal had been given up for adoption, his reply was, "She digs holes."

And she does. In the many amusing and interesting episodes that follow, Kola does indeed dig deep holes, both literally & figuratively. No situation is a simple one because this is a unique and special animal and she often gets herself and family into "special" situations. Some are quite comical; some are quite serious and dramatic; all are quite interesting.

The episodes ascend in their substance and intensity. With 35 of them, the reader is taken on a very rich ride of reading enjoyment. For me, it became more and more difficult to put the book down and it wasn't long before I came to its satisfying conclusion.

The author clearly defines the book as a "work of fiction", but based on real people and a real Husky named Kola. Given the attractive mixture of love and tenderness between all of the central characters, both animal and human, this blend of both truth and fiction by the author has resulted in a most pleasurable and engrossing book.

This book should have enormous appeal to people of all ages, interests and backgrounds and I enthusiastically recommend it to everyone!

(Available at all major bookstores or online from Amazon.com/BookSurge)

Books Reviewed

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HOME KIDS
The Story of St. Agatha Home for Children
by Nancy Canfield

Autobiography Explores Life in Children's Home, March 2006
Orphan Train's Crossroads

Reviewer:
Stephanie Haiar
NOTC Museum Curator

"Home Kids: The Story of St. Agatha Home for Children" by Nancy Canfield is a touching and engaging autobiography of the author's life as a child, and a biography of her siblings and other children that resided at St. Agatha's throughout the many years it was in operation.

Canfield's book is broken into two parts. The first section is a history of her family, how they came to be placed in the Home, and their first few days there. The second sections covers the entire history of St. Agatha's Home located in Nanuet, NY, from its beginning in 1884 to its eventual merger with the New York Foundling Hospital in 1977, and the closing of its doors in 2005.

Canfield describes her childhood experience with great imagery, creating a picture of life in New York in the 1960s. Although there are no orphan train stories in this book, the experiences of these children are all too familiar of those told by orphan train riders.

She also includes passages from letters and articles that were written throughout its many renovations. These documents give the reader an idea of the hardships and obstacles that the nuns faced and over came.

"Home Kids" can be purchased for $24.95, with all profits from the sale being donated to St. Agatha Home's, many foster and group homes, and the New York Foundling Hospital.

This book is published by Silver Threads (ISBN-13:978-1-83067-06-6). They can be reached at 3930 Valley Centre Drive, PMB 102, San Diego, CA 92130, by phone at 858-794-1597, or through their website at www.silver-threads.org.

Books Reviewed

EMAIL: HNOHAlumni@aol.com

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