Jewish Book Festival brochure

The Stories Behind Two Non-Fiction Narratives
1:00 - 3:30 pm • Temple Shalom
Stephen M. Flatow • A Father’s Story
Two Authors Share Their Personal and Inspiring Stories
1:00 - 3:30 pm • Naples Conference Center
Ariel Burger • Witness
Sponsored by Wollman,
Gehrke & Associates, P.A.
Stephen M. Flatow says he was “just a real estate lawyer in New Jersey” – until
April 9, 1995 – the day he learned his daughter Alisa, a 20-year-old college
student traveling in Israel, had been the victim of a terrorist bus-bombing.
After he discovered the Iranian government had directly sponsored the bomber,
Flatow decided to sue the terrorist state. Working with a Washington lawyer
and an astute forensic researcher, Flatow not only won a dramatic verdict
against Iran, but collected a huge judgment. A Father’s Story recalls the events
surrounding his successful lawsuit.
Stephen M. Flatow is a lawyer in New Jersey. His successful lawsuit against
Iran is legendary throughout the international legal community. This is his
memoir. A major motion picture based on Flatow’s life is in development.
Gregory J. Wallance • The Woman Who Fought an Empire
The Woman Who Fought an Empire is the improbable but true odyssey of a
bold young woman – the daughter of Romanian-born Jewish settlers in Palestine
– who became the daring leader of a Middle East spy ring. Following
the outbreak of World War I, Sarah and her ring of Nili spies operated behind
enemy lines to furnish vital information to British intelligence in Cairo. She
was caught and tortured by the Turks in the fall of 1917. To protect her secrets,
Sarah, who was only 27, shot herself. Set at the birth of the modern Middle East,
her story is both an espionage thriller and the tale of the Jewish Joan of Arc.
Gregory J. Wallance is a lawyer and writer in New York City. He is the
author of Papa’s Game, about the theft of the French Connection heroin,
which received a nonfiction nomination for an Edgar Allan Poe Award.
Sponsored by Dr. Barrett Ross Ginsberg and
The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Ed. Ctr. of SWFL
Ariel Burger first met Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie
Wiesel Wiesel at age 15. They studied and taught together. Witness chronicles
the intimate conversations between these two men over decades, as Burger
sought counsel while navigating his own personal journey. In this hopeful,
thought-provoking and inspiring book, Burger takes us into Elie Wiesel’s
classroom, where the art of listening and storytelling conspire to keep memory
alive. As Wiesel’s teaching assistant, Burger gives us a front-row seat in and
out of the classroom, sharing these stories, making us, the readers, witnesses.
Ariel Burger is a teacher, artist, lecturer and rabbi. He worked in the education-innovation
sector for many years and now lectures and leads workshops
on spirituality, creativity and social change.
Rebecca Erbelding • Rescue Board
Rescue Board tells the unknown story of the War Refugee Board, FDR’s unpublicized
effort to save Jews. In January 1944, a Treasury lawyer named John
Pehle convinced FDR to create the Board. Over the next 20 months, Pehle
pulled together D.C. pencil pushers, international relief workers, smugglers
and millionaires to run operations across four continents. They tricked Nazis,
forged papers, recruited spies, laundered money, and funneled millions of
dollars into Europe. The War Refugee Board saved tens of thousands of lives.
Rebecca Erbelding is an archivist, curator and historian at the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in D.C. She has a PhD in American history from George
Mason University. Her work has been profiled in The Washington Post, The New
York Times, The New Yorker, on the History Channel, NPR and other outlets.
JAN
16
WEDNESDAY
FEB
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MONDAY