Moshe's Children presents the inspiring story of Moshe Zeiri, a Jewish carpenter responsible for rescuing hundreds of Jewish refugee children who had survived the Final Solution. During the liberation of Italy, Zeiri, a volunteer in the British Army in Italy, assumed responsibility for and vowed to help around seven hundred Polish, Hungarian, Russian, and Romanian children. Although these orphans of the Shoah had been deprived of a family, a home, and a language and were irreparably robbed of their past, they were able to rebuild their lives through Zeiri's efforts as he founded the largest Jewish orphanage in postwar Europe in Selvino, Italy, where he began to rehabilitate the orphans and to teach them how to become citizens of the new nation of Israel. Moshe's Children also explores Zeiri's own story from birth in a shtetl to his upbringing and Zionist education, his journey to the Land of Israel, and his work there before the war. With narrative verve and scholarly acumen, Sergio Luzzatto brilliantly tells the gripping stories of these orphans of the Holocaust and the good man who helped point them to a real future.
"This biography rightfully honors his memory and acknowledges the contributions of his friends, family, and charges to the early State of Israel."
Hallie Cantor, Yeshiva University, New York, NY
"Luzzatto's book is exceptionally well written and meticulously researched. His journalistic skills are felt throughout the book, which keeps the reader engaged thanks to his ability to describe the characters of the plot, the interactions between them, and the dilemmas with which they struggled. The book makes an important contribution to the history of the Shoah and of Zionism, illuminating a ch
Arie Reich – Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
