Fragments

“That is our lives!” I raised my voice painfully. “Fragments – all we have left of our family, of ourselves, of our Judaism – are only fragments.” Tears filled my eyes and Arik pulled me towards him and held me in his arms. “No, Anna,” he protested vehemently.

“We have each other, we have Lise who fulfilled the dream, we have a country to go to, and we have our religion in which we can find comfort.” His voice softened as he added gently, “The only thing we don’t have is parents.” Naomi Shmuel is an author and anthropologist, lecturer and parent group facilitator, who specializes in the fields of multicultural education and cross-cultural counseling.

She wrote Fragments based on the experiences of her mother, the author and poet Karen Gershon z”l (née Kate Lowenthal, Anna in the book), and Karen’s sisters.