Memories of Laughter & Garlic:
Jewish Wit, Wisdom and Humor
To Warm Your Heart

by Leo Lieberman
12.95, Cover: Paperback, ISBN: 0-9674074-0-0, ©1999

What reviewers are saying:

"...you'll get an aggravated case of nostalgia...and get a chuckle in every paragraph. Read and laugh."
The Jewish Community (Louisville, KY)

"...unabashedly nostalgic...mines a vein of of long-gone Yiddishkeit, offering a message with Jewish spice."
Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia)

"His pieces are...effective and worthwhile. Oy, so worthwhile!"
Denver Jewish News

"Literary nosh serves up Bronx nostalgia."
Arizona Jewish Post

"...sure to bring smiles to readers" faces."
Atlantic City Press (NJ)

"These warmhearted reflections are wise and silly at the same time..."
JUF News (Chicago)

"Straight from his heart - each a gem. This precious, meaningful book is worth its weight in gold."
The Current (South Jersey)

"Leo Lieberman remembers the 'good old days.'"
Detroit Jewish News

"His anecdotal memories resonate with Yiddishkeit, wisdom, and just plain humor."
The Jewish Community Voice (New Jersey)

"Warms the heart."
Jewish Times of South Jersey

"This collection is essential."
Jack Engelhard, author, "Indecent Proposal"

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The Jewish News (Denver)

It's a pity that few Western readers ever glimpse a copy of the Jewish Times of South Jersey simply because this deprives them of Leo a Lieberman's Rockower award winning column "Chalkdust."

Lieberman, a Holocaust studies professor, has been penning the column for a number of years and Memories of Laughter and Garlic is a collection of the best of them.

The authors should shtick in whom is pure Yiddishkeit, and he manages his style very deftly, often calling upon his own memories in the Yiddish flavored New York of the 1930's and 40's, and just as often regarding a modern issues and topics through his unique lends. While his topics ranged across the board, Lieberman's Yiddish Center is consistent and distinctive.

Any Yiddish based writer, of course, is going to rely on humor for a good part of his or her of fact, and Lieberman is no exception. He understands the ironic patois of good in Yiddish humor and seldom misses an opportunity to wield it. Even the name he attaches to some of his ongoing characters-lily with the nails, Ruby with the hair, poor Molly, etc.-reflect this perspective.

But Lieberman's range is greater than humor. He is even more powerful when he strives for pathos or poignancy. He has mastered the skill that novelists and journalists strive for-and often fail to achieve-which is to convey genuine emotion through the written word. His sketches on Holocaust themes are worth the price of the whole book.

His pieces are short, most of them going on for no more than two or three pages, but they are effective and worthwhile. Oy, so worthwhile!