Book Club

The Book Circle will meet on October 20, at 2 PM, to unveil the WWII saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit. The commandos — actually Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain — will stop at nothing to thwart the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop.

Author Leah Garrett follows this unique band of brothers to British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and to the Terezin concentration camp — the scene of one of the most dramatic yet untold rescues of the war.

The Book Circle meets monthly to explore works about Jews and by Jewish writers. For information, call the shul at 631-477-0232 and leave a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.

The Book Circle will meet Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 1 p.m., possibly in person, to talk about Cynthia Ozick’s latest masterwork, Antiquities. From one of our most preeminent writers comes a tale that captures the shifting meanings of the past, and how our own experiences color those meanings. Meet Lloyd Wilkinson Petrie, who is preparing a memoir of his days at the now-defunct Temple Academy for Boys. As he navigates the past and the present, he reconstructs the passions of a childhood encounter. Cynthia Ozick is a recipient of the PEN/Nabokov Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for fiction, and is a National Book Critics Circle winner for criticism.

The Book Circle meets monthly to explore works about Jews and by Jewish writers. For information, call the shul at 631-477-0232 and leave a message for Susan Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.

The Book Circle will meet Monday, Dec. 16, at noon, at the synagogue to continue the discussion of its November selection, a high-stakes adventure novel by Julie Orringer titled The Flight Portfolio.
In 1940, Varian Fry traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to help escape within a few weeks. Instead, he stayed more than a year, working to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and arrange journeys across Spain and Portugal, where the refugees would embark for safer ports. His many clients included Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall. The race against time to save them is a tale of love, adventure, and courage.

Guest speaker: Francis Dubois

About Francis Dubois:

Born in Alsace, France, Francis Dubois spent his career working for the United Nations Organization in Uganda, New York and with the rank of UN Ambassador in Iraq, Algeria and Tunisia. He is an active member of several non-governmental organizations, including the Paris American Club, the Francophone Cultural Association of the United Nations and he is president of the Comité du Souvenir Lafayette.

For more information about The Book Circle, call the shul at 631-477-0232, and leave a message for Susan Rosenstreich.