In life we have choices every second of the day. It is these choices that truly define who we are and where we are going. In these little windows of choice we are constantly presented with the potential path of our actions and what they mean. Life always seems to come up with funny little choices: what to wear, whom to call, when to eat. These choices are not decided more easily than any other, although they pale in comparison to the life and death choices we make in times of great turmoil and hardship. It is with this in mind that I set to work on a series of narrative pieces involving the choices made by everyday people in times of unusual distress.

Poland, 1949: the war is over though the lives of millions are still unraveled by the bombing and interment camps set up by the Nazis. There was a man in this chaos who had recently escaped liquidation by a mere matter of hours, due partly to the help of a German officer who took pity on him and gave him a field map to use in his escape. It was with this map that Sigmund Halpern made his way, weary with tuberculosis and cold through the post war environment of the Ukraine and into the city of Lvuv. Only weeks before his liberation, he had witnessed the death of every single immediate family member. Now making his way through this hostile world, he was determined to find his soon to be wife in the ghettos of Warsaw. The two found each other through a network of fake names and false papers. Sigmund in the months to
come would find out that his wife was pregnant with their first son.

The two had made their way back into Germany and were living in the bombed out remnants of a village, in an abandoned house. Each day Sigmund would set forth with a broken wheelbarrow in search of food and clothing for his family. Each day he would return with nothing. On one particular day he came across a library containing very important and sacred writings pertinent to his faith. Out of worry for their survival, he promptly rounded them up and returned triumphant to his wife awaiting him. She looked at him, then the books, and scolded him for not getting anything of use to a woman in the final stages of pregnancy. “How will we eat books Sigmund?” She then overturned the wheelbarrow in disgust with their situation. Eventually Sigmund and Mary made it to America and enjoyed a very fruitful life together. So too the books that Sigmund found were brought to a Synagogue in Ohio for preservation by the Rabbis there who were very happy to have them in a safe place so they could be accessed by future generations. The choices you make every day will always have a lasting impact on everyone around you for years to come. Like Sigmund, we can only hope to have such conviction in the face of madness. This is the spirit of life and knowledge.