Interesting Times: Reading Alex's life
August 30, 2002
By Saul Singer
I just reread a book of writings that were never meant to be public, let
alone published as a book. Yet, despite its serendipitous origins, the book
probably has more power to affect the reader's life than most self-help
texts.
Today I will go to Har Herzl and visit my brother's grave, 15 years after he
fell in battle on his 25th birthday, at Har Dov in Lebanon. It is his book,
Alex: Building a Life (Gefen), that I read, and that has helped me and many
others these long years.
Alex's book is a collection of his letters, diaries and drawings, compiled
by his family in the days after his death. The reason for its impact is not
the ultimate sacrifice that Alex made, though one must admit that the ending
is part of what draws people to the story. The reason is that it is an
unfiltered, unplanned, unself-conscious window into a way of living life.
For all his angst over being indecisive, what distinguished Alex was the
short distance between decision and action. He decided, having returned to
Cornell from a trip to the Soviet Union in the early 80s, that synagogues
should organize weekly letter-writing campaigns to Soviet Jews. So he
launched one himself.
To read the remander of this article, click here