Weekend Mode: David's Bookshelf
Everything went wrong today...until it didn't
Hello, Gorgeous!
Today was supposed to be a full roundup. But life. Oh, how it laughs at your best intentions!
So, I’ll share what I’ve been working on.
Today we launched Davidsbookshelf.org in honor of my late father David's birthday.
For those of you unfamiliar with my personal family history, I’m the child of a child concentration camp survivor from an extended family of survivors. I don’t talk about it often and probably not at all here, but with the terrifying rise of antisemitism globally, it’s really important to share these stories. You can skip it and come back to the beauty talk next week if you’d like! I promise not to be offended.
David’s Story
As a Jewish child living in Hungary under Nazi occupation, my father was forbidden to read anything. Not newspapers. Certainly no books. Later, he and his parents and some of his siblings were sent to a labor camp where he was a forced child slave, before being sent to a concentration camp. Miraculously, he and my grandparents survived along with his siblings, though the vast majority did not.
What also survived was my father's lifelong love of books.
Every year on his birthday I ask people to buy a book, share a book, or read to a child.
This year, my sister Kiki and I launched David's Bookshelf as part of our nonprofit, the RWR Network. We'll be adding Holocaust education resources for kids along with a David's Bookshelf Book Club.
If you'd like to support our mission, we're grateful for donations in any amount at https://paypal.me/RWRnetwork or simply donate a book to a library, buy one for a neighbor's child, or savor a story with a young person.
In case you're wondering just how much dad loved books: I learned to read at four and to celebrate my father treated me to my own magazine subscription - Humpty Dumpty magazine, no less! Every Friday night he'd bring home two books for each of us, and after the Shabbat meal we got to choose one. And one year for my birthday he gave me a complete SRA reading set.
Happy birthday, Ta. 💙
Do you love to read or are you a once-a-year kinda person ? Let’s meet in the comments to discuss!
Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋
Quick note: I included some affiliate links and from time to time some sponsored products which means I might earn a small commission on sales made through these links, but I also throw in stuff I love just because. Prices are current at publish time.