NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: As Long As The Candle Burns, by Chana Bunim Rubin Ausubel

As Long As The Candle Burns, by Chana Bunim Rubin Ausubel, published by Mazo Publishers, is the memoirs of a woman named Chana. As you might guess from the first last name in the list, Chana is the daughter of the famous Irving Bunim, who was a businessman and community leader, and especially a community activist and founder of the Vaad Hatzalah that worked to save Jews from the Holocaust and bring them to the United States. Growing up in such a home, even without knowing who she is or anything about her, you can be sure she is going to have some stories to tell!

As soon as you open the book and start reading, even from the first page alone, you can tell that Chana is full of energy and is extremely active. Right away you know she must be involved in a plethora of organizations and issues, and you want to jump right in.

As Long As The Candle Burns is the telling of Chana's memoirs from her parents home, but more than that from her own activities - her involvement with the founding of the Young Israel movement, as a director of Emunah and working to open branches all over the United States, her involvement running schools in Israel - including one for potential converts, among other things, involvement in the fight for the freedom of Soviet Jewry, and much more.

A portion of the book is more personal, describing herself growing up, her first marriage that ended in divorce, her raising of her children as a single mother. I found particularly interesting how Chana, a modern Orthodox woman (if any particular description/title can be applied) was married to a Hassidic rabbi and how they worked it out, i.e. how she lived her life outside the home being active while he was a hassidic rabbi of a shul, for as long as they did.

Chana was very involved with the State of Israel and spent much time in Israel until she eventually made aliyah, leaving behind her children, but being a home away from home for her grandchildren who traveled through Israel and came to study.

Particularly surprising was to see that Chana was involved in an incident in which Rav Goren paskened worked, unsuccessfully, to remove the status of mamzer from someone who was planning to marry a convert. It was interesting to get another angle on this story, when we, distant from the story itself, only normally hear the details from the perspective of the halachic analysis.


Another particularly interesting story related was from the 1960s when Chana was running a nursery school and had an African American assistant. Having traveled to Florida for a vacation, with her assistant, Chana was not aware of the issues of segregation in the South. In her memoirs she relates how she dealt with discovering the discriminatory laws and how she dealt with them - she was revolutionary well before it was in style!

As Long As The Candle Burns is filled with stories, from Chana's involvement, in significant portions of Jewish history in the United States and Israel, along with lessons Chana learned and tries to impart to the reader.

I enjoyed reading As Long As The Candle Burns, and you will too.



buy As Long As The Candle Burns on Amazon.com

buy As Long As The Candle Burns on Mazo Publishers



NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.