AS: Mazel tov! Your sixth collection of stories — just released and already a bestseller! So tell us — what do we see “when the curtains part”?

CBW: We see pain. We see angst and uncertainty and fear — but we also see raw grit, the determination of the climb, and the joy of triumph. We see real people who are called upon to make excruciating choices. But most of all, in their struggle — and, often, their ultimate victories — we see ourselves.

AS: Over the years, you’ve written so many stories, each one unique. How do you work that magic?

CBW: It’s a gift from Hashem, nothing to do with me. But since I’ve published my first book nearly thirty years ago (Open House, long out of print), I have made it my business, when people share their stories, to try and penetrate their essence, to get to the core of what makes them unique.

AS: It’s been a tough year, with losses, lockdowns, parnassah woes, and sky-high anxiety. Can you give us an example of a story that will help us get through these challenging days?

CBW: The story “The Last Laugh,” about a Holocaust survivor whose aron was mixed up with that of a meis mitzvah during the height of the pandemic, is a perfect example of the unique hashgachah that we merited to see during these trying times. There are no accidents — even if events may feel random. They are all perfectly orchestrated from Above.

AS: Whenever we ask for your favorite story, you say it’s like choosing your favorite child. So, we’ll ask you something different: Which story was the most fun for you to write? Which do you feel was the most challenging?

CBW: The first story in the book, “Behind Closed Doors,” was a lot of fun to write, because it was before Purim and everyone was in dress-up mode. Since I had once procured a similar Yerushalmi costume for a friend, with hilarious results, I relived that memory.

The story of Sani, a child who had two “mothers” vying for the privilege of raising him, was by far the most challenging to write, because there was so much pain involved, and there was no closure for one of the “mothers.” But today Sani is doing well, and his parents are seeing much nachas from him, so I guess that makes it a success story.

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To know Rabbi Dovid Trenk was to love him — because he loved you. Even if he’d just met you.

Dovid Trenk was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of person, and Just Love Them: The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Dovid Trenk byYisroel Besser, published in time for Rabbi Trenk’s first yahrzeit, is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of book.

Exuberant, empathetic, and almost unbelievably energetic, Rabbi Trenk overflowed with simchas ha’chaim, with the joy of living in Hashem’s world. As a rebbe and rosh yeshivah, first in Yeshivas Mir, then in the Adelphia Yeshivah he helped create, and finally in his own yeshivah, Yeshiva Moreshes Yehoshua, he saw the good, the potential, and, yes, the holy neshamah in every talmid, and he drew out what was best in each of them. With his powerful personality, his humor and understanding, and, of course, his infinite love for his talmidim and for Torah, he showed thousands of people of all ages just how good they could be.

When he found his students breaking into the yeshivah kitchen at night, he led them to his own house and cooked up a pot of pasta (the boys still remember how good it tasted). A simple question asked by a weak student became, in Rabbi Trenk’s words, a “bomb kushya,” good enough to ask of the Rosh Yeshivah — giving the student a much-needed and long-lasting boost of confidence and love for learning. The stories, and there are so many of them, beautifully illustrate his philosophy of chinuch, and of life: “Just go in and love them and teach them and listen to them and build them. That’s all you have to know!”

Written by master storyteller Yisroel Besser, Just Love Them is much more than an engrossing read and a great collection of stories (though it is that too!). In the hundreds of stories about him, each one as unique as Rabbi Trenk himself, we learn to dream big. To live big. And most of all, to love our children, our talmidim, our nation, and ourselves.

As Yisroel Besser says, “[This book] will change the way you look at everybody around you: Your wife, your children, your friends and neighbors. And the way you look at yourself.”

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Pandemics. Looting. Tragedies, both personal and communal. And the imploding of many parnassah opportunities — and so many dreams for the future.

Tough times.                                                  

Tough times call for tough measures. Measures like ramping up our tefillos. Like performing sensitive and effective acts of chesed. Like looking out for everyone who lives alone, who needs food or just a listening ear.

And deepening our faith in Hashem’s goodness, so we can respond to challenges the way our people have always responded — with emunah.

With more than 200,000 copies in print, the Living Emunah series has transformed so many of our lives. Now, as we struggle to deal with new and frightening challenges, ArtScroll has just released Living Emunah 5. With its stories of emunah, its Torah insights, and its clear, practical suggestions, Living Emunah 5 gently shows us how to move our faith from our minds to our hearts — and to our everyday lives.

This volume was written in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a special section on the pandemic, Living Emunah author Rabbi David Ashear shows us how the power of emunah can support and guide us, even in the dark times when we feel utterly powerless.

Serenity, tranquility, hope: All things are possible, when we face them with “living” emunah.

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Rabbi Nachman Seltzer offers fast-paced inspiration in Our Man in Jerusalem, his new book that readers are beginning to call “The new Incredible.”

Renowned as the “Ish Yerushalayim,” the “Man of Jerusalem,” Rabbi Yisroel Gellis, the subject of the book, is also a journalist, radio broadcaster, and historian — and a tenth-generation Yerushalmi who knows the Holy City like few people on this earth. He is a man who loves adventure, rappelling into deep caves to discover their dusty secrets, dodging Jordanian bullets during the Six-Day War, jumping into the choppy Mediterranean waters (and falling in!) to broadcast his radio show. Israel’s Mossad needs someone to smuggle hundreds of Sifrei Torah out of war-torn Iraq? Yisroel Gellis is part of the team. When an Arab who discovers his mother was Jewish wants to rebury her in a Jewish cemetery, whom does he call for help? Yisroel Gellis, of course!

Bestselling author Rabbi Nachman Seltzer combines his brilliant storytelling talents with Rabbi Gellis’s unusual and exciting life and immense knowledge of all things Yerushalmi to give us a book as unexpected and multifaceted as Yerushalayim itself.

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AS: The Pnei Menachem, does not follow a chronological timeline. Can you tell us about the format you chose and why you decided to write it this way?

RAB: I wanted readers to connect with the Pnei Menachem and his unique character traits before reading details about his life. Once readers connect with his unique personality through stories about his sensitivity, his exceptional intuitiveness, and his towering greatness in Torah and kedushah, I knew they would also be interested in learning about his life. That is why I included the short biographical section at the end.

AS: How did you go about choosing the stories and photos for the book?

RAB: This was a difficult task. I had enough material for several books. I left out many amazing stories about the Pnei Menachem’s bein adam l’Makom. We decided that most readers would better connect with bein adam l’chaveiro areas of his persona. I have a dream of writing another volume with a greater emphasis on his inner avodas Hashem as well. I was greatly helped by “Hotzaas Pnei Menachem,” a wonderful organization that gathered material and pictures about him.

AS: Can you tell us which story in the book touched you most?

RAB: There are so many! Some literally brought me to tears. His deep understanding of the feelings of widows, orphans, older singles and special children moved me. Here is one of my favorites: On Simchas Torah, with great love, the Rebbe would extend his hand and kiss each Sefer Torah as it passed. As this was happening, the Rebbe noticed a special child standing not far from him. He walked over and touched the child, kissing him in the same way he had just kissed the Sifrei Torah. ‘He too is a Sefer Torah!” the Rebbe exclaimed.

AS: The Pnei Menachem was born to greatness. What message do you think his life has for us “ordinary” people?

RAB: Everything! True, he was born to greatness but didn’t live with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. As a child, his life was upended by the Holocaust. He suffered much during those years. For a while he lived in abject poverty. He had tremendous challenges in his personal life, including the birth and eventual death of a special needs child and the tragic accident that killed his 27-year-old son. How he dealt with adversity and how he remained exceedingly humble despite his “royal” pedigree, is deeply instructive for all.

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