A Hebraic Obsession, by Mort Laitner, 2014, 367 pages, reviewed by Cene Ovincy
Mort Laitner is a professor at Barry University, a writer, and an attorney. In A Hebraic Obsession, Mort Laitner invites reader’s on a journey from his childhood to adulthood. The book focuses on his father’s experience in the Holocaust, and how an event that occurred years before the author’s birth, had a major impact on his childhood. I recommend this book to readers because it’s educational and filled with information about historical figures and events that occurred during the Holocaust. The reader gets a vivid picture from detailed descriptions given by the author. Although I recommend this book, I must advise readers that the book contains sexual contents.…show more content… Readers learn how he helped in certain aspects, as well as failed to help in other aspects of the Holocaust. It has been debated whether the United States could have done more to help the Jews during that time. Strict immigration policies prevented many people from gaining access to the U.S. Although FDR helped save at least 200,000 Jews, Wolf Laitner still hated him, and I would too if I was in his position, having witnessed so much suffering and believed someone on the other side had the ability to provide help sooner but did not. Philosopher John Rawls would support Wolf Laitner’s decision because he believed in social justice and felt it was morally right to limit services to the majority when a lesser group has a greater need. Just like the Holocaust, we see this issue in the world today, the question of whether the United States should intervene with the rest of the world’s social injustice is an ongoing debate. Syria is one example, in which many people are against the U.S intervening, but I believe that if we allow social injustice to continue in one place, it will eventually spread everywhere. Rawls would agree that it is in our self-interest to intervene in…show more content… In his book, the author introduces readers to his son Blake Laitner. Like Mort watching and observing his father, Blake observed his father and grandparents. His father’s obsession for knowledge about the Holocaust and his grandfather’s tattoo might have led him to learn more about the Holocaust and possible start of his own obsession of the Holocaust. This teaches readers the message of philosopher Immanuel Kant, in that everything can be used for good or evil. Mort Laitner writing this book and passing down information about the Holocaust is a way in which his knowledge can be used for good. The author states in the book that the Holocaust should never occur again, the author delivers the message by sharing his father’s story. At the same time, someone from a Nazi background can write their side of the holocaust and use it for evil. Hopefully most people read A Hebraic Obsession
