Voices in the Silence

When the Iron Curtain closed on Russian Jewry seventy-five years ago, there was little hope in the Western world that this once large and vibrant Jewish community would survive more than one generation under the Communists' influence. But after some time, when a few Westerners managed to slip through a crack in this imposed barrier of silence, they were amazed to discover that the Torah still lived in the hearts of many of their oppressed brethren. One place where the flame of eternal Judaism still burned brightly was in a tiny basement apartment on Yaroslayskaya Street in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. Behind closed shutters, one remarkable family continued to devote themselves to an authentic, Torah-true life, performing numerous acts of chesed on a daily basis. This was the home of the Meisliks, a family that was not afraid to risk life or limb for the sake of a mitzvah. Voices in the Silence is the memoir of Basyah Meislik and her parents, Reb Yehudah Leib and Alteh Beileh, Jews caught in a life-and-death struggle against the forces of darkness. Their incredible self-sacrifice and boundless devotion to Yiddishkeit make this a very special and truly inspiring story.