Out of the Depths by Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Out of the Depths (Hardcover in Dust Jacket with Dedication Label)

The Memoir of Buchenwald's Youngest Survivor Who Became Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last
• Author: Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau
• Editor: Translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Setbon and Shira Leibowitz Schmidt
• Publisher: Sterling, New York
• Publication Date: 2011
• ISBN-13: 9781402786310
• Edition Details: Sterling hardcover edition, 2011, in English translation from the Hebrew. With forewords by Elie Wiesel and Shimon Peres. Pasted-in printed dedication label dated March 2013.
• Binding: Publisher's hardcover, grey paper-covered boards with brown cloth spine strip, in illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large octavo hardcover with photograph inserts.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: Grey paper-covered boards with a brown cloth spine strip. There is a small dent or crease mark near the middle of the front board and a small scuffed, slightly frayed spot at the lower fore-edge corner. The fore-edge is slightly uneven and deckle-like.
• Interior: The text block is clean and tight, with cream pages and no markings seen. The endpapers show natural fibre flecks in the paper, which are not foxing. A pasted-in printed dedication label is present.
• Provenance: Pasted-in printed dedication label: Miracle Drive 3 Nissan 5773, March 2013, dedicated by Jonathan and Cheryl Smiedt; Neville and Hazel Kosviner in memory of their beloved parents.
• The Dust Jacket: Present and illustrated. The glossy spine carries a small mark near the foot above the Sterling logo, and the back panel shows a few small dark marks along the left edge. No major tears. Protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Out of the Depths is the memoir of Israel Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, who was eight years old when the camp was liberated in 1945. Subtitled The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Last, it was translated from the Hebrew original by Jessica Setbon and Shira Leibowitz Schmidt and published by Sterling in New York in 2011.

Told in his own words, the book follows his wartime separation from his family, his survival through the camps, and his emigration to Mandate Palestine after the war. It continues into his later religious leadership in Israel.

The English edition carries forewords by Elie Wiesel and Shimon Peres. It belongs to the Holocaust testimony literature, and this copy, with its illustrated dust jacket and printed dedication label from a 2013 community dedication, will appeal to readers and collectors of Holocaust and Jewish history.

Author Profile: Israel Meir Lau

Israel Meir Lau was born in 1937 in Poland, the son of the last Chief Rabbi of his town. He survived the Holocaust as a child and later served as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003. He chairs Yad Vashem and received the Israel Prize in 2005.

His other books include Practical Judaism, Foundations: Basic Concepts of Judaism and Rav Lau on Pirkei Avos.

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