Best Boy in the United States of America
A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
Hilarious and heartfelt, Ron Wolfson's moving memoir is the inspiring tale of a Hebrew school dropout from Omaha, Nebraska, whose surprising journey to become a visionary leader of American Jewry is filled with stories of tradition, romance and loss. Called-and called to be-'the best boy in the United States of America' by a beloved Zaydie (grandfather), he writes of growing up in a warm Jewish family, celebrating holidays, working in the family grocery store, navigating adolescence and enjoying (too much) Jewish foods that begin with the letter 'k.' He encounters the 'merchants of Omaha,' among them the colourful Mrs. B, who built the largest furniture store in America, and meets the famous 'oracle of Omaha,' Warren Buffett. Groomed to be an entrepreneur, he unexpectedly becomes an educator while in college, marries his junior high school sweetheart, transforms his own young family into a laboratory for creative Jewish living and discovers his true passion-teaching a post-Holocaust generation how to embrace a joyous Judaism in the family, the synagogue and the community. With laugh-out-loud humour and profound poignancy, Ron's true stories illuminating the Jewish experience in late-twentieth-century America will resonate with the boomers who lived it and with their adult children who seek to shape stronger families, create compelling communities and take individual spiritual journeys that lead to a life of joy and laughter, meaning and purpose, belonging and blessing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wolfson, an acclaimed Jewish educator, slathers on the schmaltz in this autobiography, which is unlikely to have much appeal beyond his friends and family. Wolfson grew up in Nebraska as part of a multigenerational Jewish family, rebelled, returned to the fold, married, and found his calling as a teacher. The hyperbole of the title (Wolfson's grandfather referred to him as "the best boy in the United States of America") is matched by the text, which is replete with exclamation points. The author shares songs and poems that, while important in his own life, are less than memorable. His frequent insistence that all his stories "are true" only invites skepticism. The innovations that mark Wolfson's dedicated work to revitalize Jewish observance and worship are not matched by his pedestrian approach to his own life journey.
