Chil­dren’s

Moshe and Asa

Darcee Hope Matlen; Lynne Hurd Bryant, illus.
  • Review
By – March 24, 2017

Moshe & Asa is about the friend­ship between Asa, an elder­ly sur­vivor of the Holo­caust, and Sacha (Moshe) a young boy. Asa and Moshe first met on Shab­bat at their syn­a­gogue in Detroit, Michi­gan when Moshe, who was two-years-old at the time, offered to bring Asa refresh­ments and Asa and Moshe soon became close friends. They spend time togeth­er at their syn­a­gogue on Shab­bat, and from time to time, in oth­er con­texts. Even­tu­al­ly, Moshe learns from his moth­er, about Asa’s expe­ri­ences in the Holo­caust. This is a beau­ti­ful exam­ple of inter­gen­er­a­tional con­tact and con­nec­tion which proves that age and expe­ri­ence do not have to be a bar­ri­er to deep friend­ship and is also a gen­tle intro­duc­tion to the Holo­caust. The lessons are inte­gral, unpreachy and high­ly mean­ing­ful for chil­dren ages 4 – 10. It is based on a true story.

Nathan Weissler is a 2021 col­lege grad­u­ate from Mary­land, and has been review­ing for Jew­ish Book Coun­cil for over ten years.

Discussion Questions