The Jewish Quarterly: The Rudashevski Diary: Issue 258

“Today I turned 15. I feel... a regret, a kind of nagging feeling. I wish to take back the year that has passed and keep it for later, for my new life. The second thing that I feel today is strength and hope. Today I turned 15 and live very much for tomorrow.” This issue of The Jewish Quarterly presents the diary of Yitskhok Rudashevski, a Jewish teenager in the Vilna Ghetto. An only child, Rudashevski was transferred to the ghetto at age 13 and used a small notebook to chronicle his experiences, wonder, hopes and regrets. The diary was later discovered in an attic which was the final hiding place for him and his parents. This remarkable translation of the diary from Yiddish provides a glimpse into the observations of a teenager whose belief in culture, history and knowledge defied the cruelty that surrounded him, all captured in his tender, honest voice. It is a crucial document of youth, innocence, and a refusal to be silenced. The diary is preceded by a brilliant introduction from Sam Kassow, historian of Ashkenazi Jewry. His descriptions of the vitality of Vilnian Jewish life before the Holocaust, and the extent of the cruelty enacted therein, brings about a fuller appreciation of Yitskhok’s brilliant words that follow.