Ilya Leybovich

How Much Further Ilya Leybovich

For half a century, my grandfather, Yehuda Feldman had been quietly on a mission. Since the 1960's, he sought a person to compile and publish his memoire. I think it was a sense of obligation, to repay those who came to his aid, by keeping the memory of them alive.

My grandfather met Lyudmila Levin through a mutual friend. She was a semi-retired Russian short story writer, who came to his apartment in Israel and took down his life's story. Based on their conversations, Lyudmila wrote a novella of about 90 pages, written in Russian.

It was my grandfather's dream to have his memoire translated into English. This is now the project started. This book and the research around it quickly took a life of its own and turned into a journey of discovery of my Jewish Eastern European roots. My goal for this book is to give those of my generation or later, whose only link to their grandparents is a name of a town or a story of hardship, a deeper understanding of the lives their grandparents lived and choices they made.

Like its Russian counterpart this book is written as a conversation between Yehuda Feldman and Lyudmila Levin. In rewriting the original book, I kept my grandfather's quotes and tone as I remember them while sitting and listening to his amazing experiences.

Some of the references and places referred to by Lyudmila and my grandfather were unfamiliar to me and may be unfamiliar to you. To bring you into this living memory I added maps, photos, sidebars (in gray), and appendixes. I also need to thank all the family, friends, and folks who selflessly gave their time to review and advice in order to make this book happen.

I now invite you along through my grandfather's journey and then to start your own journey of discovery.