High school student Tamar Lindenbaum wrote a beautiful piece in the JOFA Journal Bat Mitzvah issue about her great grandmother and her courageous stand on behalf of striking local miners in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1932. Now we have a whole volume of diary extracts written by that same deeply religious and independent woman, Bina Appleman, who came to America from Poland in 1910— selected, translated and skillfully edited by one of her granddaughters. During her lifetime, Appleman wrote 35 volumes of diaries; about 80 percent of the diary entries were written in Hebrew, with other parts in Polish, English, and Yiddish. Most of the extracts cover the period from 1945 to just before her death in 1978.
Diaries of Jewish women are very rare; this volume provides a valuable window into Orthodox Jewish life in America since World War II. It shows the texture of Appleman’s family life and the value she placed on knowledge and education, as well as her wide communal involvements. Many of the details could be considered minor or trivial, but together they give a wonderful picture of a life, of a family and of a woman who gave her opinions freely in a forthright manner. Her writing is enriched by numerous quotations from Tanakh and other Jewish sources. In her later entries, Appleman often recalled events from the beginning of her life, which adds to their richness. Readers are fortunate that the editor of the book has included a vast array of photographs and copies of documents relating to Bina Appleman’s life, including her wedding photographs from Danville, Virginia, and her ketubba, as well as letters both written to and received from family members and public personalities.