Number Our Days: A Triumph of Continuity and Culture Among Jewish Old People in an Urban Ghetto

A marvelous story. This was assigned reading in a master's Cultural Anthropology class, and I opened it with disgust, thinking I'd be bored silly with the topic.

She had me right away. Myerhoff is a beautiful writer, and any group of people is interesting if you have the right instincts for seeing them, and conveying.

Fascinating anthropological study of a group of aged Jewish people. I especially loved the humorous and poignant stories they told about their lives in the shtetl and about their traditions. There were so many lessons to learn about how to age vibrantly; this would be a great book to read with a book group, resharing the lines, stories, lessons, that most moved or struck you. (I didn't add a fifth star just because at times it's a little too anthropological, at times there's too much analyzing and summarizing.)

Sociological study of a center for the Jewish elderly in Venice Beach, California relates the mortality of individuals to the mortality of their community. Loved it, on both scholarly and personal levels. Wish I had read it when my grandmother was alive (i.e., before age 20).

Anthropologist Barabara Myerhoff studies a group of elder Jews in West Coast USA. While doing this survey, she besomes involved in their lives and gives us a moving testimony of their condition : aloneness, loss of trraditions, aging.

Author studied elderly Jews from Venice CA and role of culture allows them to face hardship