The Jew in Your Basement

As you know, I don’t pretend to be cutting edge.

I’m always late to embrace the hottest gadget, and  I still miss my Razor phone.

I am the final person to know about the hottest, social media sites and the last to read the most recent “it” book. Although, I did wave the Katniss banner from the beginning.

So, despite the fact that Markus Zusak’s classic, The Book Thief,  has been out for five years, I just read it.

The Book Thief’s setting is Nazi Germany where a young girl named Liesel and her German, foster family choose to hide a Jewish man named Max in their basement.

Liesel’s foster family, the Hubermanns, live in fear. They divide the little food they have to feed another hungry mouth. They risk ridicule of friends and neighbors. They put the family’s already fragile reputation in jeopardy. They live with Death leering in the windows, and they endanger their lives for someone they don’t know.

The night I finished reading The Book Thief, I twisted in our sheets, and slept a fitful sleep. My dreams took me to Nazi Germany, but I also visited Rwanda, Haiti, an empty warehouse, and an abandoned beach.

When I woke, a haunting question rattled in my head:

Who is the Jew in your basement?

Meaning: Who do I put it on the line for? Is there a group or even a person that I love because it’s the right thing to do and not because it’s trendy to be involved or easy to write a check? Am I risking anything for someone else?

Good questions with great examples from a fictional family named the Hubermanns.

What about you? Tell me about the book on your nightstand, or tell me about risking for someone else.

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