A family's story of human tenacity, faith and a race for survival in the face of unspeakable horror and cruelty perpetrated by the Nazi regime against the Jewish people. Growing up in the safety of Britain, Jonathan Wittenberg was deeply aware of his legacy as the child of refugees from Nazi Germany. Yet, like so many others there is much he failed to ask while those who could have answered his questions were still alive. After burying their aunt Steffi in the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, Jonathan, now a rabbi, accompanies his cousin Michal as she begins to clear the flat in Jerusalem where the family have lived since fleeing Germany in the 1930s. Inside an old suitcase abandoned on the balcony they discover a linen bag containing a bundle of letters left untouched for decades. Jonathan's attention is immediately captivated as he tries to decipher the faded writing on the long-forgotten letters. They eventually draw him into a profound and challenging quest to uncover the painful details of his father's family's history. Through the wartime correspondence of his great-grandmother Regina and his grandmother, aunts and uncles, Jonathan weaves together the strands of an ancient rabbinical family with the history of Europe during the Second World War and the unfolding policies of the Nazis, telling the moving story of a family whose lives are as fragile as the paper on which they write, but whose faith in God remains steadfast.

In 2010, with his dog Mitzpah by his side, Rabbi Wittenberg walked from his grandfather's Frankfurt synagogue to his own, in Finchley, carrying the Ner Tamid - its Eternal Light - to co-shine forever in the newly built synagogue in North London. A film crew covered most of the trip and even Mitzpah wrote a blog, describing his experiences on the epic journey. Colleagues and friends accompanied them for some of the route and their discussions also contributed insights into the spiritual, social and political concerns that occupied the Rabbi's thoughts as he continued to meet many people along the way. Readers of Jonathan Wittenberg's other books already know the humane, insightful and often profound observations and thoughts that preoccupy him. Walking with the Light: From Frankfurt to Finchley will both delight and stimulate a whole new audience. Few religious writers can combine the humour and incidence of walking across northern Europe with cogent arguments for moral justice, a process perhaps to accept Europe's horrific past and show why a belief that tolerance and true understanding of the past is the only way to improve the future.--Amazon.com.