FIVE CENT MIRACLE

Goldsmith’s debut memoir tells the story of a life dedicated to service.

When the author was a small boy, he gave a nickel that his grandfather had given him to a wheelchair-bound man. This was Goldsmith’s first lesson in charity and the pride derived from helping others. Deeply influenced by his grandparents, who fled the Cossacks in Russia and settled in Perth Amboy, N.J., Goldsmith learned important lessons: to work hard because work is rewarding and to give with the knowledge that one gift often begets another—that charity is paid forward through time. Goldsmith went on to create the Jewish Renaissance Foundation, an organization that started in the back room of his family’s shoe store, that provides health care and education to underprivileged people. The memoir’s structure isn’t linear; the past always comes to bear on the present. For example, between chapters about the Jewish Renaissance Foundation’s inception and goals, Goldsmith relates anecdotes about his beloved family, takes us through his education and college football career, recounts his years in the Peace Corps and includes character reflections about family, friends and the many activists he’s met over the years. The book is occasionally repetitive, and the tone seems a bit self-congratulatory; the book also downplays the struggles of running a nonprofit organization. Although the author uses fresh, vivid language to describe his Perth Amboy neighborhood, his family’s business and the places throughout the world that his charity work has taken him, the prose is at its best when it avoids sweeping generalizations about humanity’s goodness.

This earnest but uneven memoir details a life well spent but lacks conflict.