THE TENTH MAN

The true story of a struggling young man who rediscovered a languishing New Orleans synagogue.

Despondent after the death of his grandfather, Alex Brown was drawn to the familiar sound of singing from Anshe Sfard. He entered the nearly empty synagogue, and the nonet of elderly congregants immediately embraced him as “the tenth man,” the final person needed to complete the minyan for the service. Realizing his own grandfather had once taken him here to pray, Alex began coming back each week to help these elders, all Holocaust survivors. Over time, he found that he gained as much from the relationships as he gave, reconnecting to his roots and learning from the men’s resourcefulness, thrift, and humor. Their friendship renewed Alex’s lease on life. In turn, he came to their aid when antisemitic vandals broke the synagogue’s windows; he also supported them as members of their small community died. Accompanied by Neiss’ fluid, digitally tweaked watercolors, the story unfolds slowly and episodically as Bennett paints rich portraits of both Alex and the congregants—men who had known great sorrow yet found true joy in one another’s company. Subtleties in the text and references to the hardship these men endured may be lost on younger children or those without historical context, but older readers, especially those sharing the book in an educational setting, will find it deeply moving.

Sophisticated and quietly powerful for the patient, perceptive reader.