From Hollywood To The Holy Land: A Spiritual Odyssey, Book Review

We live in strange times. The media keeps hyping a television reality show that follows a formerly religious Jew who traded a life of mitzvot for money, traif and fame, and here I am reviewing another autobiography/memoir about a Jew who discovered that a life of Torah and mitzvot in the Holy Land has literally saved his life, From Hollywood To The Holy Land: A Spiritual Odyssey, by Tzvi Fishman*. You can read my review of Miranda Portnoy's Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey, here. What should I call this genre?

Fishman wasn't trying to escape a life of disappointments, failure and/or poverty when became interested in Judaism. He was a Hollywood success, scriptwriter of movies that had made it to the screen, a published novelist, friends with celebrities and could get any woman he wanted besides "invitations" from those he didn't. And if he had wanted a "quieter life," his father would have set him up in business in The Virgin Islands. Most people would call that "the American Dream."

But suddenly Fishman's body began to rebel and he developed severe ulcerative colitis. The treatment is steroids, which made him swell up, and as soon as he finished the prescribed period of treatment, the bleeding returned. This pattern went on for months and months, wreaking havoc with his life.

Fishman tried all sorts of cures, diets, Indian master swami, yoga, holistic medicine and more, but none helped his body heal.

Then his buddy Daniel asked a simple innocent question:

"Why don't you know anything about Judaism?"

Fishman realized that it was true. Over the years he had studied all sorts of academic subjects, philosophies and trendy ideologies, but his knowledge of actual Judaism was virtually non-existant. Slowly he began to search and learn. Later on bit by bit he took on various mitzvot, and his ulcerative colitis became history. 

I can't do justice to Fishman's amusing way of describing his journey to Torah Judaism and life in Israel. You really must read it all in his own words. In person Fishman is as entertaining as his book. For a few years he lived across the street from us in Shiloh, and I know the family well. But Fishman never talks about his past, only the present and plans for the future. So it was a real eye-opener to read From Hollywood To The Holy Land. 

In addition to the great story, there are lots of photos helping the book truly come to life. We get to see what Tzvi looked like way back when, scenes from his former life and people and places mentioned in From Hollywood To The Holy Land.

From Hollywood To The Holy Land is highly recommended. It's very well written and the story comes to life, yes, like a movie...

*Yes, this is the same Tzvi Fishman who wrote "Arise and Shine," More Adventures with Tevye and many other more serious books.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (August 23, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1082429406
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1082429408

Mixing Fact and Fiction

Last night I reviewed Arise and Shine by Tzvi Fishman on my blog Shiloh Musings, a book I coined a Forrest Gump historical fiction novel. Arise and Shine is part of a series of books by Fishman which follows the lives and adventures of  Shalom Aleichem's iconic Tevye character. Fishman has Tevye and most of his family coming to the Promised Land after being banished from their home in Anatevka.



The novel takes place after World War One, and one of the important subplots concerns the internal politics of the giants of the Zionist Movement. Fishman creates realistic characters out of true historic figures, many who had still been alive when I became a Zionist and my husband and I made aliyah. Yes, we knew some of them in real life, though they were a generation or two older than us.

Many of our friends in the Betar Zionist Youth Movement knew them, too. Betar is the youth movement connected to Jabotinsky, Trumpeldor and the Zionist Revisionists, who had been marginalized by the more politically "adept" Labor Zionists.

While the Labor Zionists idealized socialism, kibbutzim, The Haganah and Palmach, Jabotinsky's Revisionists promoted free enterprise and founded the Etzel and its breakaway freedom fighters Lechi aka Stern Gang. All in their ways claimed to be doing everything in their power to establish a Jewish State in Mandated Palestine.

Considering all of the groups and factions there had been fighting the British and each other in those very early pre-State of Israel, I have no doubt that that we all found ourselves imagining which group we would have joined, if we had lived in those exciting and historically significant times. And many of us now very grownup young Zionists continue dreaming and wondering. That could be the seeds of many more books in the genre of Forrest Gump historical fiction. Where would you have been?

Take Me to The Movies!! Stories of Rebbe Nachman by Tzvi Fishman

Here's the review and some of the background about Tzvi Fishman's movie. Stories of Rebbe Nachman.

To get a taste of it, watch the trailer:

Preview of the Review

My husband and I were honored to be invited to the preview screening of Tzvi Fishman's not yet released movie, Stories of Rebbe Nachman.

The Jewish Innovation
Creating a fun and inspiring feature film, for all ages, based on the fairy tale-like fables of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, about happiness, faith, and trust in God.
The Impact
"Stories of Rebbe Nachman" will be a fun and inspiring, feature film based on four of Rebbe Nachman's wonderful, faith-filled, fairy tale-like fables. The film will be a powerful beacon of light in our dark and despairing world. The famous Hasidic master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, taught that stories can bring healing to the soul. While most people tell stories to children to put them to sleep, Rebbe Nachman told his stories to wake people up! Filled with many deep messages of faith, trust in God, and the importance of always being happy, these universal stories are for people of all ages. It is well known that after reading one of these stories many many people have returned to the Torah. Too religious, you say? Well, we believe that Jews all over the world are waiting to be awakened through the joy and inspiration that this entertaining film will bring. And you can make it happen! We have already privately raised $150,000 toward our budget of $180,000, so we only need another $30,000 to make this film a reality. The Jewish People have an important message for the world, and a movie of these inspiring stories has the power to light up the universe. With faith in our enterprise, we are beginning to film of August 10, 2014. As Rebbe Nachman taught, “The whole world is a narrow bridge and the important thing is not to be afraid.”
Thank you for joining me on this fun and revolutionary journey!
What the money is for
All money raised will go toward enhancing the professionalism and cinematic beauty of the film, by providing more shooting days, the finest film crew possible, and the ability to create some fun and surprising special effects. Right now, with the last stages of editing to go, we've used up all of our funds and need money for final post-production.

We mingled among the actors, stage crew, family members and friends with great excitement. In all honesty, we're old friends and former neighbors of Tzvi and his family. Some of our kids are still close friends, so we're very excited about the movie.

I will be writing a proper review, G-d willing soon, after I see a segment I missed. You should know that the movie Stories of Rebbe Nachman is totally professional. Watch the official trailer and let others know about it, thanks.

new look for A7

Arutz 7 has a new look. Actually, I wasn't surprised, since I had gotten a request for a new picture, though my info and archives aren't included--at least not yet.

They now feature two more blogs, besides Michael Freund's. Tzvi Fishman has debuted as a blogger with Something's Fishy. It's a brilliant title and suits him to a Tzvi!

I could use a makeover myself, not the blogs which I'm very happy with.

• Thank You ~ Sarah ~
• and Thank You Akiva!
• and Bagel Blogger for the extra graphics

I don't mind it when people consider me old enough to deserve a seat, but I could probably do better with less of me.