A Murder in Lemberg: Politics, Religion, and Violence in Modern Jewish History
Murder, intrigue, media spotlight, community in-fighting, police  coverup, judicial malfeasance. O.J. Simpson? Jon-Benet Ramsey? No, it's the  poisoning of Rabbi Abraham Kohn and his family by a fellow Jew, Abraham Ber  Pilpel, in 1848, in the Ukrainian city of Lemberg (now Lviv). Stanislawski,  professor of Jewish history at Columbia, uncovers a forgotten story as his  fascinating book details the events surrounding the murder of the reformist  (but not Reform) Rabbi Kohn and his four-year-old daughter (four other family  members survived) after Pilpel sneaked into their kitchen and poured arsenic in  the family's soup. While the twists and turns of the case make a compelling  narrative, Stanislawski has a far more important story to tell. The  assassination of Kohn was the result of roiling religious and political  tensions between Lemberg's Orthodox community, which remained loyal to the  Hapsburg empire, and Rabbi Kohn, allied with those demanding independence as  revolution spread across Europe in 1848. While there is too much on Lemberg  Jews' communal affairs for most readers, Stanislawski tells his story with a  sharp eye for detail and plot, with the historical context and analysis that  students of Jewish history will appreciate.(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.