The Wayfarers

Stuart F. Tower
Lighthouse Press (2003)
ISBN 1932211020
Reviewed by Kim Peterson for Reader Views (5/06)

The American desire for roots compels thousands of families to travel to the lands of their ancestors—poring through records, paying homage at cemeteries, visiting birth sites and churches, finding their history.

In “The Wayfarers,” Californian Nathan Friedman travels to Romania culminating two years of extensive genealogical research, wanting to know more about his deceased father Sholem’s life before he immigrated to America. After devoting countless hours to tracing his father’s path, Nathan journeys with his son and grandson to Romania to visit his father’s village, Birlad. He desires to see the synagogue and learn all that he can about Sholem and his ensuing march across Europe with the Birlad Fusgeyers.

In Romania, Nathan connects with Rabbi Nachman who tells the compelling story about the young Jews who left Birlad in 1904 seeking a better life. Tired of boycotts, poverty, pogroms and other persecution, Sholem joined one of the Fusgeyer contingents that marched across Europe. The recounting of their experiences reveals the prejudice against the Jews and other “undesirables” during the years leading up to World War I.

Readers will be transported to another era as the wayfarers prepare for and depart on their four-month trek. The Fusgeyers travel over Prislop Pass enduring the climatic and physical challenges. They absorb the history and sights of Budapest, Vienna and Prague. They encounter the dangers of conscription into forced labor, hostility of soldiers, and the foreboding atmosphere of Berlin. Once they reach Bremerhaven and complete their quarantine, the Fusgeyer band boards their ship and sail for America.

Although the book features an intimidating cast of characters and many Yiddish words to decipher, “The Wayfarers” should evoke an emotional response. Nathan and his family are deeply moved by what they learn about Sholem and the Fusgeyers. Their courage in the face of hardships, their sense of adventure and joy, evoke awe in Sholem’s descendants. These same things should stir a similar response in most readers. Jew or Gentile, many of us descend from ancestors who came to America seeking a better life for themselves and their progeny.

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