Conversations

Book Event: “Sons of Survivors”: A Conversation with the Authors

April 30, 2026
FOLCS was joined virtually with authors Aron Hirt-Manheimer and Marty Yura discussing “Sons of Survivors,” a deeply personal exploration of growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust and the lasting impact of generational trauma.
Through stories both intimate and universal, the conversation examined what it meant to carry history forward, how memory lives within families, and the ways identity is shaped by those who came before us.

Aron Hirt-Manheimer

Elie Wiesel described Aron Hirt-Manheimer as “a writer possessed of a rare blend of integrity, persuasiveness, and good literary sense.” Aron co-authored Jagendorf’s Foundry: A Memoir of the Romanian Holocaust (HarperCollins 1991) and Jews: The Essence and Character of a People (HarperCollins 1998), published in ten languages. He edited Reform Judaism, the world’s largest circulated Jewish magazine from 1976 to 2014, and founded Davka magazine in 1970, cited by the Encyclopedia Judaica as “fostering a Jewish cultural renaissance.”

Marty Yura

Marty Yura moved to Israel in 1970 after graduating from UCLA and became an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he served as a field psychologist on the Golan Heights. He has worked as a psychologist, management consultant, and entrepreneur. In 2009 he and his wife founded Vista Yoga in Atlanta, where he teaches yoga and meditation. He also teaches yoga at a program for veterans with PTSD at Emory Healthcare, one of four such programs in the U.S.