{"id":92647,"date":"2026-05-21T18:21:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T23:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=92647"},"modified":"2026-05-29T02:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:44:18","slug":"childrens-book-of-the-tenth-man-tells-true-story-of-congregation-anshe-sfard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/childrens-book-of-the-tenth-man-tells-true-story-of-congregation-anshe-sfard\/","title":{"rendered":"Children&#8217;s book of &#8216;The Tenth Man&#8217; tells true story of Congregation Anshe Sfard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n<p>Artie Bennett knew a good story when he heard one. But this story was one he knew intimately as the protagonist \u2013 the so-called &#8220;tenth man&#8221; \u2013 was his wife Leah&#8217;s first cousin, Alex Brown.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_92670\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92670\" class=\"wp-image-92670 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-1024x631.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-768x473.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/185;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92670\" class=\"wp-image-92670 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-1024x631.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit-768x473.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-in-his-grandfathers-pew-edit.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-92670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chidren&#8217;s book author Artie Bennett, left, with the subject of his book &#8220;The Tenth Man,&#8221; Alex Brown sitting in his grandfather&#8217;s pew at Congregation Anshe Sfard. (Photo courtesy Artie Bennett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The children&#8217;s book &#8220;The Tenth Man&#8221; is subtitled &#8220;A Miracle of Jewish Faith and Friendship in New Orleans&#8221; and deals with the actual tale of Brown and how he became a regular attendee at Congregation Anshe Sfard several years ago when many of the Holocaust survivors were still alive and regularly attending services.<\/p>\n<p>Bennett, the successful author of the highly-regarded &#8220;The Butt Book,&#8221; the award-winning &#8220;The True Story of Zippy Chippy: The Little Horse That Couldn&#8217;t&#8221; and several others, recently published &#8220;The Tenth Man&#8221; by Holiday House Publishing with illustrations by Shira Neiss.<\/p>\n<p>About four and a half years ago in Birmingham, Michigan, Bennett happened to meet Brown, where he and his wife were sitting shiva for&nbsp; her mother. Bennett knew Brown had been living in New Orleans but was not acquainted with the length and breadth of his life story.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I got to talking to Alex and he began to unspool this incredible story,&#8221; Bennett recalled in a telephone interview with the CCJN, &#8220;but as he was sharing this story, I couldn&#8217;t help but think that if I could take this story \u2013 I thought it was literary gold \u2013 and forge this into a picture book what a powerful, inspiring and uplifting book it could be.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-92671 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-242x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-768x953.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover.png 803w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 242px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 242\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-92671 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-242x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover-768x953.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TenthMan_cover.png 803w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>In addition, Bennett wanted to create a Jewish children&#8217;s book as a way of giving back to the Jewish community. &#8220;That would be my way of repaying the Jewish community for nurturing me,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meeting via Zoom, Brown went into more details about his spiritual journey at Anshe Sfard and became a regular attendee for religious services with nine other elderly men, all Jewish Holocaust survivors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While the story shows that Brown was an essential part of the men&#8217;s worship service, enabling them to say prayers as a community, it also illustrates that these men literally saved his life insofar as he was at the lowest ebb in his life following the sudden passing of his grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Alex was overwhelmed with guilt, with grief because he had snubbed his <em>zayde<\/em> shortly before he died,&#8221; Artie explained and he goes into details he elicited from Brown in the rear contents of the book.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the book was fleshed out over a period of three or four months. &#8220;I had to winnow it down &#8211; at first it was much larger,&#8221; Bennett noted, giving credit to his first editor for helping him focus the material.&nbsp; By the time he did more research on the Holocaust survivors who attended Anshe Sfard as well as Brown&#8217;s grandfather, it was closer to seven or eight months of work, he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_92673\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92673\" class=\"wp-image-92673 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-300x261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-300x261.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-1024x890.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-768x668.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/261;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92673\" class=\"wp-image-92673 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-300x261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-300x261.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-1024x890.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit-768x668.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Alex-at-Anshe-Sfard-edit.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-92673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Brown at Congregation Anshe Sfard. (Photo by Artie Bennett)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bennett wanted to make the book accessible to everyone and felt that the universality of the book would make it popular in the non-Jewish community as well.<\/p>\n<p>The last touches to the book were the addition of a glossary of terms, the backstory on Brown and his grandfather and an afterword that includes additional stories about others such as Gilad &#8220;Gil&#8221; Landau, an Israeli soccer player who also attended services at Anshe Sfard and later attended Grambling University as a scholarship recipient on the football team as a placekicker.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The final portion added was an &#8220;In Memoriam&#8221; page dedicated to Brown&#8217;s grandparents and 12 Holocaust survivors who Brown befriended during his times serving as &#8220;the tenth man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Brown was so impressed by his experiences at Anshe Sfard that he became a part of the Chevra Kadisha, the Jewish burial society that oversees the preparation of bodies for Jewish burial. Brown has also worked as a docent at the National World War II Museum, inspired by the survivors with whom he prayed at the synagogue.<\/p>\n<p>Current Anshe Sfard Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin, whose brother Rabbi Mendel Rivkin was also the spiritual leader there prior to him two decades ago was asked to comment on the book by the CCJN.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArtie\u2019s book really captures the way Anshe Sfard became an island of warm community for someone who really needed it,&#8221; Rabbi Yochanan Rivkin replied via email. &#8220;It is an inspiration to the current Anshe Sfard leadership to make sure that we can continue to be that for people who need us now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8220;The Tenth Man: A Miracle of Jewish Faith and Friendship in New Orleans&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp; \u00a92026 (Holiday House Publishing) Hardcover. 40 pgs. $18.95<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Children%27s%20book%20of%20%27The%20Tenth%20Man%27%20tells%20true%20story%20of%20Congregation%20Anshe%20Sfard\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7135,3],"tags":[15188,15187,172,8795],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92647"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92647"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92709,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92647\/revisions\/92709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}