By RABBI NAFTALI Y. SILVER, Rabbi, Sephardi Hebrew Congregation
Some books preserve history. The finest ones remind us that history is meant to shape the way we live.
While this book – Stella: A Journey Through Loss and Time by Fabio Diliberto – follows the extraordinary journey of one woman, Stella, I found myself drawn beyond any single individual. What captivated me was the world that emerges through these pages – a world of faith, family, courage, resilience, and unwavering Jewish identity. Through Stella’s story, Fabio has done far more than recount the life of his beloved grandmother. He has opened a window into the lived experience of an entire generation.
As Rabbi of the Sephardi Hebrew Congregation of Cape Town, I have had the privilege of serving many of the descendants of the families whose lives fill these pages. Although I never had the opportunity to know Stella or so many of those whose stories are told here, through their children and grandchildren, their traditions, and now through Fabio’s remarkable storytelling, I feel I have come to know them. More importantly, I have come to appreciate that the true measure of a generation is not simply what it achieved, but what it successfully passed on.
One of Fabio’s greatest achievements is that he does not simply recount history. He allows us to experience it. As readers, we find ourselves walking the streets of Rhodes, crossing unfamiliar seas, entering homes filled with warmth and uncertainty, and sharing in moments of joy, heartbreak, courage, and hope. For those fortunate enough to know these families, the pages seem almost to breathe. History no longer feels distant; it becomes deeply personal.
This is not merely one family’s story. It is, in many ways, the story of countless Jewish Sephardi families whose journeys began in Rhodes, Turkey, and across the Balkans, before carrying them to new homes throughout Africa and beyond. While every family’s path was unique, they shared the same determination to preserve their faith, their traditions, their language, their communities, and one another.
This book reminds us that Judaism has never been preserved by monuments alone, but by ordinary Jews who chose, day after day, to live Jewish lives – speaking its language, praying its prayers, celebrating its festivals, raising Jewish families, and carrying one another through both joy and sorrow. Their actions became their legacy.
As I read these pages, I found myself asking a difficult question. If a generation that endured exile, uncertainty, loss, and unimaginable hardship could preserve its faith and identity with such devotion, what might our generation achieve with the blessings we have been given? We live in a world of unprecedented comfort and opportunity, yet many of the traditions that sustained our grandparents now struggle to find their place in our daily lives. The challenge before us is no longer merely survival – it is continuity.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson this book offers. It does not ask us simply to admire the past; it asks us to continue it. Jewish memory is never an end in itself. We remember in order to live differently. We honour those who came before us not merely by telling their stories, but by carrying forward the values that shaped their lives. The generation portrayed in these pages did not preserve Judaism because life was easy. They preserved it because they understood it was essential. Our generation must make that same choice. Not out of necessity, but out of conviction.
Fabio has given his grandmother a beautiful tribute. In doing so, he has also honoured an entire generation whose quiet courage and steadfast faith continue to echo through the lives of their descendants. He has preserved not only their history, but their spirit. The greatest gift of this book is not what it preserves, but what it awakens within its readers. May we close these pages inspired not simply to remember those who came before us, but to become worthy ancestors for those who will come after us.
The book is available for purchase directly from Fabio or from the Sephardi Shul, and for borrowing from the Jacob Gitlin Library.
