(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education at Ocean County College will host a book discussion with selected readings from "Shtetl Roots, Emigrant Routes, and a New York City Love Story" by Dr. Ali Botein-Furrevig on Monday, January 27, 2025 on OCC's main campus in Toms River. This presentation is free and open to the public.

Both historical and memoir in nature, the book begins with an overview of Polish Jewry during the period when Poland was partially annexed by Russia, where Dr. Botein-Furrevig’s paternal grand-parents were born. The author explores the inception and evolution of shtetl culture, illustrated with stories she grew up hearing from her grandmother. She then provides a vibrant description of life on New York’s Lower East Side in the 19th century, where, as a child, she would accompany her father and grandmother to visit the place where her grandmother met her husband. Later, as a young widow, her grandmother raised three children, all of whom achieved the American dream through education and hard work in der goldene medina, the Golden World.

“Shtetl Roots, Emigrant Routes, and a New York City Love Story” takes place on Monday, January 27, 2025 at 11:00am in the Instructional Building (#5), Room 202, College Drive, Toms River, New Jersey.

The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education at Ocean County College fosters student and community understanding of the causes and legacy of the Holocaust and other genocides to create an acute awareness of contemporary human rights abuses locally, nationally, and globally through lectures, exhibits, and events.

For 60 years, Ocean County College, a public two-year community college sponsored by Ocean County and the State of New Jersey, has provided area residents with the opportunity to benefit from higher education. OCC is an innovative academic leader offering affordable, student-centered, high-quality educational experiences that prepare and empower diverse learners to contribute to and succeed in global societies. OCC invests in and fosters academic, economic, and cultural excellence, and ensures financial strength by generating new revenue streams, engaging in national and international university and corporate partnerships, and cultivating a technologically progressive and entrepreneurial spirit.