Molly Karp

Augustow Memorial Book Molly Karp

This English translation of the Augustow Yizkor Book is the result of the perseverance of two remarkable women and one generous grandson of the town. When Jeanette Reinhard initially approached Rabbi Molly Karp in 2019 regarding the translation project, Rabbi Karp's time was fully committed to her duties as a pulpit rabbi, Jewish day-school teacher, and translator on another Yizkor book. In early 2020, however, Rabbi Karp thought to pose a simple question to Jeanette as to the status of the Augustow translation, and from that - combined with the unwanted but valued gift of time from the coronavirus pandemic constrictions - the translation took flight. A plethora of emails, supporting a multitude of decisions large and small, went back and forth, often accompanied by personal stories and holiday greetings marking the passage of the Jewish calendar. For both Rabbi Karp and Jeanette Reinhard, this sad and often bitter memorial of death became part of the rhythm of life. The visions of two women who had never met quickly became a relationship of shared purpose. Throughout, Jeanette's husband, Eli Reinhard, asked how he could help and always provided the financial support for the answers. Photography by Jonah Karp Hurst that enabled the faithful reproductions of the Yizkor Book's many pictures, exceptional translations of the Hebrew by Rabbi Karp, of the Yiddish by Daniel Kennedy in France, assisted by Oliver Elkus, and extensive footnotes contributed by Rabbi Karp's own research, all serve as testimony to Eli's vision of a Yizkor Book more widely accessible by current and future generations, honoring the town and way of life of the grandparents he never met, Avraham Eliezer and Rochla Powembrovski.