Out of the depths

Israel Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, was just eight years old when the camp was liberated in 1945. Descended from a 1000-year unbroken chain of rabbis, he grew up to become Chief Rabbi of Israel and like many of the great rabbis, Lau is a master storyteller. Out of the Depths is his harrowing, miraculous and inspiring account of life in one of the Nazis' deadliest concentration camps and how he managed to survive against all possible odds. Lau, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, also chronicles his life after the war, including his emigration to Mandate Palestine during a period that coincides with the development of the State of Israel. The story continues up to today, with that once-lost boy of eight now a brilliant, charismatic and world-revered figure who has visited with Popes John Paul and Benedict; the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.