Sima Halberstam Preiser's journey to life

Her grandfather, youngest son of the revered Sanzer Rebbe, the Divrei Chaim, had promised her she would survive. Was it possible?

Sima Halberstam Preiser grew up in a majestic chassidic household, related to many of the great Rebbes. "Tell me a story of the Sanzer Zeideh" she would beg, and then, entranced, she would hear how her illustrious great-grandfather, the Divrei Chaim, had peddled apples to help an impoverished Jewess or miraculously located a woman's missing husband.

When she was nine years old this sheltered little girl became a fugitive from the Nazis, a smuggler slinking in the shadows, risking her life for a slice of bread, walking barefoot in the snow to find her imprisoned sister. Her journeys would take her into bunkers hidden beneath haystacks, into Hungary's most infamous prison, into a world of death, brutality - and open, unbelievable miracles. Her flight from the Nazis would lead her, also, to the homes of luminaries such as the Munkatzcher and Bobover Rebbes, refugees of joy and faith in a world of despair.

Heaven's Tears is the story of a courageous Jewish child, an outspoken free spirit who grew into a remarkable Jewish woman. Beautifully conveyed by bestselling author Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, it is an unusual mixture of Holocaust memoir and fascinating tales of Chassidic greatness.