Giyur: A True Love Story

A great story hides a nugget of truth in a fictional story but the best stories rely on unadulterated truth.“Giyur: A True Love Story,” as the title implies, is such a story. In a unique twist, the author hears the story secondhand and writes it down without alteration. The story is the definition of short but sweet.

Giyur: A True Love Story by Michael Salita is, as the title implies, an alleged entirely-true love story as documented and retold by Salita, originating from a Caribbean cruise. Volodya, a native Odessian, comes across a beautiful woman on a cruise, who he talks candidly about to a nearby acquaintance in his native tongue. It turns out that the woman, Natasha, was actually able to hear him the entire time, and despite his embarrassing remarks they share a strong mutual interest. However, Volodya is a Jewish man, and while Natasha was raised Jewish, she is without Jewish heritage by circumstance of birth, making them unfit for marriage. As their romance grows, Natasha decides to take the giyur – the conversion of a non-Jew to the faith – and with the blessing of her grandmother she is able to marry Volodya. The story is short at just 22 pages, leaving only the barest details of the story as likely dictated to the author originally, and has every air of a charming tale spun by a friend or neighbor. For a simple, true love story about fate and faith that beggars belief, Salita delivers a short, sweet reminiscence and a happy ending for everyone involved.

Michael Salita was born in Odessa, Ukraine and immigrated to Brooklyn in 1991 with his mother, father and his kid brother Dmitriy Salita, a professional boxer and boxing promoter in New York who won the coveted "Sugar Ray Robinson" award at the New York Golden Gloves and is a former number one welterweight contender. Michael holds a Master of Science degree in Library and information Science and a Masters degree in Early Childhood Education and currently teaches young children in New York. "B is for Brighton Beach" is his second book. The first was a rap novel "Golden Gloves", a story about his boxing brother, a tournament champion.