Dr. Janet Bond Brill expects two kinds of people to be at the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley’s Women’s Philanthropy Lion of Judah and Pomegranate special event on October 29: those who hugged her mother-in-law, Edna Brill z”l, at the synagogue and danced with her at a hundred community affairs, and those who never got to meet her. 

“I want them both to leave with the same fact lodged in them: that this small, blonde, impeccably dressed woman was one of the most courageous human beings of the 20th century and that hardly anyone knew it,” she said. “For a long time, not even her family knew the details.”

Bond Brill is part of that family; Edna was her mother-in-law. An internationally recognized health and wellness author, Bond Brill became the public witness to Edna’s childhood story of Holocaust heroism with her new book “Little Edna’s War: A True Story of Resistance and Hope.” She’ll bring that incredible story of resistance and hope to life in the presentation “From Wellness to Witness” to Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy event at Chabad of the Lehigh Valley on the October 29th.

As a child in WWII Poland, Edna foiled the Nazi occupiers by sneaking food past guards at the Warsaw Ghetto to feed starving fellow Jews. She also delivered secret messages to the Polish resistance that, if discovered, could have got her killed on the spot. 

She managed to survive those tragic years. Years later, in 1966, she moved to Allentown. And there she thrived. She raised her boys, wore something stunning to every gala in the Lehigh Valley, and gathered loving friends around her. 
“Those who knew her knew that she appreciated every minute of every day,” Bond Brill said. “She was vivacious, larger than life, her warmth radiating across a room, her glamour spectacular. And that, in the end, was the greatest courage of all. Not just that she survived, but that she came out of it able to love deeply and build something magnificent.”

Bond Brill points out that the youngest of Holocaust survivors are in their 80s now. “Very soon,” she continues, “the only thing standing between Edna and silence will be people like those gathered at the event in October. So I don’t want them to leave sad. I want them to leave with a purpose.”

Bond Brill’s presentation at this community-wide event hosted by the Women’s Philanthropy’s Lion of Judah and Pomegranates will begin at 7:15 p.m. Beforehand, Lions and Poms will gather for an invitation-only dinner reception with Bond Brill beginning at 5:30. 

All are invited to attend the community-wide presentation. Cost is $36 along with a pledge to the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley’s 2027 Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs. Dessert will be served. 

Register to attend by October 15 here. Copies of the book will be available for purchase on that page until October 1.