The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses

Powerful life lessons in a funny and moving portrait of family, community and spiritual discovery in America.

Hilarious and heartfelt, Ron Wolfson's inspiring memoir is filled with stories of growing up in a warm family, encountering colorful characters like the merchants of Omaha and the famous Warren Buffett, navigating adolescence and learning never to underestimate his mother.

With easygoing Midwestern humor and profound poignancy, Ron's true stories of family and community in the United States of America will resonate with anyone seeking to shape stronger families, create compelling communities and live their best life, a life of joy and laughter, meaning and purpose, and, yes, blessings and kisses.

I am the best boy in the United States of America. That's what my grandfather--my 'Zaydie'--called me from the time I was a little child in Omaha, Nebraska. I know it's true because this is a true story. All my stories are true....

"Zaydie loved three things: his family, his business, and his adopted country--the United States of America. I never, ever heard Zaydie say 'the United States.' It was always 'da United States of America, ' in his thick Russian accent.... For Louie Paperny, each one of his nine grandchildren was the best boy or the best girl in the United States of America. We believed him. I believed him. And in a certain way, I've lived the rest of my life trying to be that best boy.

--from Chapter 1

Dr. Ron Wolfson, visionary educator and inspirational speaker, is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. He is author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community; The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth; Be Like God: God's To-Do List for Kids; God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth; Hanukkah, Passover and Shabbat, all Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs Art of Jewish Living family guides to spiritual celebrations; The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community; A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement and Comfort and, with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What You Will See Inside a Synagogue (all Jewish Lights), a book for children ages 6 and up. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism-Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water-Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows-Kol Nidre and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism-Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).