"Fire, Ice, Air" is a short memoir by Rabbi Simcha Shafran, who was born in a Polish shtetl, attended the Novardhok yeshiva in Bialystok as a teenager, spent the years of World War II in Siberia and served as a congregational rabbi in Baltimore for over half a century. Rabbi Shafran still serves as one in a smaller way (Sabbath services take place in his home weekly) and is the administrator of the Baltimore Bais Din, or religious court. He has inspired countless people who know him personally, and continues to do so today. His son, Rabbi Avi Shafran, persuaded him to put his memories into...