A two month old Maltese pup sits quietly in a Boca Raton Pet Store having no knowledge of what life could be like beyond the walls of her little cage.

A stranger walks in, picks up the pup, and they capture each others hearts. Their life together is seen through "Tippy", the Maltese pup. Their adventure’s takes them from Boca Raton to Greenwich Village, N.Y., to Hollywood, to East Hampton, N.Y. and back to Greenwich Village.

Tippy gets to know more and more about the woman who purchased her, “Evie”, through their travels. Tippy and Evie have a profound love for each other. Throughout the story it is “Tippy” who understands “Evie” and knows more about what lies ahead.

Evie Litwok is a second generation child of survivors. She is the daughter of Genia and Ziggy Litwok. Genia and Ziggy spent twenty years speaking about their experiences in the labor and concentration camps to school age children and educators. In 1996, they were among those honored at the 12th Annual International Elie Wiesel Holocaust Remembrance Award Dinner.

For Evie, the message from her parents was always clear. Never forget what can happen to one group of people...and always remember to protect not only Jewish people but everyone whenever anyone is being mistreated as a group.

A sense of responsibility and social activism was instilled at an early age. The message from Genia and Ziggy Litwok was that people were the most valuable part of life. Material things can be taken away quickly but people and life still remain. Above all value life.

"A Jewish Daughter" is a story from the perspective of a second generation child about growing up with an extended family of survivors and their children.

As the writer and producer of the The Tippy Story, I recently had to go to Boca Raton, Florida to get some film footage of the residential development where Tippy and I had lived. I had made arrangements with a family friend to give me access to the community. Thirteen years had passed since I had last been to the neighborhood and as I drove through the development’s entry gates I had to figure out the location of the apartment in which Tippy and I had lived.

I located the apartment and I was relieved to see that there weren’t any cars in the apartment’s designated parking space. I would have been very embarrassed if anyone who lived in the apartment saw me filming my dog as she walked up the entranceway to the apartment. I encouraged my dog to walk up the front walkway and, as she did, I was surprised to hear a dog barking from inside the apartment. Then the door to the apartment opened and a woman walked out from behind the door and asked me what I was doing.

I was very embarrassed but I managed to say that I had lived in the apartment years ago. She surprised me by telling me that she had bought the apartment from my mother shortly after my father had died three years ago. I explained that I was there to film the exterior of the apartment for a film that I was working on. She graciously offered me to come into her apartment to take some interior shots as well and I readily accepted her offer.

I nervously went inside but the woman was so nice that she made it very easy for me to do my filming. It turned out to be my lucky day. She had sold her apartment and this was her last day living there.
As she took me through the apartment she paid my mother such nice compliments. She then looked at me and told me that my mother had forgotten to take something from the apartment. I had no idea what my mother had forgotten to take with her when she had moved.

She told me that my father’s mezuzah had been left on the doorframe when my mother moved out. The woman asked me if I would like to have it. The tears started swelling up in my eyes as she offered me part of my parents’ history. The woman took it off the wall and gave it to me. As I finished filming the shots that I needed my mind was racing with other thoughts. “What were the odds of me being in Florida on the day that this woman was moving and having her offer me my father’s mezuzah? Was this a gift from G-d? I felt that my father was watching over me as I was working on my project.

As The Tippy Story is being released it feels like a blessing to have something like this happen to me.

"You must never forget the people who suffered and died, whose only crime committed was to be born Jewish Respect everyone no matter what religion and what they believe. You are the generation that has to listen. You are the people who have to know."

"My message to Tomorrow's Children is that we must not only remember how the Holocaust ended, but how it began. It is critical that you pay attention to what is going on in the world so that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens to anyone again, anywhere in there world."

Center for Holocaust Studies
Brookdale Community College

Chapter 1: Fast friends
Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner & me

Chapter 3: Short Cuts; Lily Tomlin; Robert Altman

Chapter 4: Martina Navratilova vs. Jimmy Connors
Las Vegas 9.24.92

Chapter 5: Cable Ace Awards Lily Tomlin Host
January 17,1993

Chapter 6: Laugh In 25th Reunion
February 7, 1993

Chapter 7: Making the “Lily Tomlin” tapes “for sale”

Chapter 8: Beverly Hillbillies

Chapter 9: Ernestine makes training tapes for Corporations

Chapter 10: An Evening with Lipsinka

Chapter 11: The Tony Awards- 1993

Chapter 12: Best Actress, Best Make Up, Best Wardrobe