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Judith White is a natural-born storyteller. The Potomac author gleefully rolls through family memory after family memory, seamlessly transitioning from describing how her wealthy aunt's estate was destroyed by a bomb in World War II to talking about her search for her grandfather's tombstone in Jerusalem.

White has captured these and many more stories in her first book, "Silverstone Stories & Other Mishagos, A Retrospective of Siblings Times Ten."

"Mishagos," as the book's glossary reveals, is a Yiddish word meaning nonsense, foolishness or craziness.

White's mother Miriam Silverstone was the youngest of 10 children. The book dedicates a chapter to each of the siblings and their parents, and along the way, captures the fabric of a family dedicated to each other and deeply rooted in the Orthodox Jewish tradition.

Rebitzen Rebecca Silverstone, the matriarch, was a tough, honest and financially savvy woman who invested in real estate and sold "ceremonial wine" out of her basement during Prohibition.

Rabbi Gedaliah Silverstone, the patriarch, was a well-known religious leader and scholar in Washington, D.C., in the 1920s and 1930s. The quirky, generous and extremely devout man helped start a synagogue and found the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington.

"I never intended to write a book," says White, who runs her own speech and language rehabilitation agency in Potomac.

White grew up hearing about the cablegram that announced her grandfather's death and requested that it be kept secret from her mother, Miriam, since she was the youngest child.

"I never believed the story," White says.

But when Miriam died in 2000, White was going through her mother's papers and found the cablegram. That, she says, is what inspired her to collect the family stories and pictures and put them together in a book.

White worked on the book for five years, often tapping away on the computer keys in the wee hours of the morning.

"The emotional part came [while] sitting in front of the computer alone and writing," White says.

Documenting the stories was calming, she recalls, and made her feel connected to her family, especially her mother.

One of White's favorite stories is her Aunt Besse's foiled attempt to sneak into the house after missing her curfew. About to tiptoe up the stairs, Besse reached for the railing. Instead, she touched her mother's shadel, a wig many observant Orthodox Jewish women wear outside the home, which was hanging on the banister. Startled, she screamed and woke the entire household.

Despite the occasional grumble about the omission of a family member, White says the response from her family has been "very, very complimentary."

"Hopefully, readers will be encouraged to collect stories and documents from their own family history so that they may pass on to future generations the styles and customs of their heritage," White writes in the book's preface.

"It's opened up a whole new adventure for me," she says.

White is working on a second book "Poetry and Perception," which will feature poetry she has written over the years along with her letters to editors that have appeared in several publications. Thus, she hopes to transmit her views on life to her children and grandchildren.

A hearty sense of humor fosters the closeness of family members, many of whom live in the metropolitan area.

"They're brothers and sisters until their dying day," she says.

"Silverstone Stories & Other Mishagos, A Retrospective of Siblings Times Ten" can be purchased online at www.amazon.com. For a signed copy, call 301-299-8418.