"Born in 1955, Avraham Burg witnessed firsthand many of the most dramatic and critical junctions in Israeli history. Here he chronicles the highs and lows of his country during the last five decades, beginning with the 1967 war, when, as a young boy, his mother brought him back Uzi cartridges from the Kotel, which he incorporated into the Chanukah menorah he made for his home economics class. Burg narrates the misplaced hopes of religious Zionism (informed by his conservative upbringing), Israel's obsession with military might (informed by his own experiences as a paratrooper), the country's democratic aspirations (informed by his tenure in the Knesset) and more. What he delivers, ultimately, is an analysis of the ambitions and failures of Israel and Judaism, from the unique standpoint of his generation--the children of the mythical "founders" who established the state. In Days to Come is Burg's philosophical inquiry into what Jewish-Israeli identity means today if you are personally, ethically, and politically opposed to what your country stands for. With bravery and candor, he urges his countrymen to dare to ask the difficult questions and accept the truth of difficult answers, have the courage to move on from trauma to trust, understand that Jews do not have monopoly over suffering but a responsibility to prevent crimes against humanity, have the will to solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine by adopting new paradigms, be ready to relinquish the privileges given to the Jews and create a shared space with equal rights for every human being, lay the groundwork for a constitutional reality in which every individual--under Israeli sovereignty or responsibility--has equal rights, and build a wall of separation between synagogue and state"--

When Zionists first advocated a national home for the Jewish people, they also propounded a revolution in the values that Jews should live by, a whole new way of thinking about Jewish life and Jewish history. Has this revolution in fact occurred? And what the consequences been for Jews and their neighbors? Especially given the extraordinary circumstances that link the United States and Israel, Americans may find the answers to such questions vexing - but the remarkable work of Avishai Margalit goes far to clarify the issues and enlighten the debate. Over the past two decades, Margalit has written major essays for American readers about the political leaders, cultural crises, and historical background of the contemporary Israeli scene. In Views in Review these essays are brought together with new commentary and observations, and their publication in one volume clearly shows that the whole is much more that the sum of its parts. From Ben Gurion to Netanyahu, from "Israeli kitsch" to the meaning of the Holocaust for "the seventh million," Margalit's work traverses the terrain of Israeli life and history and brings a tragically conflicted country into sharp and memorable focus.

For nearly three thousand years, the black Jews of Ethiopia–known as the Falashas–maintained their faith and their identity in the face of drought, famine, and tribal war. They were indeed the lost tribe, tracing their ancestry to King Solomon and the queen of Sheba. Then in May 1991, these Ethiopian Jews staged a miraculous exodus. With Ethiopia exploding around them in brutal civil war, some fourteen thousand Falashas were safely airlifted to Jerusalem by the Israeli air force over the course of twenty-five harrowing hours. Told by the Israeli ambassador who made it happen, this spellbinding book is the story of that incredible rescue–as well as an extraordinary history of the Falashas, the remarkable people whose faith never waivered, even when confronted with enormous atrocities.

Shalvi has been a pioneer in advancing the status of women in Israel and in religious girls' education. She has been an active participant in peace dialogues and inter-religious initiatives and has been a social activist all her life. Born in Germany in 1926 to Orthodox parents, Shalvi grew up in London and studied English at Cambridge, before moving to Jerusalem in 1949 where she went on to pursue a PhD at Hebrew University, eventually teaching English Literature. In 1950, Shalvi met and married her husband, Moshe Shelkowitz (later Shalvi), who died in 2013. They had six children together. One of Shalvi's greatest accomplishments was the establishment of the Pelech School which she headed from 1975 to 1990. This experimental/ progressive religious high school for girls in Jerusalem has become a model for women's Orthodox education across the country. Shalvi was a co-founder of the Israel Women's Network, established to advance the status of women. In 2007 she was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievements in the areas of education, social welfare and human rights.

A biographical excavation of one of the world’s great, troubled cities A remarkable view of one of the world’s most beloved and troubled cities, Adina Hoffman’s Till We Have Built Jerusalem is a gripping and intimate journey into the very different lives of three architects who helped shape modern Jerusalem. The book unfolds as an excavation. It opens with the 1934 arrival in Jerusalem of the celebrated Berlin architect Erich Mendelsohn, a refugee from Hitler’s Germany who must reckon with a complex new Middle Eastern reality. Next we meet Austen St. Barbe Harrison, Palestine’s chief government architect from 1922 to 1937. Steeped in the traditions of Byzantine and Islamic building, this “most private of public servants” finds himself working under the often stifling and violent conditions of British rule. And in the riveting final section, Hoffman herself sets out through the battered streets of today’s Jerusalem searching for traces of a possibly Greek, possibly Arab architect named Spyro Houris. Once a fixture on the local scene, Houris is now utterly forgotten, though his grand Armenian-tile-clad buildings still stand, a ghostly testimony to the cultural fluidity that has historically characterized Jerusalem at its best. A beautifully written rumination on memory and forgetting, place and displacement, Till We Have Built Jerusalem uncovers the ramifying layers of one great city’s buried history as it asks what it means, everywhere, to be foreign and to belong.

Yehoshua Hankin had two loves: love for his wife Olga, many years his senior, and a love for the land. The two competed with each other, but he never preferred one over the other. Displayed for the reader, against the backdrop of the atmosphere in the Land of Israel toward the close of the Ottoman period and into that of the British Mandate, is a broad slice of life spread over fifty years of the man dubbed by constituents as the “Redeemer of the Land,” and of the figures who accompanied him.The characters, events, times, and places described in this historical novel are to a great extent a faithful representation of reality, and they are interwoven into a multi-faceted biography illuminating the period and forgotten actors in a new light. Joining forces in writing this book were Irit Amit Cohen and Ruth Kark, who combined Irit Amit Cohen’s literary work in the genre of the historical novel with Ruth Kark’s long-term research endeavor on Yehoshua Hankin, which even encompassed oral documentation from his close associates.

Somekh, a noted student of modern Arabic culture, relates his life as a university professor and writer, taking the reader to Oxford, Princeton and Cairo, and introducing scholars and writers he befriended: S D Goitein, Mustafa Badawi and Haim Blanc, among others. This title presents his story.

In all the command positions that he held, General Elazar Stern knew that the role of the Israel Defense Forces was not limited solely to achieving victory on the battlefield. Many of the tasks that he undertook in over three decades of service to his country required moral courage whether it was initiating conversion courses in the IDF, laying down a hard line against disobeying orders during the evacuation of Gush Katif, or taking a stand against draft dodgers and Stern was well aware that public courage has its price. In Struggling Over Israel's Soul, General Stern tells the story of his personal battles the battles for the character and future of the IDF as the army of the people and for the character and future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. He candidly describes the challenges and difficulties of a being a religious soldier in a unit of non-religious soldiers, yet he openly opposes the continued service of religious soldiers in separate units. He explains why he was required to rewrite the IDF s ethical code and reveals his revolutionary plan to solve the problem of ultra-Orthodox army exemptions. This honest and frank insider s look at the Israel Defense Forces will inspire you and show you a glimpse of the true face of Israel and why Israel is worth fighting for.

Praise for Coming Together, Coming Apart ""Interesting conversation is Israel's most ingratiating commodity, and this is an especially interesting one. To read Coming Together, Coming Apart is to be engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one of Israel's most thoughtful observers--an American who made Israel his home, despite its imperfections and dangers. Gordis's conversational narrative is irresistible."" --Alan dershowitz, author of The Case for Israel ""Whether describing a walk through Jerusalem in snow, a hike in the desert, or a farewell family drive to the Gaza settlements, Gordis manages to capture the essential details that tell us the larger meaning of our Israeli lives. There is much irony in this book, and also anger, especially against those who unfairly judge Israel in its most desperate and noble times. Most of all, though, this book is the chronicle of a love story--of an immigrant family in Jerusalem falling in love with Israel and, through that love, discovering the strength to cope with life on the front lines of a jihadist war. As a fellow Jerusalemite, I feel a profound debt to Gordis for explaining what it means to raise a family in the middle of a terror zone, and the courage that average Israelis instinctively display in maintaining the pretense of normal life. Those of us who share his passion are fortunate to be so well represented by this book."" --Yossi Klein Halevi, Foreign Correspondent, The New Republic

Rekindling the Torch: The Story of Canadian Zionism begins with the long and troubled history of the Jewish people that informed the nineteenth-century idea of Zionism: the search for a homeland. After surviving anti-Semitic laws and pogroms, Jewish refugees faced not only the ultimate crime against humanity, but also the shocking indifference of the West when they were turned back from safe havens. Far from weakening the spirit, these combined tragedies strengthened their collective will. In Canada, Jewish immigrants created communities, pooled their resources, and rose to become captains of industry, among them the Bronfmans, the Batshaws, and the Hayes. They organized and actively pursued the goals of nationhood in Palestine. Richly illustrated and extensively researched, Rekindling the Torch celebrates the struggle of the Canadian Jewish people and their contributions to the state of Israel.

On the Border chronicles a radical political education in a time and place charged with idealism and danger. A Polish Frenchman and a rabbi's son, Michel Warschawski left for Israel at the age of sixteen to to study the Talmud, and eventually became one of the most renowned figures of the Israeli left. Warschawski's involvement in radical politics led to inspiring alliances with Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Marxists. Yet as the border lines hardened, he became targeted by the Shin Bet, Israel's notorious intelligence agents. Finally arrested, incarcerated and interrogated for 20 days, Michel gives his readers an insider's view of the psychological and political pressures that Shin Bet brought to bear, even on Jews, and never lets you forget the severity of treatment that his Palestinian colleagues faced. In touch with the Jewish diaspora, and inspired by a socialism without borders, the book mixes sharp analysis of the ongoing conflict with deep personal insight into the events of the last three decades. The lessons he draws from his experience on the border between Israel and Palestine should be instructive for all the places where cultures rub against each other for better and worse. Warschawski's perspective offers hope for the rich cultural and political exchange that these places offer their inhabitants, and hope for his adopted land.

"Tearing down stereotypes about Jews, Richard Marceau tells us about himself, using his own story to convey Jewish history and culture. He draws an original portrait of the State of Israel, the role it plays in today's Jewish identity, and helps us discover Quebec's Jewish community. Denouncing prejudices and intellectual dishonesty, identifying himself as a pro-Palestinian Zionist, Richard Marceau calls for a respectful dialogue, promoting both the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel and the creation of an independent Palestinian state."--Pub. desc.

An illustrated memoir of war, peace and art, which recalls how the author narrowly escaped Danzig as a child, and went on to be educated in England where he discovered his true vocation as a sculptor.