What do you think?
Rate this book
Saving Israel
Is Israel worth saving, and if so, how do we secure its future? The Jewish State must end, say its enemies, from intellectuals like Tony Judt to hate-filled demagogues like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even average Israelis are wondering if they wouldn't be better off somewhere else and whether they ought to persevere. Daniel Gordis is confident his fellow Jews can renew their faith in the cause, and in Saving Israel , he outlines how.
Hardcover
First published February 13, 2009
14 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 14, 2020
In this pivotal contribution to the discussion about Israel's struggle for survival and that country's nature, Daniel Gordis takes the bull by the horns and grapples both with the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing Israel today as well as how Israel can win what seems to be an unwinnable struggle to survive in these frightening and sombre days.
Israel, Gordis argues needs to rediscover it's Jewish roots and values while reconnecting faith with nationhood.
The last decade has made it painfully clear that 'Palestinian nationalism' has no interest in working towards statehood and a better life for the Palestinian people but is solely aimed at the destruction of Israel.This glaring fact destroys the illusion that territorial compromise can bring the conflict to an end.
The issue is not Palestinian statehood but Israeli statehood.
Gordis points out that the so-called "Intifada" of 2000-2005 was not at all a "popular uprising" that the international media had fooled the world into believing but was rather a terror war launched by and orchestrated and directed by terror chief Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership.in defiance of Israel's right to exist.
These realities can be further explored in such excellent works as Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars, Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression,The Rape of Palestine and the Struggle for Jerusalem and Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror.
Every time Israel withdraws from land this has the polar opposite result to the peace Israel intends to bring about by doing so. Israel's Arab enemies see this as a sign of weakness and respond with further aggression.
The 2000 comprehensive peace offer by Ehud Barak to the Palestinians, of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem, resulted in the 2000-2005 Palestinian terror war, and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, accompanied by the forced removal of Gaza's 20 000 Jewish residents' led to the election of the Islamonazi Hamas movement by the Palestinians, the pounding of Israel by tens of thousands of Kassam rockets and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, finally forcing Israel to retaliate in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and the 2008-2009 war against Hamas.
While Israel has become the scapegoat of the world, and the victim of such bottomless and venomous hatred across the world, this has been compounded by the abandonment of Israel by Israel of many diaspora Jews. A recent survey revealed that a full 50% of American Jews under the age of 35 said that Israel's destruction (and the accompanying annihilation of Israel's Jews) would NOT be a personal tragedy.
Add to this the overwhelming support of American Jews for Barack Obama, whose attitude to the Jewish state verges on open hostility and whose ruthless pressure of Israel to act against her own survival, together with a determination to ingratiate the USA with the Islamic world, including it's most radical elements including Iran and Syria.
The denial of Israel's right to exist, not only by Islamic extremists, but also by a myriad of left wing opinion makers such as Tony Judt and Noam Chomsky, puts the existence of Israel in very real danger. This is because delegitimization and demonization paves the way for physical annihilation, as we saw with the Holocaust.
This is already leading the world (including the Obama administration) to refuse to take action to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, especially in the face of Iran's bloodthirsty President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's determination to "'wipe Israel off the map"
Many diaspora Jews, (and even some Israelis) are comfortable with the idea of Jews and defenceless victims, rather than as a strong nation, always ready to fight for survival whenever the need may be.
Gordis puts forward the premise that for Israel to survive Israel's people need to rebuild their will to survive. Secular Jews must rebuild some kind of connection to their faith and traditions, and religious Jews to the Nation of Israel as a whole.
Jewish and Zionist values must be imbibed and Jews need to realize that warfare in defence of survival of the Jewish people is not in contradiction to Jewish values but rather a necessity according to Judaism, given the fact the fact that the alternative would mean national suicide and a second Holocaust.
Israel is the embodiment of Jewish survival, Jewish recovery, Jewish being and the Jewish future. Jews in Israel and the diaspora need to embrace this and rediscover a sense of people-hood for Israel and world Jewry to survive. Israel cannot simply be the recreation of a mini-America, but must be governed according to Jewish norms and values.
Merged review:
In this pivotal contribution to the discussion about Israel's struggle for survival and that country's nature, Daniel Gordis takes the bull by the horns and grapples both with the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing Israel today as well as how Israel can win what seems to be an unwinnable struggle to survive in these frightening and sombre days.
Israel, Gordis argues needs to rediscover it's Jewish roots and values while reconnecting faith with nationhood.
The last decade has made it painfully clear that 'Palestinian nationalism' has no interest in working towards statehood and a better life for the Palestinian people but is solely aimed at the destruction of Israel.This glaring fact destroys the illusion that territorial compromise can bring the conflict to an end.
The issue is not Palestinian statehood but Israeli statehood.
Gordis points out that the so-called "Intifada" of 2000-2005 was not at all a "popular uprising" that the international media had fooled the world into believing but was rather a terror war launched by and orchestrated and directed by terror chief Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership.in defiance of Israel's right to exist.
These realities can be further explored in such excellent works as Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars , Myths and Facts: a Guide to the Arab-Israeli ConflictHistory Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression , and Israel: Life In The Shadow Of Terror .
Every time Israel withdraws from land this has the polar opposite result to the peace Israel intends to bring about by doing so. Israel's Arab enemies see this as a sign of weakness and respond with further aggression.
The 2000 comprehensive peace offer by Ehud Barak to the Palestinians, of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem, resulted in the 2000-2005 Palestinian terror war, and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, accompanied by the forced removal of Gaza's 20 000 Jewish residents' led to the election of the Islamonazi Hamas movement by the Palestinians, the pounding of Israel by tens of thousands of Kassam rockets and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, finally forcing Israel to retaliate in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and the 2008-2009 war against Hamas.
While Israel has become the scapegoat of the world, and the victim of such bottomless and venomous hatred across the world, this has been compounded by the abandonment of Israel by Israel of many diaspora Jews. A recent survey revealed that a full 50% of American Jews under the age of 35 said that Israel's destruction (and the accompanying annihilation of Israel's Jews) would NOT be a personal tragedy.
The denial of Israel's right to exist, not only by Islamic extremists, but also by a myriad of left wing opinion makers such as Tony Judt and Noam Chomsky, puts the existence of Israel in very real danger. This is because delegitimization and demonization paves the way for physical annihilation, as we saw with the Holocaust.
This is already leading the world (including the Obama administration) to refuse to take action to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, especially in the face of Iran's bloodthirsty President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's determination to "'wipe Israel off the map"
Many diaspora Jews, (and even some Israelis) are comfortable with the idea of Jews and defenceless victims, rather than as a strong nation, always ready to fight for survival whenever the need may be.
Gordis puts forward the premise that for Israel to survive Israel's people need to rebuild their will to survive. Secular Jews must rebuild some kind of connection to their faith and traditions, and religious Jews to the Nation of Israel as a whole.
Jewish and Zionist values must be imbibed and Jews need to realize that warfare in defence of survival of the Jewish people is not in contradiction to Jewish values but rather a necessity according to Judaism, given the fact the fact that the alternative would mean national suicide and a second Holocaust.
Israel is the embodiment of Jewish survival, Jewish recovery, Jewish being and the Jewish future. Jews in Israel and the diaspora need to embrace this and rediscover a sense of people-hood for Israel and world Jewry to survive. Israel cannot simply be the recreation of a mini-America, but must be governed according to Jewish norms and values.
Israel, Gordis argues needs to rediscover it's Jewish roots and values while reconnecting faith with nationhood.
The last decade has made it painfully clear that 'Palestinian nationalism' has no interest in working towards statehood and a better life for the Palestinian people but is solely aimed at the destruction of Israel.This glaring fact destroys the illusion that territorial compromise can bring the conflict to an end.
The issue is not Palestinian statehood but Israeli statehood.
Gordis points out that the so-called "Intifada" of 2000-2005 was not at all a "popular uprising" that the international media had fooled the world into believing but was rather a terror war launched by and orchestrated and directed by terror chief Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership.in defiance of Israel's right to exist.
These realities can be further explored in such excellent works as Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars, Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression,The Rape of Palestine and the Struggle for Jerusalem and Israel: Life in the Shadow of Terror.
Every time Israel withdraws from land this has the polar opposite result to the peace Israel intends to bring about by doing so. Israel's Arab enemies see this as a sign of weakness and respond with further aggression.
The 2000 comprehensive peace offer by Ehud Barak to the Palestinians, of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem, resulted in the 2000-2005 Palestinian terror war, and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, accompanied by the forced removal of Gaza's 20 000 Jewish residents' led to the election of the Islamonazi Hamas movement by the Palestinians, the pounding of Israel by tens of thousands of Kassam rockets and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, finally forcing Israel to retaliate in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and the 2008-2009 war against Hamas.
While Israel has become the scapegoat of the world, and the victim of such bottomless and venomous hatred across the world, this has been compounded by the abandonment of Israel by Israel of many diaspora Jews. A recent survey revealed that a full 50% of American Jews under the age of 35 said that Israel's destruction (and the accompanying annihilation of Israel's Jews) would NOT be a personal tragedy.
Add to this the overwhelming support of American Jews for Barack Obama, whose attitude to the Jewish state verges on open hostility and whose ruthless pressure of Israel to act against her own survival, together with a determination to ingratiate the USA with the Islamic world, including it's most radical elements including Iran and Syria.
The denial of Israel's right to exist, not only by Islamic extremists, but also by a myriad of left wing opinion makers such as Tony Judt and Noam Chomsky, puts the existence of Israel in very real danger. This is because delegitimization and demonization paves the way for physical annihilation, as we saw with the Holocaust.
This is already leading the world (including the Obama administration) to refuse to take action to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, especially in the face of Iran's bloodthirsty President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's determination to "'wipe Israel off the map"
Many diaspora Jews, (and even some Israelis) are comfortable with the idea of Jews and defenceless victims, rather than as a strong nation, always ready to fight for survival whenever the need may be.
Gordis puts forward the premise that for Israel to survive Israel's people need to rebuild their will to survive. Secular Jews must rebuild some kind of connection to their faith and traditions, and religious Jews to the Nation of Israel as a whole.
Jewish and Zionist values must be imbibed and Jews need to realize that warfare in defence of survival of the Jewish people is not in contradiction to Jewish values but rather a necessity according to Judaism, given the fact the fact that the alternative would mean national suicide and a second Holocaust.
Israel is the embodiment of Jewish survival, Jewish recovery, Jewish being and the Jewish future. Jews in Israel and the diaspora need to embrace this and rediscover a sense of people-hood for Israel and world Jewry to survive. Israel cannot simply be the recreation of a mini-America, but must be governed according to Jewish norms and values.
Merged review:
In this pivotal contribution to the discussion about Israel's struggle for survival and that country's nature, Daniel Gordis takes the bull by the horns and grapples both with the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing Israel today as well as how Israel can win what seems to be an unwinnable struggle to survive in these frightening and sombre days.
Israel, Gordis argues needs to rediscover it's Jewish roots and values while reconnecting faith with nationhood.
The last decade has made it painfully clear that 'Palestinian nationalism' has no interest in working towards statehood and a better life for the Palestinian people but is solely aimed at the destruction of Israel.This glaring fact destroys the illusion that territorial compromise can bring the conflict to an end.
The issue is not Palestinian statehood but Israeli statehood.
Gordis points out that the so-called "Intifada" of 2000-2005 was not at all a "popular uprising" that the international media had fooled the world into believing but was rather a terror war launched by and orchestrated and directed by terror chief Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership.in defiance of Israel's right to exist.
These realities can be further explored in such excellent works as Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars , Myths and Facts: a Guide to the Arab-Israeli ConflictHistory Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression , and Israel: Life In The Shadow Of Terror .
Every time Israel withdraws from land this has the polar opposite result to the peace Israel intends to bring about by doing so. Israel's Arab enemies see this as a sign of weakness and respond with further aggression.
The 2000 comprehensive peace offer by Ehud Barak to the Palestinians, of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem, resulted in the 2000-2005 Palestinian terror war, and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, accompanied by the forced removal of Gaza's 20 000 Jewish residents' led to the election of the Islamonazi Hamas movement by the Palestinians, the pounding of Israel by tens of thousands of Kassam rockets and the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, finally forcing Israel to retaliate in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and the 2008-2009 war against Hamas.
While Israel has become the scapegoat of the world, and the victim of such bottomless and venomous hatred across the world, this has been compounded by the abandonment of Israel by Israel of many diaspora Jews. A recent survey revealed that a full 50% of American Jews under the age of 35 said that Israel's destruction (and the accompanying annihilation of Israel's Jews) would NOT be a personal tragedy.
The denial of Israel's right to exist, not only by Islamic extremists, but also by a myriad of left wing opinion makers such as Tony Judt and Noam Chomsky, puts the existence of Israel in very real danger. This is because delegitimization and demonization paves the way for physical annihilation, as we saw with the Holocaust.
This is already leading the world (including the Obama administration) to refuse to take action to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, especially in the face of Iran's bloodthirsty President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's determination to "'wipe Israel off the map"
Many diaspora Jews, (and even some Israelis) are comfortable with the idea of Jews and defenceless victims, rather than as a strong nation, always ready to fight for survival whenever the need may be.
Gordis puts forward the premise that for Israel to survive Israel's people need to rebuild their will to survive. Secular Jews must rebuild some kind of connection to their faith and traditions, and religious Jews to the Nation of Israel as a whole.
Jewish and Zionist values must be imbibed and Jews need to realize that warfare in defence of survival of the Jewish people is not in contradiction to Jewish values but rather a necessity according to Judaism, given the fact the fact that the alternative would mean national suicide and a second Holocaust.
Israel is the embodiment of Jewish survival, Jewish recovery, Jewish being and the Jewish future. Jews in Israel and the diaspora need to embrace this and rediscover a sense of people-hood for Israel and world Jewry to survive. Israel cannot simply be the recreation of a mini-America, but must be governed according to Jewish norms and values.
July 13, 2021
3.5/5 I loved the author’s “Israel” on political history of modern Israel. How does one deal with an illiberal and intolerant minority ? And while being surrounded by hostile neighbours contesting land and wishing your destruction ?
The author calls upon Israelis to accept facts. And calls for increased motivation, purpose and inculcation of Jewish history and values while remaining a liberal democracy - albiet with a Jewish majority. Unfortunately there seems to be no solution in sight as Palestinians and Arabs are totally blind to their faults and do not wish peace.
I would add - they need to question the illiberal and uncivilised values of societies of their neighbours harshly in international forums.
Also, Israel should give up this obsession with being a Jewish majority. They can retain laws which allow Jews in the world to emigrate to Israel. But, other than that, they should focus on staying a liberal and (largely) secular democracy that protects freedom-of-expression and gender-equality.
The author calls upon Israelis to accept facts. And calls for increased motivation, purpose and inculcation of Jewish history and values while remaining a liberal democracy - albiet with a Jewish majority. Unfortunately there seems to be no solution in sight as Palestinians and Arabs are totally blind to their faults and do not wish peace.
I would add - they need to question the illiberal and uncivilised values of societies of their neighbours harshly in international forums.
Also, Israel should give up this obsession with being a Jewish majority. They can retain laws which allow Jews in the world to emigrate to Israel. But, other than that, they should focus on staying a liberal and (largely) secular democracy that protects freedom-of-expression and gender-equality.
November 22, 2020
Do not miss this one💜🇮🇱.
March 24, 2022
I've read this book twice and I'm writing this review to make sure I've internalized the main points. So, if you're reading this, please feel freer than usual to set me right, if you'd be so kind.
Here's what I get: Israel is confronted with unenviable security issues, but the most important thing is to ensure that Israelis are all on board, i.e., they recognize that Israel was created for a reason and they're inspired to sacrifice for that reason. The reason is the flowering of the Jewish people; if Israel were to disappear, Judaism would largely disappear with it.
That being said, Israelis need to relinquish the fantasy of becoming a "Hebrew-speaking United States", because the United States is a totally different country in totally different circumstances. Sensitive Israelis must also become comfortable with the truth that the Arab minority will never be completely reconciled to the dominant Israeli-Jewish culture, but that's the situation of all minorities everywhere by definition. Israelis furthermore need to become comfortable with using force, which is compatible with Judaism when it's necessary for survival. And the anti-religious campaign of the early Zionists has gone too far: Israelis need to reconcile with their spiritual inheritance, just as the Israeli rabbinate must become relevant to the needs of the Israeli public. The challenges that Israel faces are grave and real, but the very first step is to ensure that a critical mass of Israelis are behind the Zionist project, or they'll drift away.
In sum, Gordis' argument is Herzlian. First you must "will it" if it's not to become an empty dream.
Here's what I get: Israel is confronted with unenviable security issues, but the most important thing is to ensure that Israelis are all on board, i.e., they recognize that Israel was created for a reason and they're inspired to sacrifice for that reason. The reason is the flowering of the Jewish people; if Israel were to disappear, Judaism would largely disappear with it.
That being said, Israelis need to relinquish the fantasy of becoming a "Hebrew-speaking United States", because the United States is a totally different country in totally different circumstances. Sensitive Israelis must also become comfortable with the truth that the Arab minority will never be completely reconciled to the dominant Israeli-Jewish culture, but that's the situation of all minorities everywhere by definition. Israelis furthermore need to become comfortable with using force, which is compatible with Judaism when it's necessary for survival. And the anti-religious campaign of the early Zionists has gone too far: Israelis need to reconcile with their spiritual inheritance, just as the Israeli rabbinate must become relevant to the needs of the Israeli public. The challenges that Israel faces are grave and real, but the very first step is to ensure that a critical mass of Israelis are behind the Zionist project, or they'll drift away.
In sum, Gordis' argument is Herzlian. First you must "will it" if it's not to become an empty dream.
August 4, 2021
Daniel Gordis breathes needed life into Zionist ideas and ideals as relate to the existence and future of Israel. Created as a ‘State for the Jewish people,’ Israel was once the darling new democracy born in an undemocratic and mostly Muslim Arab region. In the 73 years since its ‘birth,’ the state of Israel has evolved in many ways. Still the sole democracy in the region, but one that struggles to balance its Jewish founding with a growing minority of Israeli-Arabs who, while enjoying the positives of Israeli society they could not enjoy in neighboring Arab countries (who do not want these Israeli-Arabs anyhow), are second-class citizens who are clearly not part of the Jewish state. To be the ‘State of the Jewish people,’ Israel must remain Jewish. Yet after the Six Day War when the land mass of Israel was tripled, and hundreds of thousands of Arab (Palestinians) - non-Jews - were no within the borders of the State. No end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems likely in the near future; all attempts to help the Palestinians create a state of their own has been rejected by the Palestinian leadership. Why? Because Palestinian statehood in the presence of the Jewish State is not possible; the heart of the conflict is the mere existence of the Zionist state itself, not the absence of a Palestinian state. Gordis attempts to put the endless conflict into the context: WHY should Israelis continue to defend and fight for the state? Quite simply because Israel is the ‘State of the Jewish people,’ and Jewish culture and life maintains itself because there is a State where Jews autonomously rule themselves, protect themselves, thrive and grow as a people. Gordis doesn’t argue that Palestinians don’t deserve statehood; rather he argues the Jewish State of Israel is not up for negotiation in that calculus. And Israelis need to regain their Zionist spirit that understand abs fights for a State for the Jewish people. This is a book anyone who THINKS they understand Israel should read. 5 stars!!!
January 1, 2022
Should be required reading for every thinking Jew. Gordis presents a sober picture of the challenges Israel faces, both external and internal, now that the Zionist pioneers have passed the torch to the next generation. He argues that without inculcating the purpose of the Jewish State, it may whither and crumble due to lack of motivation. Written a dozen years ago, all the issues Gordis presents are still relevant today.
May 25, 2024
Had much to think about, and interesting perspectives on many sides. My assumption is that an update since 7-Oct would change a good bit of this.
July 17, 2019
Too narrow an approach focussing on Jewish customs and acceptance and rejection of same.
February 14, 2017
This book is incredibly poignant but also fairly bleak. "Saving Israel" is helpful in diagnosing some of Israel's internal problems and suggesting solutions. Gordis's poignancy as a writer and speaker come from how clear it is about how much he cares for Israel. In this book, his greatest concern for the state of Israel is that Israel has lost it's sense of purpose and understanding of itself. Gordis essentially advises that Israel needs to remember why Zionism was so vital and powerful a belief that it brought the state of Israel into being, and rededicate itself to that vision held by Israel's founders of a Jewish & Democratic state created to help and facilitate the success of the Jewish People. A powerful and thought-provoking read. I am left wishing to read some of Gordis's current books to see if he believes any of Israel's problem that he diagnosed in this book have been alleviated or solved.
April 22, 2011
Extremely important book to read for those concerned about Israel's future. Basically it's a grim picture, not so much for the external physical threats (which grow daily in quantity and quality) but for the internal threats -- the loss of purpose and mission that many jews both within and without the land feel with respect to maintaining a Jewish state through a war that will never end ... The book is heavy on dire pessimism and too light on constructive steps to take, though clearly believes that promoting education in judaism itself will play an important role in giving jews something to care about re israel .... He writes well, and is one of a growing call for Jews to wake up about this issue, and is very worth reading ....
December 31, 2010
A very honest look at Israel's struggle between its founding purpose of reinstating the Jewish homeland and its evolution as a western style democracy. While parts are painful to read, Gordis does an excellent job highlighting the critical mistakes in foreign policy that Israel has made in recent years, and what it must do to successfully continue its mission. Particularly, I loved his first hand descriptions of the perceptions of the new generation of Israeli children, often told through stories of dialogue between Gordis and his son. Overall, an outstanding book that was very well written and researched.
June 16, 2009
Also from Richard in our study book - we are reading this one, too.
Saving Israel - How the Jewish People can win a war that may never end.
lots of insight and a take on the current mind set of israeli's I hadn't considered or was aware. Funny to think of Israeli's ignorant of Jewish History.
Saving Israel - How the Jewish People can win a war that may never end.
lots of insight and a take on the current mind set of israeli's I hadn't considered or was aware. Funny to think of Israeli's ignorant of Jewish History.
November 13, 2014
Good read, but I still needed a lot more of a plan. Rabbi Gordis is still a hero to me, and it's worth reading. Just wanted more details.
September 1, 2012
A very interesting analysis of the current state of the Jewish people (not just in Israel, despite the title) and his prescriptions for what needs to be done to ensure its long-term survival.
August 5, 2013
Seminal reading. Very scary. Shattered my romantic view of Israel
February 21, 2014
Mal necesario
April 4, 2017
A Gripping Call to Action
In Gordis's rallying cry, "Saving Israel," he exposes with a crisp tone the issues facing Israel today. It's better said that these are the issues facing the Jewish people. Time and again, humanity has emerged antagonistic against this biblically prime population. From the ashes of the Shoah (the holocaust) came Israel. Thus, after 2000 years of exile (which historically demonstrated itself as such), the Jews have autonomy on the stage of history once again.
Fighting a seemingly endless war against its theocratic neighbors and increasingly against the international community as a whole, the problem is not with Iran, the UN, or with its 'indigenous' arabs as much as it rests within its own Jewish population: can Israel and the Jewish world unite in a way that acknowledges the necessity of a Jewish state? Can they over come the amnesia of today about why Israel is what it is and why it's Jewish character needs to remain central to its (still unwritten) constitution?
Mired in the pressures of living up to a western liberal standard, they increasingly see no point in fighting a war with Arabs whose demands are totally unsound. While the religious sects of Israeli society opt out of military duty purely for religious reasons. Two withering ends of the population making the defense of the Jewish nation increasingly untenable.
Can the void of Zionist thinkers and actors once occupied by Theodore Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and still others be filled in our generation? Can a new argument [for Zionism] be made so that it steels Israeli fortitude against its enemies? This is the real core of Israel's current existential crisis.
If you care about these issues, it's well worth your time to read this book. Thank you Danny!
In Gordis's rallying cry, "Saving Israel," he exposes with a crisp tone the issues facing Israel today. It's better said that these are the issues facing the Jewish people. Time and again, humanity has emerged antagonistic against this biblically prime population. From the ashes of the Shoah (the holocaust) came Israel. Thus, after 2000 years of exile (which historically demonstrated itself as such), the Jews have autonomy on the stage of history once again.
Fighting a seemingly endless war against its theocratic neighbors and increasingly against the international community as a whole, the problem is not with Iran, the UN, or with its 'indigenous' arabs as much as it rests within its own Jewish population: can Israel and the Jewish world unite in a way that acknowledges the necessity of a Jewish state? Can they over come the amnesia of today about why Israel is what it is and why it's Jewish character needs to remain central to its (still unwritten) constitution?
Mired in the pressures of living up to a western liberal standard, they increasingly see no point in fighting a war with Arabs whose demands are totally unsound. While the religious sects of Israeli society opt out of military duty purely for religious reasons. Two withering ends of the population making the defense of the Jewish nation increasingly untenable.
Can the void of Zionist thinkers and actors once occupied by Theodore Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and still others be filled in our generation? Can a new argument [for Zionism] be made so that it steels Israeli fortitude against its enemies? This is the real core of Israel's current existential crisis.
If you care about these issues, it's well worth your time to read this book. Thank you Danny!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews