Israel Books

Keeping kosher and not eating much meat, I always love vegetarian and fish dishes , especially when they are as great as these. The only section I found a bit lacking in originality was soups ; could have used more and more original recipes for those.

FANTASTIC ASPARAGUS SOUP RECIPE!!!
I just bought this book and have made this soup and it was out of this world! great kosher dairy vegitarian recipes - pics for everything! - easy to use and fun to read!
Love it so much buying 2 for my mom and grandmother for mothers day!!

A wonderful collection of dairy dishes that I can't wait to make my own! As a Kosher cook, I don't mix dairy and meat in one dish or one meal. Whenever I want to plan a meal that will be dairy only,I always have to search through many of my cookbooks to find non meat recipes. Finally, with this book, I have 80 recipes that are just dairy. All the dishes in this book seem perfect for everyday meals or those special occasions you want to show off! Incredibly, this cookbook has a photograph for every recipe. The photos are so tempting that you find yourself moving your nose closer to the page trying to smell the dishes. Reading through the recipes I wanted to try every recipe from homemade granola, cheese pancakes, heuvos rancheros,tomato rice soup, diet vegetable soup, french onion soup, tuna nicoise (with fresh tuna), walnut encrusted salmon, linguini with salmon, penne a la vodka, pesto pizza, portabella tower, chocolate yodel cake, three layer carrot muffins, zucchini muffins and strawberry shortcake. These are only a few of the 80 delectable recipes. This cookbook would make a lovely gift to the newly wed or the busy mom, someone new to cooking and baking or someone like myself who has been cooking and baking for many years from a cookbook collection of 500 plus books. The recipe instructions are clear and informative. The author really takes you through each recipe step by step.
I hope this review has helped you.

In this excellent collection of essays a variety of opinions are communicated to the reader, each sharing the one common theme, that a Palestinian state is a danger to Israel and the region. What is most extraordinary is the wide range of views presented and the depth of analysis that can be found here. Some of the examples include viewpoints expressed throughout the years by various experts and what truly dazzles the reader is just how prescient they are in light of current events in the region.
Yacov Hazan's assessment of the dangers, published in 1978 illustrate a number of these points. First he is far-sighted and his ideas timeless, but we also see just how much he, as a member of the left wing Mapam party, is permeated with the idea that "industrialization with solve everything." He makes the important point that every nation has differences between nomads, farmers and city-dwellers, but that this would not preclude the creation of a Palestinian state in Jordan.
Mordechai Nisan, an expert in minorities in the Muslim world, develops his view that by allowing the PLO to form a government in the West Bank Israel has invited the `Lebanonization' of Israel. Arieh Stav sheds light on the Palestinian state as Trojan horse, used by Egypt to prepare for a new war while forces of Islamic extremism cheer.
There are other articles as well illustrating the nature of the PLO covenant that is copied from Mien Kampf, the impact on America's role in the Middle East and the de-stabilizing nature of the Palestinians in the wider Arab respect.
There are other articles as well detailing some `solutions' to the problems facing Israel in a post-Oslo or post-Road Map world. Two of these by Raphael Israeli paint a grim picture of the realities now facing Israel, in fact showing the lack of a good solution. All the solutions are either short term of in the long term destructive to the state of Israel. Perhaps no one in this book considered the fact that those who crafted Oslo, such as Yossi Beilin do not even desire that an Israel exist as a Jewish state, that in fact they wish for the realization of `bi-nationalism' and in fact hope for a `greater palestine' so that there will be three Palestinian states: one in Jordan, one on the West Bank and Gaza and one in Israel under the name of a non-Jewish Israel. Therefore in the end this is an important and eye-opening book by shedding light on a number of reasons why a Palestinian state is a true danger.

Seth J. Frantzman

This is an extremely interesting, well written study of the ongoing Middle East conflict from both a historical & political context, providing much information not readily revealed through the secular media.

Through a collection of essays, leading political analysts examine the question as to what kind of "strategic threat" any future Palestinian state would pose to the existence of the Jewish state of Israel. The reader is accorded a gripping study which will hold their attention throughout and a presentation that is recommended reading irrespective of the individual's stance on the subject.

The book investigates what it describes as the "debacle" of the Oslo Accords of 1993 and how they are cited as having fallen flat on their face when the Palestinians allegedly undertook to achieve by violence what they could not attain through negotiations.

Many issues are addressed including how the Israel public, which are portrayed as for the most part as having supported the "peace process" until that time but are now - through the ensuing death, misery & destruction - less and less inclined to allow the rise of what is cited here as a "rogue" Palestinian state in their midst.

The book begins by outlining the initial hope in Israel & amongst the International community, that once the PLO was recognised by Israel and the Palestinians were allowed to gradually gain control of "autonomous" territories, the Palestinians would behave like what the book calls a "responsible people", encourage dialogue, build requisite trust and embark upon a new road relinquishing terrorism and embracing negotiations & peace.

The book analyses how to the contrary, even after the "Gaza & Jericho first" phases of the "peace process", new terrorist operations were launched by the Palestinians against Israel. The reader is shown how these incidents were primarily denied by the Palestinian leadership and even blamed upon Israel as mounting the attacks themselves. Amidst mounting Israeli casualties, the reader is presented with an illustration of how the attacks escalated under the frequent exhortations of Yasser Arafat to pursue Jihad. The book citing how the Israelis began to discover that a Palestinian "Trojan Horse" had been allowed into their midst.

Also addressed here is how further Israeli withdrawals were not reciprocated with any cessation in violence or incitement of hatred, but with what is cited here as a riotous "intifada". The book outlines how, from the start, the Palestinians allegedly aspired to increase the numbers of Israeli civilian casualties in order to break the Israelis resolve by sowing "death and demoralization" through "Islamikaze" attacks named suicide bombings. A comparison being drawn to the "surgical attacks" and arrests by Israeli forces amongst the Palestinian terrorists allowed the freedom to operate totally unhindered in Palestinian areas by any Palestinian security forces.

This aspect being further illustrated with reference to the vast proportion of Israeli/Jewish casualties in the conflict being amongst civilians, including women and children, whilst the larger proportion of casualties on the Palestinian side have been amongst those engaged in acts of violence against Israeli forces.

One of the political analysts, Mordechai Nisan, (cited as a foremost expert on minority affairs in the Arab world), draws a disturbing, frightening parallel with the situation in Lebanon. Another analyst, Arieh Stav, predicts the outright destruction of Israel should a Palestinian state evolve.

Itamar Marcus illustrates that the systematic cultivation & indoctrination of racial hatred against the Jews practiced amongst Palestinian society has so de-humanised the Jewish people that this rhetorical denigration has so lent legitimacy to the killing of Jews that any Palestinian state would be no less dangerous to Israel than a neighbour armed to the teeth. The full cases of these and other debates will absorb the reader.

Another issue addressed is how the Arab armies which have invaded Israel since it's re-birth are cited as having done so at the behest of Arab leaders who had no intention whatsoever of building any Palestinian state, but only in furthering what are described as their own stature & territorial holdings.

These and other secular arguments debate whether under the present circumstances and ongoing enmity, it is wise for any territorial assets to be relinquished that could prejudice the very survival of the Jewish state with many adamant in their views here that such land would become a terrorist base operating against Israel's very existence. The alleged politically expedient support for the creation of a Palestinian state from other nations also receives some attention. All in all this is a very timely and detailed investigation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which I highly recommend.

There is an outstanding review of this book already on this site by M.D. Roberts. I will only add a few words as the book was published in 2002 , and it is four years later.
It seems to me that the process which many of the writers in this anthology feared of a Palestinian state coming into being with Israel's agreement and under international auspices is much less likely today than it was four years ago. The election of Hamas to head the Palestinian Authority means that the Palestinians have rejected all former agreements with Israel, and all possibility of making real peace. Thus the Bush road-map plan to peace which would have led to a Palestinian state is finished.
As to the fundamental premise of this work that any Palestinian state within the land West of the Jordan would constitute, a great and perhaps , mortal danger to Israel, this seems to me difficult to deny.
Yet had there been conditions in which the Palestinians would have truly disarmed terrorists, halted their vicious propaganda war against Israel(So effectively described in this book by Itamar Marcus) and agreed to a demilitarized state living in peace alongside of Israel I believe a great majority of Jews would have accepted it. That is they would have gone against most of the experts in this book.
But that seems like a distant dream now.
And it is difficult to know where and how to look for anything like true peace in the situation we are now in.

This book is an incredible collection of fascinating and and esoteric facts - truly definitive (although it's not an encyclopedia).
My criteria for "definitiveness" are:
1. range of sports covered
2. number of countries with noteworthy Jewish athletes represented
3. years covered - from the 1700s to Fall 2007

You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this book, and unlike many sports books, you also don't have to be male. Included are many women from all over the world in a wide array of sports.

Over 400 pages packed with thousands of entries about Jewish sportsmen and women covers nearly every day of the year profiling records set, achievements, and participation in all kinds of events around the world, refuting the joke that Jewish sports heroes don't exist. Collections strong in Jewish history and culture will find this packed with facts and statistics.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book completely changed my life. It may save Western Civilization if we can make it required reading in schools. Generations of future historians will devote their lives to studying the depth and implications of Wechsler's achievement. We owe this man.

Deadly Truth keeps the reader engrossed right from the beginning. The authors paint a vivid picture of life in South Africa covering the years 1960 through the Truth and Reconciliation trial. This is a suspenseful novel based on fact, and a must-read for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of South African life during the Apartheid years.

Kudos to the Hellers and Ms.Blumberg. A fast paced suspense novel based on a true incident, it kept me on the edge of my chair. It was also an education on apartheid South Africa which I couldn't help but compare to Nazi Germany. The authors' attention to detail about the physical beauty of the land provided a hypocritical contrast to the ugliness of the society it produced. A must read for those with a social conscience, and for those without,an opportunity to create one.

I probably would never have found this book had Amazon.com not recommended it - and I would have missed a hidden treasure. "Deadly Truth" is a gripping, "can't put it down," novel based in apartheid-era South Africa. David Bellon, the main character, is a liberal CEO of a food conglomerate in the Cape Province who tries, in his own way, to ameliorate the inequities of his society. Through a series of events which I won't describe here (I don't want to spoil the plot!), Bellon is forced to do more, and thus runs afoul of Police Captain Eichstadt, whose unique interrogation methods are described in gruesome detail.

What makes this book so compelling is its honesty -- it is clearly based on a true story. "Ceresdal," the fictitious town in which events take place, sounds like the real town of Stellenbosch, and one of the authors was the CEO of an agribusiness in South Africa. What goes on in the Ceresdal police station is in accord with non-fiction reports about the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS). Thus, there is more than a ring of truth here - you get the feeling that these events actually occurred, and only the names have been changed to protect the innocent (and guilty.)

I have strong interests in South African history and in Jewish history, and hence was drawn to a story featuring Jews in South Africa. Those who share these interests, or those who just want a picture of apartheid-era South Africa, will enjoy this book. But you needn't care one way or the other about South Africa to enjoy "Deadly Truth." The book stands on its own as a compelling, fast-paced novel of danger and escape.

I had the great pleasure of reading Rabbi Salkin's newest book. He is one of the most thoughtful and creative rabbinic voices in America today. He has done the American Jewish community an invaluable service by collecting and editing this marvelous collection of articles--both old and new and previously unpublished--on why Israel matters to American Jews. Hopefully this invaluable book will stimulate conversation and will move a younger, often disconnected generation, closer to Israel. Thanks to Rabbi Salkin for beginning the conversation.

Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, one of the leading authors, thinkers and teachers on the scene of American Jewry today has captured, in his latest book "A Dream of Zion", a myriad of feeling about what Israel means to many Americans. He has approached the impossible goal of portraying the range of reasons about why Israel is important in the emotions and even the lives of so many Americans. Complete understanding of these reasons is impossible because he is asking a question," Why Israel matters to them", to which the answer is unknown to many of the respondents. And yet, it is obvious that it does. When one reads the range of responses that this small new country has been able to engender in American Jews, one can't escape asking why and how. While being able to cite their personal history and experiences, in some cases going back to before Israel existed, many respondents admit their inability to rationally present answers to Rabbi Salkin's question. The range of individuals, young and old, living and dead, teachers and students, professionals and lay people, business people involved in Israel, and tourists serve as a tribute to both Rabbi Salkin and the importance of the question. Even though most of the writers admit their inability to verbalize their feelings, there is no question about the value that is placed upon Israel and its continued existence. Even so, there is no one author who has been able to present an adequate amalgamation that might be seen as representative of the range of responses. Perhaps they can best be represented by someone who did not appear in the book, my wife Sandi. She says that her feet feel completely at home walking the streets of Jerusalem. Julius J. Nessel.

In this book, more than one hundred American Jews reflect on what Israel means to them. It's fascinating.

I'll mention a very few of the points made by some of the contributors. Alvin Rosenfeld says that "six decades after the founding of their state, the Jews of Israel should not have to argue for their national existence. They are at home in their land by a long-established right, and they can take justifiable pride in their country's history and achievements." And he says that the least any decent person can do is join them in affirming this.

Thane Rosenbaum mentions the fact that many people who have never been to Israel derive great pleasure from knowing that it exists. But, on the other hand, many people who have no intention of ever visiting Israel are extremely animated by "intense animus over its very existence," as if Israel were a nation on some sort of probation "awaiting final global approval that will never come."

Danny Siegel writes poetically that he'd "rather drive a taxi in Jerusalem than be the King of all of South Dakota." Ariel Beery says that "we Jews are not just a spiritual community - we are a people, one that will only fulfill its collective potential with a state in which we can hammer out the details." Richard Friedman says that "Israel must be now what it has stood for from the very beginning: a people seeking to bring blessing to every family on earth."

There are some historical perspectives as well. We see Stephen Wise, in 1948, say that "organized gifts to the Arabs" (meaning to those who fled their homes in 1947 and 1948) would seem to him to be "acknowledgement of wrong" when in fact it is the Jews who have been wronged. As he explains, "the Arab states took part in the Partition discussion for weeks and weeks preceding the Partition decision of November 29. Immediately thereafter, they began to war upon Israel." Albert Einstein wrote in 1919 that "one can be an internationalist without being indifferent to the members of one's tribe. The Zionist cause is very close to my heart.... I am glad that there should be a little patch of earth on which our kindred brethren are not considered aliens."

Lillian Hellman is quoted as saying "historically, the Zionists turned out to be right. What are they saying? That Europe is doomed for the Jews. Liberal democracy won't save us. The Socialists won't save us. The Communists won't save us. Whatever else may be wrong with the Zionists, on that fundamental insight, they were absolutely right." And Marie Syrkin, in a 1983 interview said that "Jewish self-haters, without taking the trouble to look into Zionist history, subscribe to the most outrageous statements. I think this willful ignorance and the readiness to accept the worst interpretation - that Jews were the aggressors from the first moment, they kicked out all the Arabs, etc, etc. - the acceptance of the libels, the readiness to perceive the rights of every group except one's own, which is characteristic of a great many Jews, is a form of Jewish self-hatred."

At the end of the book, we see a few pages constituting "Zionism, a Centenary Platform," which was adopted by the Central Conference of American Rabbis at its annual convention in 1997. It shows the Reform movement's "unquestioning and unfading commitment to Israel."

I recommend this book.

The personal touch


By Sol Schindler

ENGAGING THE ARAB & ISLAMIC WORLDS THROUGH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Edited by William A. Rugh, Public Diplomacy Council, $19.95, 181 pages.

Public diplomacy is the new phrase designating what used to be called international information and cultural affairs - that is, a country's efforts to persuade the people of other countries through mass media and other channels of its friendly, worthwhile intentions.
This collection of essays, edited by William A. Rugh - author of the book "Arab Mass Media" and former ambassador to Yemen, and later the United Arab Emirates - attempts an examination of our efforts in the Muslim world pointing out how we could do better. The title of the book, "Engaging the Arab & Islamic Worlds Through Public Diplomacy," encapsulates the book's thesis by the use of the word engaging. It is not enough to reach somebody, to deliver a message or, even worse, to send a signal. It is necessary to engage him in a mutual endeavor where through both intellectual and emotional exchange, true understandings can be reached.
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Kenton Keith, also a distinguished former ambassador, in his contribution emphasizes this point. He states "the reality [is] that the most effective public diplomacy tool has always been one that engaged Americans personally with citizens of a particular country."
He gives examples from his own experience in Syria, where personal relationships were of significant assistance in establishing a cultural agreement and a large educational exchange program. No one in the diplomatic establishment will deny the merit of Mr. Keith's position, but as James L. Bullock points out if one is chained to his desk answering requests from Washington or doing administrative work that the bureaucracy demands, there is little time to nurture those relationships Mr. Keith describes.
The current public affairs officer is short of both staff and funds as a result of decades of downsizing, and accordingly, cannot perform as well as his predecessors of 20 or 30 years ago. The post of undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs has been vacant for months on end, and we desperately need someone with proven experience and sufficient dynamism to give our programs the leadership they require.
From these general comments which can apply to our entire public diplomacy effort, the work becomes specific to the Arab scene by having three essays devoted to Arab radio and television. Alan Heil, former deputy director of the Voice of America, gives us a history of the VOA in Arabic, and laments its passing. Norman Patriz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, discusses Radio Sawa, the radio channel that replaced the VOA, and Al-Hurra, the new U.S. funded TV station. Radio Sawa, he points out, can now be heard on FM, making it accessible to virtually everyone, and its programs are tailored to fit the needs of the individual countries it broadcasts to, unlike the one-size-fits-all shortwave programs it has replaced. He states that Al-Hurra, which is just finishing its first year, has gotten off to a successful start in a hostile environment and its future is promising. He offers a series of graphs and statistics illustrating its rapid expansion.
Marc Lynch, an associate professor of political science at Williams College, disagrees. He quotes different statistics on listeners and states that Radio Sawa's primary focus "remains on its quite attractive, but politically irrelevant music." He goes on to say that "unlike Radio Sawa Alhurra has not distinguished itself with a superior product." He quotes others as saying the programs are "boring, tedious, stale." Such comments, of course, have been made about virtually every TV channel in existence, but Mr. Lynch feels greater engagement with issues that Arabs are most interested in would bring surer success.
In the concluding chapter William Rugh argues that American public diplomacy has been successful in the past, in some cases remarkably so, but in this new age with new and different dangers it should be strengthened, not downgraded. He recognizes the need for security but states we cannot "conduct public diplomacy while hiding inside fortresses." He also believes that the merger of the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department has shifted assets that were already inadequate away from public diplomacy efforts.
Still, what is needed is not clever new stratagems or bureaucratic shifting (rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic) but the acknowledgment that there is a clear and present danger that we are not meeting. Funds are needed to resuscitate programs that have been proven to work in the past and to provide competent personnel to implement them. It is time to get to work. This book may help us to begin.

Sol Schindler is a retired Foreign Service Officer.

Perhaps no aspect of American diplomacy has received more attention in the period since 9/11 than public diplomacy, conducted by the Department of State since the 1999 demise of the U.S. Information Agency. There is widespread agreement that the state of our public diplomacy is seriously inadequate in all respects. The congressionally created Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World, chaired by retired Ambassador Edward Djerejian, issued a scathing critique, including detailed recommendations, in October 2003. Like the 9/11 Commission, the study called for significantly greater funding, but also recommended structural changes and greatly increased, trained human resources.

Now another group of public diplomacy experts, comprised largely
of retired USIA officers, has joined the debate. The Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 and with close ties to the USIA Alumni Association, adds in this report a professional analysis of the means to conduct successful public diplomacy and an action plan to implement such a program. The study is edited by former ambassador and USIA officer Dr. William A. Rugh, who has written extensively on the subject.

Leading off the six-part report, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat
Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, sets the political stage, noting, as have others,
the collapse of Arab trust in the United States, particularly in the first term of President George W. Bush. He identifies the Arab-Israeli issue as the "prism of pain" through which Arab audiences judge the United States, even though the region has many other problems. He makes the telling point that much resentment aimed at the U.S. is based on the perception that the U.S. does not care about the views and concerns of others. Telhami also adds support for authoritarian governments and the information revolution as other significant factors in the growth of Arab resentment. He judges that public opinion in the region is playing an increasingly relevant role and is increasingly independent of Middle East governments.

In the study's second part, three public affairs officers (Kenton Keith and Barry Fulton, retired; James Bullock, active-duty) give the reader a hands-on analysis of the daily demands of the job, stressing respectively the indispensable use of personal contact, the need to make effective use of rapidly changing technology, and the day-to-day challenges facing public diplomacy in the field. One thread running through these contributions is the muddled lines of control and the new bureaucratic burdens created by the USIA merger into the Department of State, a merger many observers now consider ill-advised.

The report's third section, with much less consensus, deals with U.S. international broadcasting, directed by the presidentially appointed, nonpartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors. Broadcasting to the Arab World and Iran has been completely
reorganized in recent years. The Arabic Service of the Voice of
America has been replaced by the new, largely music/entertainment oriented Radio Sawa and by TV Alhurra; Radio Free Iraq (part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) has been gutted; and the entertainment-oriented Radio Farda has replaced the Iranian Service of RFE/RL.

In the first of three contributions, Alan Heil, former VOA deputy director, recalls the rich history of VOA Arabic, which operated at much less cost than Radio Sawa, and calls for its revival. Norm Pattiz, the BBG member most responsible for the creation of the new broadcast media and himself a very successful commercial
broadcaster, argues in contrast that a new market research-based approach reaching a much larger audience is needed, and cites BBG studies that claim large audiences for both Radio Sawa and TV Alhurra. But Mark Lynch, a professor at Williams College who has written widely about Arab public opinion and media, cites other data to argue that TV Alhurra has only a small share of a highly competitive market and will prove to be a costly white elephant. He judges that Radio Sawa, despite its large audience created by clear FM signals and first-rate music, has had only mixed success, since its primary focus remains on its "quite attractive, but politically irrelevant, music."

In the fourth section Barry Ballow, former director of academic exchanges at USIA and State, outlines the achievements of international visitor programs, many of whose participants have gone on to important responsibilities (including 32 Nobel laureates). He deplores the program's woeful underfunding and the impact of new, post-9/11 security procedures. Former ambassador Crescencio Arcos, now directing international affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, explains the department's efforts to balance security with facilitating visitors. In the fifth part, Howard Cincotta, a former USIA and State expert, analyzes the State Department's print media, including the daily Washington File, magazines, e-journals and book translations.

The study closes with Dr. Rugh's conclusions and action plan. He identifies three causes for public diplomacy's decline: increased security measures, decreased funding and the merger of USIA into State - all factors that preceded 9/11. As other analysts before him have done, he urges a broad-gauged expansion of public diplomacy in the region: more staff with greater training; more use of local media channels; revival of American centers, English language programs and libraries overseas; expanded and reinvigorated exchange programs; revival of VOA Arabic; and, perhaps most fundamental, consolidation of clear lines of authority for public diplomacy at the Department of State. He calls for funding to be quadrupled to at least $4 billion annually.

The Council's report could not be timelier, for the necessary consensus to improve exists. I agree with the report's action plan, with the exception of simply restoring VOA Arabic: I would prefer a country-specific approach targeted at key Arab states, as Radio Free Iraq was created to do. A new public diplomacy team, headed by Karen Hughes, is taking over (though not until the fall, regrettably). After four discouraging years, there appears to be a chance for a fresh start on Israeli-Palestinian peace, however long the odds; the situation in Iraq may still be salvageable; and democratic trends are stirring tentatively in the region. Taking advantage of new developments, however, will involve more than increased resources or better marketing. It will require, in my view, acknowledgement of the resentment Arabs feel over U.S. policies affecting the Palestinians and a "decent respect to the opinions of mankind" - aspects of the problem all recent public diplomacy studies have addressed only lightly.

At long last there is a book by public diplomacy practicioners and Middle East experts who really understand how and why the United States must engage with the Arab and Islamic worlds. Ambassador Rugh, the editor, and 10 essayists, most of whom have lived and worked in the region and who have a first person understanding of the importance of public diplomacy, have produced a first rate book that any student of the either the Arab and Islamic worlds or of public diplomacy/strategic communication would find invaluable.

Very well composed book with clear images capturing the humble, yet rich spirit of the Beta Israel tribe now finally settled in Ethiopia. Despite their poverty-striken land of origin, these people are blameless survivors; victims of political turmoil and religious persecution. Their positive energy is expressed via vivid documentation of actual Ethiopian Jews living in Israel today. The affable, positive qualities of the Beta Israel transcend the wonderful photographs contained in this book.

Great book well worth purchasing. Unveils a people attacked throughout history for upholding their faith-a common thread amongst Jews of all nationalites.

In 1622 Emporer Susenyo of Ethiopia; a converted Catholic, attempted to forcibly convert Beta Israel Jews to Catholicism. Many not killed were sold as slaves to Spain and Portugal for financial gain and acceptance within established dynasties of the Catholic church. By 1624 Susenyo 'declared' Ethiopia Catholic. Susenyo was overthrown, allowing forced converts and Crypto-Jews to re-establish their Jewish faith. Beta Israel kept their traditions intact to survive present day life in Israel.

In addition to those living in Israel, descendants of Beta Israel are still present among diminishing Jewish populations in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica. New research suggests the 1622-24 selling of Beta Israel as slaves Spanish and Portugese traders resulted in Ethiopian Jews forcibly transported to Jamaica, where 4 Jewish synagogues once flourished. With this in mind, L. Lyons book is a long awaited shining of light on the Beta Israel. Once again, a well-researched author provides us with a classic, fact filled documentation of a vital piece of Jewish history.

Profusely illustrated with the full color photography of Ilan Ossendryver and featuring an informative foreword by Alan M. Dershowitz, "The Ethiopian Jews Of Israel: Personal Stories of Life In The Promised Land" by Len Lyons reveals through candid interviews and personal accounts the struggles and accomplishments of Ethiopian Jews who migrated to Israel and became Ethiopian Israelis. Among the more than fifty men and women included in this fascinating account are religious leaders, soldiers, lawyers, students, actors, musicians, and even a member of the Israeli Knesset. Each succinct biographical synopsis is illustrated with a full page photographic portrait. "The Ethiopian Jews Of Israel" is an impressive and welcome treatise that is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library Judaic Studies and Israeli Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

This is a wonderful book which shows some of the heterogeneity which exists in Israel!!! Having lived & visited Israel over 8 times in the last 20 years, I am very familiar with this group in Israel, and other ethnic groups (Jewish & non-Jewish) which make Israel their home.

Not withstanding the semi-psychotic & libelous rant against the Beta-Yisrael by one of the earlier reviewers(who shows himself to also be ignorant of the emic & etic cultural & religious anthropology of the Beta-Yisrael), this book accurately & with great respect tries to impart basic knowledge of the Beta Yisrael on a personal level to readers generally unfamiliar with this segment of the Israeli public.

As a photographic biography, I feel that its style should be replicated in additional books by the author in my opinion. I for one would like to see similar books covering the various ethnic groups of Israel such as Yemenite Jews, Iraqi Jews, Syrian Jews,Druze, Circassians, and Israeli Arabs, as well as others.

I for one am very happy that this book has been published, since at present there are many people in the world who sadly & mistakenly enough only perceive of Israel as an apartheid war mongering state, rather than the multi-ethnic (Jewishly & non-Jewishly) & multi-religious (just ask the Israeli Jews, Druze, Circassians, Beduoin, and Israeli Arabs) state which actually exists.

Sure there are problems of various sorts in Israel. But in Israel there are also very promising peoples, technologies, and inventions (Pentium chips were designed & created there, CAT scan technology originated there, etc) there, just as there are both problems & promise in North America, Europe, and other many other global locales.

In short, I love the focus of this book on one fascinating & particularly noble group of people who have decided to make Israel a daily part of their lives.

Exilio en Bowery es una constatación de lo particular de la búsqueda de Israel Centeno, este libro es la confluencia de géneros narrativos, que tiene a la novela de aventuras como eje. Si pensamos por ejemplo en el Cadáver perdido de Stevenson, donde lo azaroso va hilvanando sucesos poco verosímiles, pero que se dejan arrastrar por lo categórico de la anécdota, se podría encontrar una de las características del Exilio..., la reacción hacia la verosimilitud de la novela tradicional. El uso es el de la desmesura en una historia por momentos delirante. La novísima novela se ha querido imponer en el pastiche, lo fragmentario, la parodia o la unción de géneros para enfrentar el desconcierto de las utopías y de la ideología de la debacle. Israel Centeno se adscribe a esta desazón y su postura narrativa es el tratamiento de la hipérbole de la anécdota en el Exilio..., dicho en otras palabras se postula en los géneros literarios de la tradición para afirmar cualquier desplazamiento de sus personajes, sin embargo utiliza la parodia para hacernos más evidente la ironía. Qué más irónico que las aventuras de unos expatriados, que en Caracas habían sido promotores culturales de toda índole, profesores, investigadores y toda una especie que nos es bastante cercana, y que intentan volver a su patria con la idea de gobernar nuevamente los estamentos culturales. Para ello se tienen que premunir de un soneto escrito por el Tirano Aguirre, una estatuilla en la casa de Frida Khalo y una estrella de siete puntas romas. La hilación de sucesos nos descubre la mención de los espacios oscuros a lo Lovecraft y por otro lado la lógica sutil de la novela negra a lo Chandler. ¿Cómo es posible este enjambre de géneros y subgéneros sin que se entorpezcan unos con otros y la anécdota continúe con la fruición necesaria? Se puede intentar un símil: se ha comparado a El obsceno pájaro de la noche en su estructura, con el Museo Pompidou de París, ese tipo de arquitectura está construida dejando ver las cañerías y todo el sistema de drenaje que le es necesario a un edificio para su funcionamiento, es decir éste se verá en su contundencia sólo desde adentro, donde los espacios están replanteados. Al decir esto de la novela de José Donoso, se ha querido subrayar la vocación autorreflexiva de aquella novela, si bien para ésta fue el plano de las voces narrativas que involucraban los diferentes ejes de punto de vista, en el Exilio en Bowery ha sido el trasiego de los géneros narrativos. Lo explícito de su costura nos demuestra de inmediato la imantación de su verdadero centro, que en el caso de Israel Centeno ha sido la constante desde sus primeros escritos: la indagación en el lenguaje. Sólo es posible conciliar, como en el caso del Exilio..., personajes al habla lírica de los cuadernos de las Tortugas Ninjas y la primera persona por momentos escatológica que nos entrega la mayor parte de la novela.

Una de las decisiones de John Huston fue la de hacer una obra singular dentro de lo diverso de los géneros. Huston se paseó por el policial, el realismo y la especulación de lo fantástico con lo necesario del desesperado, quizá el único asidero de un tipo de artista; la posibilidad última de desdecirse a cada momento. Esta podría ser la única vertiente de la obra exquisita, el asombro de deliberar con la incógnita de volver a empezar cada vez en sus ripios, el prodigio de reinventarse a sí misma. Dentro de esta perspectiva, la obra de Israel Centeno no se muestra tan distinta. Centeno desde Calletania, su primera obra, nos involucra en la estrategia del desconcierto en el ámbito de los géneros narrativos. Calletania se nos visualizaba como un fresco de la marginalidad caraqueña, con la elocuencia de la crónica puesta a exacerbar la utopía disuelta; los tiempos de la época puestos a la intemperie de los vientos, las preguntas irresolutas de las miserias inolvidables. Una Ifigenia en la redención de la trama, una lamentación de los seres precisos en el sonido de la noche emergente. Sólo la mención de Catia por Centeno nos entrega los inolvidables reductos a la manera de Balzac o hacia esa forma de realismo, pleno de un lenguaje dosificado en el lirismo. Su segundo libro, El rabo del diablo, pareciera una extensión de aquella novela, sin embargo, Centeno incursiona en relatos de poco trasiego, entre ellos el erótico duro que colinda con la pornografía, como lo mencionó Salvador Garmendia en el bautizo de ese libro. El lenguaje de El rabo del diablo se nos torna despojado y efectivo, en sus rasgos se nos presenta como una bisagra en la obra de nuestro autor, para con Hilo de cometa y Otras iniciaciones, volver nuevamente, sobre todo con Hilo de cometa, a un redomado acento lírico, difícil de igualar.

Exilio en Bowery es una constatación de lo particular de la búsqueda de Israel Centeno, este libro es la confluencia de géneros narrativos, que tiene a la novela de aventuras como eje. Si pensamos por ejemplo en el Cadáver perdido de Stevenson, donde lo azaroso va hilvanando sucesos poco verosímiles, pero que se dejan arrastrar por lo categórico de la anécdota, se podría encontrar una de las características del Exilio..., la reacción hacia la verosimilitud de la novela tradicional. El uso es el de la desmesura en una historia por momentos delirante. La novísima novela se ha querido imponer en el pastiche, lo fragmentario, la parodia o la unción de géneros para enfrentar el desconcierto de las utopías y de la ideología de la debacle. Israel Centeno se adscribe a esta desazón y su postura narrativa es el tratamiento de la hipérbole de la anécdota en el Exilio..., dicho en otras palabras se postula en los géneros literarios de la tradición para afirmar cualquier desplazamiento de sus personajes, sin embargo utiliza la parodia para hacernos más evidente la ironía. Qué más irónico que las aventuras de unos expatriados, que en Caracas habían sido promotores culturales de toda índole, profesores, investigadores y toda una especie que nos es bastante cercana, y que intentan volver a su patria con la idea de gobernar nuevamente los estamentos culturales. Para ello se tienen que premunir de un soneto escrito por el Tirano Aguirre, una estatuilla en la casa de Frida Khalo y una estrella de siete puntas romas. La hilación de sucesos nos descubre la mención de los espacios oscuros a lo Lovecraft y por otro lado la lógica sutil de la novela negra a lo Chandler. ¿Cómo es posible este enjambre de géneros y subgéneros sin que se entorpezcan unos con otros y la anécdota continúe con la fruición necesaria? Se puede intentar un símil: se ha comparado a El obsceno pájaro de la noche en su estructura, con el Museo Pompidou de París, ese tipo de arquitectura está construida dejando ver las cañerías y todo el sistema de drenaje que le es necesario a un edificio para su funcionamiento, es decir éste se verá en su contundencia sólo desde adentro, donde los espacios están replanteados. Al decir esto de la novela de José Donoso, se ha querido subrayar la vocación autorreflexiva de aquella novela, si bien para ésta fue el plano de las voces narrativas que involucraban los diferentes ejes de punto de vista, en el Exilio en Bowery ha sido el trasiego de los géneros narrativos. Lo explícito de su costura nos demuestra de inmediato la imantación de su verdadero centro, que en el caso de Israel Centeno ha sido la constante desde sus primeros escritos: la indagación en el lenguaje. Sólo es posible conciliar, como en el caso del Exilio..., personajes al habla lírica de los cuadernos de las Tortugas Ninjas y la primera persona por momentos escatológica que nos entrega la mayor parte de la novela.

Al parecer las nuevas voces de la narrativa venezolana se han propuesto de una vez por todas emerger con contundencia en el panorama de fines de milenio, con la solidez demostrada por sus escritos. Allí tenemos la Barbie delirante de Slavko Zupcic, la costura cerrada de los cuentos experimentales de Armando Luigi de La burra y la bicicleta, la crítica irónica a la noción de literatura femenina de Ricardo Azuaje en La expulsión del Paraíso o el despojamiento lírico de los personajes de Milton Ordóñez en su diario narrativo Forbell Shelter. A todo esto se viene a sumar esta impecable novela, que sin duda, nos adentra en otras perspectivas para dimensionar el ámbito de dicha narrativa. Nadie como en el Exilio en Bowery había logrado amalgamar de forma tan fecunda la estructura paródica y el humor rasante, que quisiera incluso descreer en última instancia de cualquier utopía ameritable, una paradoja más de los vientos de escepticismo que nos inundan sin salida, en esta paranoia exquisita llamada Exilio en Bowery.

____________________________Eduardo Cobos. Narrador chileno

Leí Exilio en Bowery, novela del escritor venezolano Israel Centeno. La disfruté muchísimo, está llena de sentido y de hilaridad. Utiliza los recursos de la metáfora, del diálogo permanente, de lo onírico y relata parte de la historia de nuestros pueblos. Lo recomiendo ampliamente, a todos los que se interesen por nuestra realidad, y a todos los que deseen disfrutar de una buena lectura.

As the author states in the book, official evil lives in the Middle East and this is the story of those who fought it back. This shocking book reveals the pure, unadultered terror the State of Israel inflicted on this sad land. Both the pictures and the prose hit home the brutality of what Israel did (and is doing) to the Palestinian people. Some of the conclusions, written in 1982/83, hauntingly resonate today with a clarity that only those which have withstood the test of time can. Clifton, an award-winning journalist with Newsweek and photographer Cathrine Leroy (also winner of numerous prestigious prizes) have put together more than a documentary account of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent seige of Beirut and the massacres of Sabra and Shatila. With unquestionable evidence they have produced a scathing commentary on Israel's brutal war of terror waged against an innocent people. After reading this book (which I have done more than 5 times) you can only support the creation of an independent Palestinian state and hope that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (then Defense Minister and architect of the war) finally gets his due in court in Belgium or elsewhere.

Tony Clifton's book "God Cried," represents the main body of published photographic documentation of the Israeli terror-bombing of downtown Beirut, Lebanon in the summer of 1982, when clearly marked schools, hospitals and apartment blocs were deliberately and mercilessly bombed. Tens of thousands of civilians died in this now forgotten holocaust. There is still some discussion of Sabra and Chatila, the September massacre of Palestinians by the Phalange under Israeli direction, but the far more horrid and extensive massacre represented by the indiscriminate aerial bombardment of the civilian sectors of Beirut is almost completely forgotten, seemingly even by many Lebanese, and certainly by the US media. But until the last copy of "God Cried" is stamped out, the truth will out.
--Michael Hoffman, co-author, "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians."

Peace, to you and to the Palestinian people, whom this book helps by giving it's readers a glimpse into the suffering those people have had to endure, under the merciless hands of the Israeli Army that seams to get away with all it's terror.

That's all, not surprisingly this book is currently out of stock, although, it shouldn't be, since it's the best so far regarding Middle Eastern phsychology. I own a copy, i just logged on to write this review! Toni is a brave man, too bad he wasn't rewarded well for his honest reporting that has not been affected by mainstream anti Palestinian racist rhetoric.

Peace.

David Rubin's God, Israel, and Shiloh tells the often painful, yet at times heroic saga of the Jewish People's return to its ancestral land, despite the bullets of Islamic terrorism and Israel's internal struggles. David's personal story of return to his roots was fascinating to read about, as was his breathtaking, frightening description of the terror attack in which he and his young son were wounded. He tells the story of the return to Israel's heartland through the eyes of Shiloh, Israel's ancient capital that has come to life again in our times, but much of his very human and perceptive analysis of that idealistic process of return could very well have been written about the Zionist movement as a whole. I especially enjoyed the sharp political commentary in the last two chapters, which clearly sets before us the challenges for Israel and Western civilization in the age of Islamic terrorism. This book is absolutely required reading for those who want to know the truth behind the headlines and distorted news reports.It's the best book I've ever read about Israel!

While in Israel May of 2006, I was privileged to meet David Rubin in Shiloh. This book embodies his passionate ideologies, his hopes and his heart for exactly what the title states: "God, Israel and Shiloh!"
You will finish it with out the confusion gleaned from the tainted media perspective. Instead, you will be informed concerning many things regarding the history of Israel and the present day settling of Jews from around the world as well as why bombs fall while so-called peace agreements are made. You will understand the geographical names of the places spoken of in the press. Your heart will be touched by the effects on the children in an area riddled with terrorists and their activities. David Rubin is a man to be trusted in all that he writes. He will personally introduce you to his very real world where all of the above is part of his day to day experiences. Next to meeting him and standing with him on the hills of Shiloh, this is the next best thing for he will take you on a journey that will leave you thinking you have been there....or....cause you to want to go!

"God, Israel and Shiloh" is by far the finest work that I have ever read that encapsulates the story of Israel and her people, from the Biblical to the modern. The author does a phenomenal job of explaining the history without making it "dry", the face of Islamic terrorism, including him and his son being shot yet done without sounding "biased", as well as explaining a great deal about Jewish beliefs and customs. Numerous books have been written on all of these topics and somehow the author has managed to roll them all into one amazing read! A must for anyone that desires to know more about any of the three subjects!