Israel Books

In many ways, the words of the Shema say it all. Similarly, the words of this book do, too. It explains that some people go to Church and they are called Christians. It explains that the reader is Jewish and goes to Synagogue and says the Shema. It is a great inroduction to Jewish identity for the young child. Very well written and illustrated.

The First Tithe allows readers to understand the Jewish war of liberation from the perspective of Dr. Israel Eldad. Eldad was not only one of the leaders of the Hebrew underground but was actually the revolution's spiritual guide and ideological director. These memoirs grant access into Eldad's psyche and treat readers to his analysis of the personalties and political events of the time (as well as the role he played in shaping those events). Also exposed in this book is the formation of the author's world view and how he arrives at many of his political conclusions. The First Tithe is sharper and deeper than most other works on the Jewish struggle for freedom from British rule but its depth may be somewhat overwhelming for readers who are new to the subject matter.

This volume was conceived as a present for Israel on its twenty- fifth birthday. The JPS editorial board led by Chaim Potok decided a good gift would be a book of Israel's best short stories. Potok writes the forward to the volume and James Michener, the editor, writes the Introduction. In his forward Potok speaks about 'serious stories.' Serious stories 'focus upon aspects of reality indiscernible to science and history, upon the invisibletracery of lines that connect human beings to one another and to the different worlds in which men live. It is these lines that the serious storyteller explores, the linesthat bind each of us to our own inner being, to other beings , to bodies of ideas, to old andnew loyalties to neighborhoods and nations."
Michener's introduction is a beautiful paean to modern Israel, how it has brought to 'abundant life a long dormant land.'
The introduction by Michener chronicling his own experiences in Israel in itself makes the volume worthwhile.
But there are a numberof outstanding stories , stories of Benjamin Tammuz, Asher Barash, Yitzhak Shenhar, Aharon Megged, Hanoch Bartov, A.B. Yehoshua, Natan Shacham, Hedda Bosem, Yitzhak Orpaz, Yoram Kaniuk , Moshe Shamir. My two favorites stories are Agnon's 'Tehila' and the tremendously powerful 'The Sermon' by Haim Hazaz.

In this phenomenal book, Heskel Haddad writes of his childhood and youth as a Jewish child growing up in Iraq in the 1930s and 40s, a country where Nazi influence was making life for the Jewish community more and more difficult.
A child passionate about Iraq, Haddad's world is shattered when as a boy of 9, carrying his baby sister, he is attacked by an Arab mob, thirsty for Jewish blood.
At age 11, during the Nazi-inspired pogrom against Jews in Iraq, known as the Farhud, Heskel's best friend and cousin was brutally murdered by Arab pogromchiks leaving Heskel to vow to avenge his blood.
Heskel joined the Jewish underground and became an active Zionist, ferevently following events as they unfolded in the Holy Land, where the Jews struggled to regain a foothold in their ancient homeland, under murderous arab attack.
Furthermore Heskel was following events from a country, where the society and media where hysterically anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish.
Something of the hatred nascent in Arab society for Jews and Israel is preserved in these pages, and we read of how as the conflict developed in the Holy Land, life became more dangerous for Iraq's Jews.
Jews were forbidden to carry or own anything with a Star of David emblem, or they would be guilty of the capital offence of Zionism.
In Nazi Europe they had been forced to wear a star, here they were forbidden from possessing one, on pain of death, a diffrent rule but the same spirit.
Heskel became a medical student at fifteen, and qualified as a doctor, before being forced to flee Iraq, after an unnamed informer made his exitance there perilous.
He then began a new struggle, socially and professionally to adapt to life in the struggling, infant State of Israel.
The author brings life in Iraq, Iran and Israel to vivid colour, as the sights, sounds and smells of the Middle East of the time, comes to life from these pages.
It is a very skilfully woven tapestry of the story of the Jews of the Middle East, of their flight to the reborn State of Israel, and their role within building up the reborn Jewish home.
We learn of how Iraq disposessed all of that country's Jews and forced them to leave, hoping that the entry of hundreds of thousands of destitute refugees would destroy Israel financially and socially.
The refugees were all absorbed by Israel.
And Israel's vicious and loathsome critics have the gall to accuse her of 'disposessing' the Arabs.

I do volunteer work in Guatemala and have been looking for a book that I can give my Christian friends as a "thank you" for their kindness! This book is perfect! The pictures are beautiful and each is paired with a scripture that is meaningful. I am returning to Guatemala in late July and I can't wait to see their reaction to this wonderful book. You should include this book in the spirituality section so that no one misses it!

an excellent and interesting book about the FDA
infomative and easy to understand.
Important truths revealed

We used this book during our trip of the Holy Land in 1999 and found it was the best resource. It has been useful since then during our Bible studies to clarify and visualize places of religious importance.

A well-documented and revealing look at a dangerous political menace to Israel and to the Middle East, radical Jewish fundamentalists who preach racism and use terror and violence, a threat at least as scary as Saddam Hussein and Usama Bin Ladin, probably more so given the reality of massive American support for the State of Israel and the more informal, but equally important, support of well-meaning diaspora Jews for these Torah-carrying, talmudic terrorists.

Is the Jewish homeland a more metaphorical concept than it seems? "For the Love of Israel and the Jewish People: Essays and Studies on Israel, Jews, and Judaism" argues that the Jews never lost Jerusalem, but took it with them as they were spread throughout the western and eastern world. Looking at the state of Israel, it examines both sides of the debate of the state's history and its roots in the Jewish faith. "For the Love of Israel and the Jewish People: essays and Studies on Israel, Jews, and Judaism" is an essential addition to any Judaic studies collection.

This is the first historical narrative about the life and times of late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. The authors are qualified based on their extensive research about women and nationalist movement in Nigeria. They lucidly show the local beginning of Funmilayo, and her international connections. The radicalization of Funmilayo is explained by British ineptitude and unreceptive posture towards nationalist issues, devolution, and the the transfer of power. To them, Funmilayo was not only a dominant figure during the period, she was a fomidable player in postcolonial politics as well. Whether or not Funmilayo was a communist, a fellow traveler, or someone that exploited ideology to better her aspiration and that of the women folks is left to readers to judge. Well written, readeable and concise; this is a must for all interested in women, nationalist politics in Nigeria, and the emergent gender dominated civil society in colonial and postcolonial Nigeria.