The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul [Paperback]

Yoram Hazony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2001

In what may be the most controversial book on Zionism and Israel published in the last twenty years, Yoram Hazony graphically portrays the cultural and political revolt against Israel’s status as the Jewish state. Examining ideological trends in academia, literature, media, law, the armed forces, and the foreign policy establishment, Hazony contends that Israelis are preparing themselves for the final break with the Jewish past and the Jewish future. In a dramatic new reading of Israeli history, Hazony uncovers the story of how Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, Hannah Arendt, and other German-Jewish intellectuals bitterly fought against the establishment of Israel, and later used the Hebrew University as a base for deposing David Ben-Gurion and discrediting Labor Zionism. The Jewish State is a must-read for anyone concerned with Israel’s present and future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul is a powerful assessment of "post-Zionist" Israeli culture--the Jewish movement that seeks to overturn traditional notions of Israel as a Jewish state. Author Yoram Hazony, who has been a participant in some of the most significant stages of the Middle East peace process, investigates the cultural and political history of post-Zionism, the extent of its current influence, and its potential effects in the future. The Jewish State includes a previously unknown story about some of this century's most important Jewish intellectuals--including Hannah Arendt, Martin Buber, and Gershom Scholem--who opposed the establishment of Israel, and later leveraged the power of Hebrew University to depose David Ben-Gurion and defame the Labor Zionism that helped give birth to Israel. Ironically, Hazony takes succor from this story, because he says that it offers "the lesson of how a small fellowship of intellectuals, without the benefit of exceptionally sensible ideas or especially cogent means of expressing them, nonetheless succeeded in changing the life of a nation, against all odds." So, Hazony imagines that a few individuals with more sensible ideas, better attuned to the desires of Israel's people, might be able to reestablish that nation "as a guardian of the Jews and a source of strength to them." Hazony is a sturdy thinker and a persuasive polemicist, and The Jewish State may prove to be a very influential book. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Hazony, president of the Shalem Center, an institute for social thought and public policy (and a onetime adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), asserts that "the idea of the Jewish state"--and the future of the state--is under fervent attack from its own intellectual and cultural establishment. These "post-Zionists" advocate, for example, the dejudaization of the public school curriculum and the repeal the Law of Return (which grants automatic citizenship to any Jew who immigrates to Israel) in order to create a more secular and equitable "post-Jewish" state. Hazony's reading of Israeli history leads him to conclude that the post-Zionists are paving the way to ruin everything the early Zionist and Israeli leaders sought to achieve--an alarming and painful prospect for Hazony; those who share his view will welcome this account. The work, however, presents more than Hazony's polemic. The bulk of it consists of an enlightening and thorough analysis of the evolution of the idea of the Jewish state, starting quite naturally with Theodor Herzl. Hazony does a masterful job of situating the cardinal figures in their historical context and of demonstrating the division of the Jewish community right up until the establishment of Israel in 1948. In this regard, Hazony focuses specifically on the philosopher Martin Buber, whose work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem he sees as the root of the current intellectual disdain for the state. Hazony claims that, with the exception of the state's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, leading Israeli politicians have not concerned themselves with cultural transmission or the transmission of ideas and therefore have given the intellectuals a monopoly on the cultural agenda. His book, though at times wearyingly political, is an impressive overview of the intellectual history of Israel. First serial to the New Republic; author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465029027
• ISBN-13: 978-0465029020
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,259,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Israel, a post-Jewish state, April 29, 2000

By 

Leonid Petlakh (Staten Island NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jewish State : The Struggle for Israel's Soul (Hardcover)

The author raises some controversial and challenging questions in his new book. Observing vanishing Zionist idealism, self-sacrifice and the disappering reason d-etre for having a Jewish state, the author confronts and exposes those intellectuals in the Jewish state who want to do away with the Jewish charachter of the state of Israel. The author poignantly shows how dangerous the elite idealogues are for the conscience. This book is a critical response to those who want to accomplish what the enemies of Israel were unable to do: to destroy the state of Israel, not physically but spiritually, from within, under the banner of progressive cosmopolitan liberalism. It's these post-Zionists, whose roots are in German Jewish philosophy transplanted to Israel by immigrants of the 30's (Buber, Arendt, Sholem) that have provided inspiration to the post-Zionists in today's Israel. By exposing their hostility to the Zionist state, as envisioned by the fathers of the Jewish state, the author shows the peril to the Jewishness of the state of Israel from these revisionist authors.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not simply for intellectuals, January 4, 2001

By 

Colin P. Davy "incipits" (TULSA, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Jewish State : The Struggle for Israel's Soul (Hardcover)

First some background about me! I was 11 yrs. old in 1939 and grew up with an interest in world history at a time when history was being made. I admit to inheriting a lot of misconceptions and incomplete information on the subject of the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, the Balfour Declaration and the Jews. I took this book with me as holiday reading material and had to persevere to get through the Introduction and Part One which is essential reading to benefit from the whole volume. Coming to the second part which deals with the History of the Jewish State I simply could not put it down! In a way I wish that Mr.Hazony had included more explanatory detail and that the Notes, contained at the end of the book, had been printed as footnotes, for it is important to read them along with the text. However, this book has defintely prompted me to pursue a new phase of an old interest and I shall certainly be searching the catalogue of my local library for further reading. And isn't that what a good book, well researched and well written should do for an active and enquiring mind?

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, January 8, 2005

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul (Paperback)

This book takes you through the evolution of Zionism over the last 100+ years. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn about the unending problems of the land of Palestine.

Hazony is an excellent writer. The book begins as a slow, lumbering read, hard to get into, but you must get through the Introduction and first few Chapters. Then the book begins to roll and you will find yourself unable to put it down. The only complaint I have of this book is that mine is the paperback edition and the print font is too small. Spend a few extra dollars and get the hardback if you are over 40 and need reading glasses.

Yoram Hazony writes and expresses so clearly what has been on so many of our minds when we see Israel today. The anti-Jewish influence shows up on Israeli TV, in Israeli schoolbooks, Meretz party, and such anti-Zionist newspapers as Ha'aretz. Hazony tells us who these people are and what their background is.

The book describes in great detail, the workings of Herzl, Ben-Gurion and Buber. The inner workings of modern Israeli government are carefully dissected. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the intellectual struggle that is as important to the State as relations with its Arab neighbors. Hazony's unimpeachable scholarship and his fluid writing style makes it an enjoyable must read.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com