Customer Reviews

The Jewish State : The Struggle for Israel's Soul

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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.

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?

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

Anyone who believes that all Israelis believe that there should be a Jewish State needs to read Hazony's THE JEWISH STATE. Hazony clearly and convincingly demonstrates that Israel's intellectual elite has opposed the concept of a Jewish State from the begining. This book is an eye opener as it documents the power and the arguments of the post-zionists. This is especially relevant now that one of their leaders Shimon Peres is likely to become Israel's next President.

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.

Zionism, the ideology that brought the modern state of Israel to life, cast a parabolic arc over the twentieth century. Launched by Theodor Herzl just before the century began, the Zionist movement reached its blazing apogee at mid-century when David Ben-Gurion led Israel through its War of Independence. Since then, according to Yoram Hazony in his new book "The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul", the trajectory for Zionism has been an ever-steepening descent toward the horizon of Jewish consciousness. In Hazony's view, the gravitational force for this descent has been provided in large part by the writings of the great Hebrew University sociologist Martin Buber and his academic and literary descendents.

The labors of these three men; Herzl, Ben-Gurion and Buber, described concisely but with insight and passion, provide the narrative thread for Hazony's book. His views are of course much more in line with the nation-state ideas of Herzl and Ben-Gurion, but he treats the universalist ideas of Buber with intellectual rigor and fairness. This is not suprising, because for Hazony, ideas are what matter most. Herzl's famous phrase "No man is strong or wealthy enough to move a people, only an idea can do that," is a good one sentence summary of Hazony's main theme. Ideas created modern Israel. Ideas have brought it to its current self-doubting impasse. What Israel needs now, more than anything else, are ideas big enough to, in Hazony's eloquent closing words "assist the Jewish people to again become a nation of grandeur and a blessing to all who befriend them, perhaps even to all the families of the earth."

Yoram Hazony writes and expresses so clearly what has been on so many of our minds when we see Israel today. The anti-Jewish influences which are pervading Israeli society, 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, which is brand new infromation for me. I really must say thank you to Hazony for exposing and publicizing this growing danger to the very existence of Jewish Israel. The only thing unsatisfactory to me, was how can I help to stop these post-Zionists, I feel quite helpless against this powerful cadre of a few hundred 'intellectuals' who want to destroy Jewish Israel. How can I help stop them? I know the majority of Jewish Israelis don't agree with this post-Zionist clique.

The book is a must-read for any one who see himself as a true zionist. It describes the way anti- and post- zionism has evolved in the last 100 years - partly from zionism itself. It combines almost up-to-date description of frightening post-zionism in the Israeli society, with a very interesting view of the history of Zionism. Apart from the very important content - the book is also written very well.

In this work Yoram Hazony takes on the anti- Israeli, Israeli intellectual elite. He traces the roots of their anti- Zionism to the group of people clustered around Martin Buber at Hebrew University.
He also writes a history of a certain part of the Zionist movement.
The best part of the book is the first one hundred pages in which the exposee of the anti- Israeli intellectuals is made.
As for the thesis it puts too many eggs in just one basket when there are many other baskets around.
Hazony is to be credited for writing courageously about one of the greatest survival problems Israel faces, the ' betrayal by certain elite intellectuals' of the state they live in, are defended by and supported by.

Yoram Hazony knows how to tell a story. He is not the arrogant intellectual who speaks from his ivory tower. He introduces himself so we know his family background and his personal stand of the Jewish question. The introduction is worth the whole book. There he succintly summarizes the book, points to Israel's troubles, gives names, origins and main developments. Puts the main characters on the scene, and we follow them through the years of Israel's modern making. It's the zionists vs the anti-zionists; the intellectuals (who nevertheless benefit from, and are accomplices of the Israel state they so decry) vs the common people who want to live free (specially if that means as a Jew). It's a tale that has become wide spread over the western world: the fight to win the minds and hearts of the people through the influence on the mass media. The tactics are detestably simple, but nonetheless they work, in the name of peace and justice the Israelis (Jewish and non-Jewish) are to give themselves up to their Arab neighbors, short of leaving the country or committing suicide directly. The book is comprehensive in its scope, and I wished it would be a little more succint in some developments that detract from the main story, but it definitely makes its point by not leaving any thread missing. Forceful and convincing.

Martin Buber epitomizes the intellectual anti-zionist from the ivroy tower (the Chomsky of the Israeli state). On the other side stand (or stood) the Founders of modern Israel, standing above all Ben-Gurion. With the Founders, of course, are the people, fewer every year because, bottom line: common-sense is the least common of the senses when challenged by the deafening noise of the professors and their billionaire friends (See Gore & Soros) and the media. It's sad to the point of upsetting to see how Buber and his clique wouldn't even have the refugees from the Holocaust when they were stranded in European camps come to Israel, while the university professors where safe and partying in Tel Aviv.

A last point I want to mention is that the very survival of Israel through all these years is nothing but a miracle, and you don't have to be a theist to see it. Surrounded by enemies within and without, reduced to a tiny territory, a speck in the back of the threatening Arab Empire, Israel lives, and flourishes.

What can I say? 5 stars says it all! This book takes you inside the inner workings of Israel's political roots. It redefines Zionism and smashes wide spread myths. If you want to get a good perspective on Israel from an intellectual, look no further. It goes without saying that this book is not for everyone. Only the scholarly individual looking for a scholarly book! Enjoy!