A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel [Hardcover]

David Horovitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000

When David Horovitz emigrated from England to Israel in 1983, it was the fulfillment of a dream. But today, a husband and a father, he is torn between hope and despair, between the desire to make a difference and fear for his family's safety, between staying and going. In this candid and powerful book, Horovitz confronts the heart-wrenching question of whether to continue raising his three children amid the uncertainty and danger that is Israeli daily life. In answering that question he provides us with an often surprising, myth-shattering, and shockingly immediate view of a country perpetually at a crossroads, yet fundamentally different than it was a generation ago.

The Israel that Horovitz describes is at once supremely satisfying and unremittingly harsh. It is a land of beauty and spirit, where the Jewish nation has undergone remarkable renewal and a vibrant society is constantly being reshaped. But Horovitz also describes how the unrelenting tension has produced a people that smokes too much, drives too fast, and spends far too much of its time arguing with itself.

He makes clear the lasting effects of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination; the increasing incursions by the ultra-Orthodox into the domain of daily life; the anxieties that beset parents as their children approach the age of mandatory military service; and the constant fear of violent attack by fundamentalist extremists. (The book in fact opens, hauntingly, with a description of the aftermath of a bombing just outside a Jerusalem restaurant -- the very place where Horovitz had eaten lunch the day before.)

As Americans wrestle with their feelings toward Israel, and as Israel struggles with the question of whether a Jewish state and the principles of democracy are truly compatible, Horovitz illuminates the myriad quotidian experiences -- both good and bad -- that define the country at this volatile time.

Here is the moving, mordantly funny, and uncompromising account of one Israeli's life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Little Too Close to God is a candid, funny, passionate, and deeply personal portrait of present-day Israel. David Horovitz, an English journalist who emigrated to Israel in 1983, now faces the painful question of whether to stay in his chosen country, where, he writes, "I care about what's happening with a passion that simply doesn't apply anywhere else," or to raise his three children in a safer, saner place. Horovitz deftly weaves personal concerns with political analysis. He is a liberal and a committed supporter of peace with the Palestinians, but his book also accounts for the most convincing arguments against reconciliation--arguments conveyed lightly, through family anecdotes about his relationships with a brother-in-law in the West Bank and an Orthodox cousin. No one will finish A Little Too Close to God with any doubt about where Horovitz stands regarding Israeli politics, however. His book is, finally, a strong attack on the idea that Israel is invincible. He sees a great deal of violence and moral failure in his society (at one political rally: "I felt as if I were among wild animals, vicious, angry predators craving flesh and scenting blood."). He sees so much of this sort of thing that he cannot believe that Israel can afford to do anything but compromise. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

The editor of the Jerusalem Report (an English-language news magazine published in Israel), Horovitz is at his best when describing his mixed feelings about raising his family in the Israeli cauldron. Indeed, one of the most moving parts of this book is the introductory chapter, as Horovitz--who immigrated to Israel from Britain in the early 1980s, soon after high school--describes his reaction to hearing that terrorists had bombed one of his favorite lunch spots a day after he ate there with friends. He is in touch with the strong sense of community--what he calls the "cocoon"--that keeps his family from leaving the country. With the help of his keen journalistic eye and a witty writing style, he concentrates on the pressures that persistently pervade the cocoon. These pressures affect day-to-day decisions, sometimes in seemingly absurd ways: Horovitz describes how he and his wife have told their children how to respond in case terrorism occurs near them. Horovitz devotes much of the book to the difficulties of the stumbling peace process--which he and his wife strongly support--and on the increasing fragmentation of Israeli society as epitomized by the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. As the book's title implies, Horovitz, a liberal, secular Jew, has little stomach for the views of Israel's hard-liners, who oppose territorial compromise with its Arab neighbors. But while partisan, the book is no polemic. With the help of an Orthodox cousin and a brother-in-law who lives in the West Bank, Horovitz lays out the arguments for and against reconciliation with the Arab world. He's managed to write an engaging book that introduces the reader to the personal struggles emanating from the conflict in the Middle East. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375403817
• ISBN-13: 978-0375403811
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,561,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, but proceed with extreme caution!, February 16, 2001

By 

L. Feld "lowkell" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel (Hardcover)

This book has some very strong points AND some very weak ones too, and on balance I think it is worth reading, but I definitely recommend that you proceed with caution!! Let's start with the strong points. For one, I found Horovitz's dialogues with his religious, West Bank-settlement-dwelling brother-in-law Natan to be totally fascinating. Horovitz does the reader a great service by allowing Natan's words and arguments to be presented so respectfully, and forcefully. By the end of their discussion (Chapter Seven - "On the Other Hand"), my head was spinning and I (a liberal, secular person through and through) actually felt torn between their two worldviews. I also couldn't help but like Natan, which really surprised me, especially since I honestly expected him to be a raving right-wing nutcase or something. But it's just not that simple! Similarly, I found Horovitz's conversation with his first cousin (Chapter Nine - "What Kind of Jewish State?"), the ultra-Orthodox ("with a less than Orthodox past") Shai, to be similarly fascinating. I guess my prejudices, and also conversations I have had with secular Israelis (when I studied in Israel back in the mid-80s), who seemed to hate the ultra-Orthodox as much or more than they hate the Arabs, had me prepared for Shai to be an intolerant religious zealot/drone with a simple, easy answer for everything, and a total rejection of secularism, democracy, and modernity. But nooooo, once again my preconceived notions were shattered, and Shai turned out to be a smart, worldly, highly educated, sophisticated, interesting guy. Very interesting, and once again, not that simple! Finally, I admired Horovitz's honesty throughout the book in discussing his feelings regarding living and raising a family in Israel, relations within his politically and religiously diverse extended family (almost a microcosm of Ashkenazi, Jewish Israel), and the pros and cons (from his perspective) of living in Israel vs. living in England or Dallas or something (in a humorous discussion with a recent Russian immigrant, it's the WEATHER, of all things, which turns out to be the most persuasive argument!).

OK, so what did I NOT like about this book? Unfortunately, a fair amount. For starters, even though Horovitz admits right off that he doesn't really discuss the Israeli Arabs or the Sephardic Jews (not to mention the huge community of recent Russian immigrants), I still found it limiting and frustrating, especially since these three groups (Sephardim, Israeli Arabs, and Russian immigrants) account for a large majority of the Israeli population. A much worse flaw in the book is Horovitz's near-hysterical obsession with Benjamin Netanyahu. OK, I don't like Netanyahu either, but he WAS elected Prime Minister of Israel by hundreds of thousands of people, and I just don't see the need for page after page of Horovitz's rantings and ravings (sample: "Hate. Hate. Hate. That was Netanyahu...") about one individual. Then, there's the flip side, which is his POSITIVE obsession with Yitzhak Rabin and - to a far lesser extent - Ehud Barak. OK, I liked Rabin a lot too, and thought that he was leading Israel in the right direction, but c'mon, do we really believe that even Rabin could have solved ALL the problems which Horovitz points out (the religious-secular split, for instance?) Good luck!! At one point, Horovitz even admits bluntly that he had come to idolize and mythologize Rabin - but only since he was assassinated - and to view him as a symbol for the Israel he dreamed of. Does Horovitz have a right to do this? Sure! But does making Netanyahu and his supporters into "freaks," and Rabin and his supporters into martyrs and angels, accomplish anything? I don't see how; in fact, if David Horovitz is typical of the Israeli left, that country is in BIG trouble! What's scary is that if even an intelligent, worldly, political reporter like David Horovitz can become so hysterical, then what about the rest of Israel?

Another problem with this book is Horovitz's apparent naivete (arrogance?) regarding the Arabs. OK, sure, I think that Israel somehow needs to make peace with its neighbors, but how on Earth does Horovitz know so much about the hearts and minds of Arab leaders he happens to have met or interviewed? For instance, based on having interviewed Palestinian leader Faisal Husseini "half a dozen" times, Horovitz comes to the conclusion that Husseini can't possibly desire secretly to destroy the state of Israel. Well, of course that MAY be the case, but how does Horovitz KNOW that for sure? And how can he be so "certain" that Bassam Abu Sharif, mastermind of several airline hijackings, is "genuinely committed" to a permanent peace with Israel? Who knows, Horovitz may be right, but as my Jewish grandmother might say: so, he's a mind reader no less?

Finally, and I guess I shouldn't really criticize Horovitz for this, since I live in relative safety here in America (except for the violent crime, road rage, and even domestic terrorism here!), but the bottom line is that Horovitz is a privileged person, with all kinds of connections, and if the latest elections don't go his way (i.e., the latest election, in which the "hawk" Ariel Sharon defeated the "dove" Ehud Barak), he can leave Israel any time he wants. As he himself admits, he still has his English passport, his wife her US passport, and his kids one of each. Thus, for Horovitz, escape from Israel is just "a flight away." In a way, this actually makes the book MORE interesting, because knowing that he can leave at any time means that Horovitz can say things (or look at them more objectively) perhaps that those "stuck" there might have more difficulty doing. On the other hand, it also means that Horovitz is an Israeli with one foot always out the door, never totally "there." This almost makes me feel like I'm reading a book by someone on a (very) extended Foreign Service rotation or something, and leaves me with the uneasy feeling that the subtitle of his book is misleading. Horovitz may have been in Israel for 20 years, but he apparently still has never committed to a "life in Israel," just the "thrills and panic."

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The inside view on aliyah & living in a schizophrenic Israel, June 8, 2000

By 

Larry Mark, editor of MyJewishBooks.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel (Hardcover)

Isn't it fabulous to hold a dual citizenship? Readers of The Jerusalem Report, and listeners to the BBC and NPR will be familiar with David Horovitz. But don't expect a book by Thomas Friedman or David Shipler. This is the real thing. This is by a reporter who lives and is raising his family in Israel, a country where for every two Jews there are three cell phones. He shows Israel in all its hues, no matter how embarrassing or life-affirming to the author and reader. The book opens with London born Horovitz talking about his weekly lunches at a restaurant that gets blown up by a terrorist. He wonders whether the settlers are wrong to live in very safe enclaves, while he lives in a dangerous Jerusalem? Do priorities change when you have 3 kids? With British/US and Israeli citizenship, should his family just leave for the good of the kids? When David Horovitz emigrated from England to Israel in 1983, it was the fulfillment of a dream. But today, a husband and a father, he is torn between hope and despair, between the desire to make a difference and fear for his family's safety, between staying and going. But then again, Israel is like heroin to an addict. The people and the politics are so passionately bi-polar, where every decision is perceived to a matter of life or death. Another day in Lebanon can mean the death of a father, son, cousin, or neighbor. Even the most tabloid newspaper contains pages of political and military analyses. It is a candid book. He describes Israel as it enters the 21st Century, a post Zionist state that is highly politicized and fragmented, but yet a country in which everyone feels like one big dysfunctional family. A country where two PM's, the President, the spiritiual leader of Shas, and the Justice Minister are all under investigation. A country where you will be cursed at by other drivers, but they will go out of their way to help you if you have a problem, even stopping a bus to donate blood. A people who will freak out in paranoid fear upon touring Jordan, yet flirt over the top upon meeting some Jordanian guys when the bus breaks down. He provides a clear, balanced discussion between himself and his brother-in-law, an American-born Orthodox West Bank settler. Who is the naïve one, who is the cynic? The reader can decide. This is a unique personal story (through the eyes of a Western highly politicized immigrant) of his successes, failures, mistakes, prejudices, and life experiences, and as a reporter and editor for The Jerusalem Report.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Account of Life in Israel Today!, May 21, 2000

By 

Cherie Benjoseph (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel (Hardcover)

My two young children are wondering where mom has been for the past three days as I couldn't put down this Horovitz book! As a person who has had the opportunity to visit Israel many times, including a year in Jerusalem at the age of 20, and married an Israeli (he now is entranced by the book), reading this book brought back memories both happy and sad. Horovitz' personal style brings the reader into his home and onto the streets of Israel and surrounding countries. His stories had me at times laughing aloud as well as shedding tears. Through his explanations of the political and social situation of Israel, based on his front row seat as a senior journalist, he was able to bring the debate of left and right and concept of peace to life.Through out the book he also shares the views of close relatives with often differing and personal opinions. This honest account of Israel from the people who are there is a must read.