The Making of a Jew [Hardcover]

Edgar M. Bronfman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1996

In his candid personal memoir, a noted Jewish statesman reveals his rebellious youth, telling portraits of major world figures--such as Simon Peres, Lech Walesa, George Bush, and Menachem Begin--and his international role as President of the World Jewish Congress.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

President of the World Jewish Congress since 1981, Bronfman, born in Montreal in 1929, rebelled against his Zionist father in his youth and early manhood by rejecting Judaism altogether. But Bronfman, who lives in New York City as an American citizen, did a complete turnaround by becoming president of Seagram Company Ltd., the distillery his father founded, and by actively embracing the Jewish faith. The high point of this straightforward autobiographical memoir details the WJC's detective-like exposure of ex-Austrian president Kurt Waldheim's Nazi past; the congress charged that as a German army officer, the former U.N. leader helped deport Greek Jews to Auschwitz and executed hundreds of civilians and hostages in the Balkans. Bronfman chronicles the WJC's ongoing campaign for the restitution of Jewish property stolen by the Nazis and their successors, the communists in Eastern Europe. A modest yet courageous crusader against anti-Semitism, he records his trip to Argentina, whose Jewish community has been shaken by terrorist bombings. Incisive close-ups of Lech Walesa, Golda Meir, Jesse Jackson, Pope John Paul II, Khrushchev, Yitzhak Rabin and other luminaries enliven the narrative. Bronfman discloses that his seven children married outside the faith, but most of his grandchildren are being brought up Jewish. He sets forth proposals to counteract the erosion of Judaism both in the diaspora and in Israel. Jewish Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Despite its somewhat pedestrian style, this is a most interesting memoir by the scion and heir of the famous Bronfman family, owner of one of the world's largest distilleries. At present, Bronfman is chair of their mainstay, the Seagram Company, Ltd. Bronfman traces his life story, describing a rebellious, assimilationist youth running away from his ancestral Judaism to his subsequent spiritual and cultural regeneration as a religiously and politically involved Jew. The person mainly responsible for this regeneration was the late Nahum Goldmann, cofounder of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), an umbrella for Jewish organizations devoted to Zionism, charities, and the fight against anti-Semitism, who greatly influenced the course of Bronfman's life. Bronfman himself has been president of the WJC since 1981 and has been influential in furthering the causes of world Jewry and the state of Israel. His accounts of his relationships with Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, Kurt Waldheim, Lech Walesa, and others are fascinating. Of interest to general readers.?Robert A. Silver, formerly with Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1st Ed edition (October 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399142207
• ISBN-13: 978-0399142208
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,163,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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