Customer Reviews

What Israel Means to Me: By 80 Prominent Writers, Performers, Scholars, Politicians, and Journalists

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What does Israel mean to me?
Israel is a tiny country, numbering six million souls, and only a tiny fraction of the Middle East.
It attracts more attention than any other country in the world, with the possible exception of the USA.
Many of us love Israel for the justice and truth it represents, for the land and heritage, and for the strength and vibrancy of it's people.
Others hate it with a venom and passion unequalled, since Hitler's hatred of Israel's Jewish forebears.
For me the essence of the conflict around Israel is a very simple one.
Most of the Arabs and Moslems (with the backing of the international left and some of the world's far right) want to drive the Jews of Israel into the sea. The Jews of Israel are determined not to be driven into the sea.
Hence an irreconcilable conflict.
For me Israel is the phoenix that rose out of the ashes of the Holocaust, and the continuation of the Jewish life and civilization that was so brutally destroyed in Europe by the Nazis and by the Arabs when the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa were savagely expelled from these lands and fled to Israel with nothing other than the clothes on their backs.
For me Israel is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, and a symbol of righteousness, I believe that those who hate and mean harm to Israel are evil at heart, and hate Israel because Israel represents good and decency.
For me Israel is represented by it's beautiful, vibrant and inquisitive children, who represent the future. Looking at them I am reminded that children just like these were murdered in Europe in their millions sixty years ago, and a large portion of the world would like to see them murdered again.
It is up to all decent people around the world to fight against this ghastly spectre, and ensure that Israel survives safe, strong and free.

This book is edited by Alan Dershowitz, author of several previous volumes putting Israel's case to the world, and puts the perspectives together of 80 figures, writers, politicians, educationalists, performers and spiritual leaders.
Most of the pieces left me inspired, while a few like those of Richard Ben Cramer and Paul Buhle , are a reiteration of leftwing prejudices among certain sections of diaspora Jewry, against Israel.

I could not begin to summarize all of the points made by the contributors to this amazing volume.
But a few of the thoughts and observations that struck me include the observations by Professor Dershowitz in his introduction about the low level of academic discourse on most university campuses today, on the topic of the Middle East, reflecting a kneejerk hatred and prejudice against Israel and it's people, and an uncritical support for her most implacable and ruthless enemies.
This is echoed by Avner Even-Zohar's summary of the hatred directed at Israel and Jews at San Fransisco State University.

Magazine editor Yosef I Abramowitz refers to the world's hypocrisy against Israel, the "Jew in the thorn of the side of civilization", as an uncomfortable mirror for the world's hypocrisy.
Award winning children's author David Adler is struck by the humanity of Israel's people, a theme we return to again and again in the book by almost all who have been to Israel.
Actress Christina Applegate contributes a beautiful poem about Israel written by her mother, Nancy Priddy.
Others, like David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee note how the Holocaust may not have happened had Israel been around before World War II, or at least how millions of Jews would have been saved.
National president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, notes that "Israel is the answer to Auschwitz. Jewish statehood is the answer to Jewish powerlesness".
Chaiman of the United States Memorial Museum Fred S Zeidman reminds us that "The Holocaust represent all that was brutally taken from us. The rebirth of Jewish life that followed, especially with Israel's creation represents the humanity and faith survivors miraculously reclaimed from it's ashes".

Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of '"When Bad Things Happen to Good People".
reminds us that "...in the wake of the Holocaust, Israel has become a symbol of the world's wilingness to let the Jewish people live, not just as individuals but as a recognized legitimate corporate entity. It is unfair and outrageous that we have to justify our right to exist, but alas, that is the case."

Author Anne Roiphe reminds us that "in Israel people are beset by the same doubts, drugs, insomia, biterness, lovelesness, joblesness and fear of death that exist everywhere and will continue to do so until the end of time".

Beautiful Israeli born actress, Natalie Portman, describes how Israel describes that Israel is where she was born, ate her first popsicle, and used a proper toilet for the first time.
She describes Israel as "Where I was born;Where my insides refuse to abandon".

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach notes how no other country, has ever behaved as ethically towards the civillian population of an enemy nation, in wartime as Israel has.
Israel, in a fight for her survival against a ruthless enemy that targets her women and children, and aims at the destuction of every Jew in Israel, always does all in it's power to avoid harming Arab civillians.
Compare this to the Allied bombing of Dresden during World War II, or the horrific atomic destruction by the USA of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And worldwide bestselling mystery writer Jonathan Kellerman exposes the lie that tries to delink Zionism from Judaism and anti-Zionism from Jew hatred reminding us that "any attempt to split Israel from Judaism is either deliberate racist mischief or the product of sheer ignorance" and concludes by declaring to the world that "I am A Jew. Israel is a a part of me, and I am a part of Israel".

While Evanglelical Christian leader Pat Robertson exhorts Israel to be strong and resists world pressure for her dismantlement.

Many of the essays in this volume resonated with me, and helped me to further define my love for Israel and my determination to stand by her against her countless and malicious enemies.

Alan Dershowitz gathers the evidence of eighty distinguished witnesses who tell what Israel means to them. These are all basically pro- Israel voices though there are some sharp critics of Israeli policies among them. Among those whose testimony is included are: William Bennett, Hillary Clinton, Barbra Streisand, Al Gore, Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, Saul Bellow, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Jerry Seinfeld, Sir Martin Gilbert, Harvey Weinstein, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ron Silver, Barney Frank, Larry King, Natalie Portman.
This work is another admirable effort by Alan Dershowitz to defend and strengthen Israel. And this is done at a time when the hate propaganda emanating from extreme Right and extreme Left is very great indeed.
Israel is not only the only real democracy in the Middle East, and the one wholly loyal friend of the United States in the area. It is much much else. It is the realization of a two- thousand year old Divine Promise and dream of return. It is the one Jewish state in the world. And it is , after the Holocaust the promise to many Jews that when attacked they will be defended. Israel is a growing vibrant society , one which makes considerable contributions to many different areas of life , from agriculture to music , from computer technology to medical research.
It is also the home of over five million Jews and another million citizens all of whom have cradle- to- grave medical care, and true educational opportunity.
Israel is a country with many cultural divides and problems, but it is too a country of many outstandingly talented and dedicated individuals.
Unfortunately Israel is also the only country in the world whose neighbors near and far threaten and will its destruction. It is a country which has had to fight for its life from the very beginning. And it is still fighting now.
It is also a quite beautiful country, small but with tremendous diversity.
It is also as I have said the home of many families , individuals who just long to live in peace.
I pray to G-d that it will know peace and well- being in the years ahead and that its people will be a blessing not only to themselves but to all of humanity.
I hope the reader will excuse me for making my own personal statement of what Israel means to me. This book contains the statements of eighty people and each is in its own way interesting.

What does Israel mean to me?

In this book, we get answers to that question from eighty very different people. Well, what is my answer?

I thought about that for a while. I knew I could say that it is a country I know quite a bit about, even though I only visited it twice, for a few weeks total. And I could explain that I am not monolingual, and that I have had conversations with Israelis in multiple languages.

Or I could tell about my feelings when I visited Tel Aviv, and why I see Israel as a small and innocent but enchanting nation, with balmy weather. I could explain that Tel Aviv is like an American college town, and that the people there appear to party all night because, well, they're going to stay up all night anyway, so why not party?

Or I could start by saying that Israel is the Land of Jezebel. Given that I am a Pagan who considers Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as forms of atheism, I think you can understand why.

But here's what I decided to say instead: Israel is my litmus test.

You see, I love the academic world. And I don't panic at every challenge to scholarship and the Enlightenment I see, but I do react to systematic attacks on academic standards. And in the Western world today, by far the most serious threat to those standards is in the field of Middle East Studies, where I see wholesale replacement of scholarly work by crude and taunting political untruths. If I were a few decades younger, I would seriously consider doing a Ph. D. thesis on the etiology, nature, and significance of anti-Zionist lies.

That is what makes Israel my litmus test. Anyone who seriously values truth has to be able to figure out for themselves that it isn't worth perverting academic standards when it comes to the topic of Israel, in the misguided hope of hurting a few Jews. Those who do commit such transgressions have flunked my litmus test. They are participating in the most serious attack on scholarship we now see. And by doing so, I think they are doing their part to put human civilization at greater risk, which could result in making billions of humans miserable, rather than prosperous and happy.

Now, what about the book itself? It's excellent! There are plenty of captivating stories. And we're reminded of Israel's history and significance. We learn that "Never Again" does not mean something like "Never Again, unless some folks don't like us!" It means trying to defend one's people if necessary, rather than enabling one's killers by dying quietly.

Still, there is one more impression I would like to counter. I feel that both those who like Israel and those who dislike it usually make Israel appear far more important than it really is. Israel is in fact a rather normal, albeit land-poor, country of about six million people. It simply isn't that important, just as a canary in a coal mine is rather small and unimportant. However, that in no way means that we ought to disregard threats to it: such threats are dangerous to everyone.

I highly recommend this book.

What's wonderful about this book is that it isn't just one person's take or one person's dogma. Some of the writers are passionate defenders, some are critics, some are sentimental, and some are intellectual. All viewpoints (except anyone who would not like Israel to exist at all) are represented, articulately and readably. Quite a few of the essays were surprsingly moving. I'd especially recommend this book for someone about to take a first trip to Israel.

Casting my eye down the list of contributors to this book, I noticed that the distinguished playwright and screenwriter David Mamet was one of them. I have been an admirer of his work (well, his earlier plays, anyway) for a long time and I was interested to see what he had to say.

His short contribution kicks off with a quote from Prof. Noam Chomsky about the wave of arson attacks on French synagogues in 2002; didn't Chomsky think that this constituted antisemitism? Chomsky agreed that it was indeed antisemitism, but argued that insofar as it was caused by European Muslims then it could be attributed to, among other things, anger at the behaviour of the state of Israel, and that it was, as he put it, a "reflection" of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians. (In 2002, Ariel Sharon had just been elected prime minister and the West Bank barrier was beginning construction.) This was not a very politic way for Chomsky to put it, but it is at least an explanation.

David Mamet's comment about this was that Chomsky believed that Israel had no right to exist (this is not an accurate reflection of Chomsky's views). From this incorrect premise, he then attempted to pick holes in Chomsky's logic, saying that as long as Chomsky thinks that Israel is a "phantom state" then how can he - Chomsky - have the right to cite its own Supreme Court's declaration that Israel is a Jewish state? Mamet seems to think that Chomsky's disapproval of certain kinds of Zionism is a blanket condemnation of the very existence of Israel in any form. This is not an argument, since Chomsky does not deny that Israel is a sovereign nation; he just criticises its policies.

Mamet went on to say that Chomsky, as a Jew, ought to feel lucky that he doesn't live in France, and that he's even luckier that he doesn't live in an Arab country. This sort of talk is the kind of thing we expect from Rush Limbaugh, not from a major writer. He ended up by saying that Chomsky should not spread his "filth" around.

Mamet's contribution is one of the least impressive bits of polemic I have ever read from a major author: apoplectic, illogical, ugly and inaccurate. Because he couldn't honestly claim that Chomsky's assessment is incorrect, Mamet could only splutter that it was really, really mean of Chomsky to say it. I can only assume that years as a Hollywood hack have destroyed Mamet's capacity for truth and rationality, and I am sorry to see a major American writer publicly losing his marbles. His ridiculous op-ed piece about how he was no longer a Democrat because he had decided that people were fundamentally not nice was bad enough, but this is disgraceful.

Few of the other contributions to this book rise above the same level, although most are not as demented as Mamet's. For the most part, it's an uncritical love-in for Eretz Yisrael. You do wonder about some of the contributors, too: okay, Natalie Portman is very, very bright and was at least born in Jerusalem, so she can claim with some justification that she feels a deep personal connection to the place, but Christina Applegate?

It comes as no surprise that this mostly schmaltzy book was assembled by Alan Dershowitz, perhaps America's most enthusiastic apologist for Israeli government policy. It is neither wise nor fair to call Dershowitz dishonest; it's not wise because he is a high-powered lawyer, but it's not fair because Dershowitz is not intelligent enough to know what reality is, so he can hardly be expected to tell truth from lies. In the meantime, anyone who genuinely cares for the future of Israel will only be embarrassed by this sickly volume.

OK I admit I read it in one sitting. But during that whole time, kept thinking the same embarrassing thought "This book is as sentimental and idealistically patriotic as a Leni Riefenstahl film (but, unfortunately, not quite as artistically fascinating.)
Don't misunderstand me. I wouldn't call it "What the Fatherland Means to Me". It receives some credit for attempting to have some diverse angles. But, really, that was only around the trim. "What Israel Means to Me" is so uncritical and, honest to God, even more sentimental than a Spielberg film, that it just left me bloated, a little ill and unsatisfied at the end -like eating too much birthday cake.

I guess this was written to serve as a Bar/Bat Mitzvah gift for 13 year olds. You know, to strengthen their pro-Israel identity.
Unfortunately, any kid who gets this as a gift will spit in your eye.
Here is the whole book in a nutshell: "I'll never forget the first time I set foot in Israel. I wept. Jewish tarmac! Jewish dogs! Hebrew-speaking beggars. After 2000 years, we have a state. And to think that I'm here to experience it. And Israel is a democracy. A thriving bustling democracy, and one that almost never does anything wrong."
I'm happy I got this review copy second hand. Only cost $8. I wuz robbed.