If a Place Can Make You Cry and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

38 used & new from $0.53
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading If a Place Can Make You Cry on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "It's a strange tale we Jews tell, this story about a call that only one man can hear..." (more)
Key Phrases: can make you cry, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Middle East (more...)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


10 new from $74.45 26 used from $0.53 2 collectible from $28.00

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $14.40 -- --
  Hardcover -- $74.45 $0.53

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End

Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End

by Daniel Gordis
4.5 out of 5 stars (17)  $17.13
Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel

Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel

by Daniel Gordis
4.8 out of 5 stars (8)  $11.16
Coming Together, Coming Apart: A Memoir of Heartbreak and Promise in Israel

Coming Together, Coming Apart: A Memoir of Heartbreak and Promise in Israel

by Daniel Gordis
5.0 out of 5 stars (10)  $18.94
God Was Not in the Fire

God Was Not in the Fire

by Daniel Gordis
4.8 out of 5 stars (6)  $16.15
The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land

The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land

by Donna Rosenthal
4.8 out of 5 stars (42)  $10.88
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1998, Gordis, his wife and three children left their home in Los Angeles, where he was vice president of the University of Judaism, to spend a one-year sabbatical in Jerusalem. While in Israel, though, Gordis began to feel that it was not only his home, but "an experiment of cosmic significance," that he wished to be a permanent part of. This volume gathers e-mails-some excerpted previously in the New York Times Magazine-and private musings that record Gordis's impressions of his new home up through the current turmoil. Gordis, along with many other liberal and leftist sympathizers with the Palestinians, grows thoroughly disillusioned. With the gnawing sense that the Palestinians are not willing to abide a Jewish presence in their region, he comes to believe that there is no end in sight to the daily violence. Yet, he never contemplates returning to the comforts of L.A., even when questioning the ethics of placing his children in danger. But he is troubled primarily by the fate and possible future of the region's children-Israeli and Palestinian. Pondering God's call to Abraham to sacrifice Jacob, he wonders, "Could it be that there is something so subtle, so magical, so intoxicating-and so dangerous-about this land that it leads parents to willingly sacrifice their children?" Gordis is a provocative and penetrating observer, and his writings perfectly capture the complex conundrum of a soul in the tense present, yearning for a state of eternity. Maps.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist

In 1998 Rabbi Gordis, his wife, and their three children moved to Israel from Los Angeles, embarking on what they thought would be a one-year sabbatical; instead it has become their permanent home. Gordis began sending e-mails about his life there to friends and family, and some of these eventually appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Gordis' book is an edited collection of his e-mails. At the end of September 2000, hostilities broke out between the Palestinians and Israel, and Gordis divides the book into two sections, before and after that date. He explains how his family must balance their love of Israel with the fear of living in a land torn by strife. "It's the story of a time in which peace gave way to war, when childhood innocence evaporated in the heat of hatred, when it became difficult even to hope," he writes, putting in human terms the agony of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Crown (October 15, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400046130
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400046133
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #18 in  Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > International
    #95 in  Books > History > Middle East > Israel

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Daniel Gordis
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Daniel Gordis Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
It's a strange tale we Jews tell, this story about a call that only one man can hear. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
can make you cry
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Middle East, Yom Kippur, Rosh Ha-Shannah, West Bank, New York, Old City, Israeli Arabs, Temple Mount, Ben Gurion, Camp David, Yom Ha-Shoah, Ariel Sharon, Palestinian Authority, King David Hotel, East Jerusalem, Ehud Barak, Labor Party, American Jewish, Ben Yehudah, Gulf War, United States, Jerusalem Fellows, King George Street
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 6 books:
See all 6 books this book cites
 
2 books cite this book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State
57% buy the item featured on this page:
If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State 4.7 out of 5 stars (7)
Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End
16% buy
Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End 4.5 out of 5 stars (17)
$17.13
Coming Together, Coming Apart: A Memoir of Heartbreak and Promise in Israel
12% buy
Coming Together, Coming Apart: A Memoir of Heartbreak and Promise in Israel 5.0 out of 5 stars (10)
$18.94
Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel
11% buy
Home to Stay: One American Family's Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in Contemporary Israel 4.8 out of 5 stars (8)
$11.16
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars For Those Who Have All the Answers, December 16, 2002
By A Customer
This is a MUST READ for anyone who thinks they have a solution to the problems in the Middle East. Rabbi Gordis doesn't present ideology -- rather, he gives us a dose of reality; of what he and his family face every day, along with constantly questioning the decision they made to remain in Israel. I've read a lot of negative comments regarding "putting his children in harm's way," but he is teaching his children what's to be valued, cherished and fought for -- not land, per se, as some have intimated but, rather, the ideal of one place on this earth that Jews can live -- one day, God willing, in peace. Israel serves its purpose not only as the one place Jews in peril can immigrate to, but as a place of inspiration and dedication. While Israeli and American parents both want the same thing for their children -- they should only be happy, have a successful career, a loving spouse, healthy children and NOT have to face going to war. Israeli parents, however, know there is something more -- that achieving these personal goals should not come at the expense or peril of the country's goals.

In the past, I have had opinions as to what Israel should or shoould not do to make peace, but this book highlights better than anything else what the daunting reality is vis-a-vis a solution. While we may all "pray for the peace in Jerusalem," the reality is that more than prayer is needed, and there may not be A single solution or long-term peace -- at least not without other Arab countries stepping in.

This is an extremely well-written, highly enlightening book, and the next time I hear anyone stating a firm opinion as to what Israel should do, I'm going to recommend they read this before the spout off again!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gradual dimming of idealism, October 27, 2002
By Andrew Levy Stevenson (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Old joke, often seen on bumper stickers: "Definition of a conservative? A liberal who's been mugged. " Daniel Gordis would probably still not describe himself as a conservative, but the liberal views he and his family took to Israel when they moved there four years ago have taken a severe beating.

When Rabbi Gordis was offered a year-long fellowship in Jerusalem, the Oslo peace process was offering a vision of peace and prosperity for a country that had seen neither for some time. Inspired by what they saw, the Gordis family cancelled their plans to return to Los Angeles and moved permanently to Israel; a move known to Jews as "making aliyah," or in English, "rising up." Daniel Gordis began to write occasional email essays to family & friends updating them on this new life, and the emails were forwarded to a wide circle. Eventually they were extracted in the New York Times, and now they've been collected (with some new writings as connective tissue) in this remarkable book.

What shines through this book is the gradual dimming of the idealism with which the Gordis family saw their new country. As the peace process collapsed, replaced by a constant undercurrent of shootings, bombings and rocket attacks, Israeli attitudes and opinions moved firmly towards an uncompromising crackdown on Arab terrorism. Former liberals and peace activists found themselves grasping for a framework that could support their principles; but this time partners were hard to find.

The most disturbing part of the book is hearing the effect that it has had on the Gordis children. They went to a country that offered them safety and security, a place where they could walk safely in the streets late at night, but ended up living in a war zone. A comment by his son, quoted on the back cover, illustrates the heartbreaking transition the family has made:

"You know what I think?," he suddenly added. "I think that when grown-ups really love Israel, they're even ready for their children to get killed for it. That's what I think."

Despite the hardship of life in Israel now, the overall tone of the book is positive. The Gordis parents continue the struggle to make life for their children meaningful and nurturing, secure in the belief that the choices they've made for their lives are the correct ones, despite the challenges.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Moving, Personal Memoir, October 31, 2002
By A Customer
This is a moving, compelling and readable book that draws you in from the first page. Gordis is a gifted and sensitive observer whose account of his family's life in Israel is so personal and honest that the reader feels an emotional bond. On every page, you feel his passion, his struggles and his deep knowledge of Israel's history and meaning. More than a book about politics, it is a family story -- about parents and children and how they cope with life in a place that is full of pain and hope, a place where the author finds inspiring, transcendent surprises around every corner.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest witness to the struggle of Israel
Daniel Gordis is a Jewish writer and educator. When he brought his family to Israel for a year he did not know the dramatic turnabout they would come to face. Read more
Published on December 9, 2004 by Shalom Freedman

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving story
Yes, this is a splendid account of what it has been like for the Gordis family, moving to Israel from California. And it's worth reading. Read more
Published on October 30, 2004 by Jill Malter

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal and informative account of life in Israel
Began as e-mails back home to family, this book's strength is the description of day-to-day life in Israel through good times and bad. Read more
Published on September 7, 2004 by Shana Dietz

3.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly Sad
I started "If A Place Can Make You Cry" expecting what the dust jacket promises -- the story of a family's move from California to Israel, from safety to war, why they did it and... Read more
Published on December 2, 2002 by krchicago

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

So You'd Like to...

Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:




















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.