Shop DJ Furby!
$40.95

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Thomas A. Kolsky
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Jews Against Zionism: The American Council for Judaism, 1942-1948 Kindle Edition

by Thomas Kolsky (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

This is the first full-scale history of the only organized American Jewish opposition to Zionism during the 1940s. Despite extensive literature on the Zionist movement, the Jewish opposition to Zionism has received only marginal and usually negative attention. In this impartial study, Thomas A. Kolsky examines the neglected phenomenon of Jewish anti-Zionism, its roots, and its results.

In 1942, a number of dissident Reform rabbis founded the American Council for Judaism, the first and only Jewish organization created to fight against Zionism and the establishment of a Jewish state. Emphasizing the purely religious nature of Judaism and unequivocally rejecting Jewish nationalism, the Council supported free Jewish immigration and equal rights for Jews throughout the world. For Palestine, specifically, it advocated establishment of a democratic state wherein all citizens, regardless of their religion, would enjoy equal political rights.

Summarizing both the history of Zionism and the history of American Jews, Kolsky traces the effects of the Holocaust on the Zionist movement and the personalities that shaped the leadership of the Council. Its position toward Zionism has particular contemporary relevance in understanding the historical relationship between Israel and the Palestinians.

Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Temple University Press
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    November 4, 1992
  6. File size
    3.2 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Not Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Not Enabled
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kolsky tells the story of Jewish opposition to Zionism in the 1940s by focusing on the organization that embodied it.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Kolsky tells well...the story of the ACJ in its prime"
—The Christian Century



"[A]bsorbing and challenging."
—The New York Times Book Review

"The American Council for Judaism['s]...story is now ably told by Thomas Kolsky.... In the tragedy of the European Jews and the saga of Israel's founding, the American Council for Judaism is a footnote, but not an insignificant one. Many of its fears have been realized...."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005UYEEQM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Temple University Press
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 1992
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1439903759
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1530L
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Thomas A. Kolsky

Thomas A. Kolsky

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
8 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Mike Doran
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Important and Engaging Book
    Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This book is well researched and highly readable. In addition, it sheds light on a topic of great importance to a number of fields of history. I myself am primarily interested in United States policy toward the Middle East, not American Jewish history. Kolsky, however, taught me much about the struggle between the Truman White House and the State Department over whether to support the emergence of a Jewish state. One particularly satisfying nugget is his discussion of the relationship between Kermit Roosevelt, of Mosaddeq fame, and the American Council for Judaism (ACJ). This story is fascinating in its own right but it also illuminates an important but forgotten stage of Roosevelt's career.

    JEWS AGAINST ZIONISM has surprising resonance with the present. The author was, quite simply, way ahead of his time. Kolsky published this book twenty years ago -- that is, long before the rise of J-Street, Peter Beinart's analysis of young American Jews' disaffection with Israel, and Tony Judt's calls for a one state solution. Thanks to this book, anyone with just a passing familiarity with the current unease toward Israel among Jews will recognize that the sentiment has a very deep history in the Reform Movement. Unlike much of the writing on this subject, Kolsky is admirably nonpartisan. One assumes that he has positive feelings toward the ACJ. But that's just it: one assumes; Kolsky himself does not reveal his bias. He simply tells the story and let's you draw your own conclusion -- and he tells it well.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Informative
    Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Fact checked and informative.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Paul of Oakland
    4.0 out of 5 stars An important, largely unknown story
    Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2015
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    The hard fight against Zionism by some very notable American Jews leading up to the formation of Israel in 1948 is a story that is seldom known, and to many who may now first hear of it, barely believable. But there it is, described in detail by Kolsky, not to be missed by anyone who wants to understand the relationship of Zionism to Judaism. The story should be understood and reckoned with for many reasons -- among others, how religiously driven these Jewish anti-Zionists were, and how prophetic they were back then about the problems that Jewish nationalism and a Jewish national state would create.

    Kolsky is somewhat dry in the detailed historical form he gives to this story, but the riveting importance of what he unfolds comes through clearly.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • rudolphus
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This is a very informative book about the history of Jewish anti-zionism in the USA. Highly recommended for open minded individuals. It details the American Council for Judaism, an American anti-zionist group that operated in the 40s.
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Abu al-Sous
    5.0 out of 5 stars ***Well researched book; A Must Read Book***
    Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2024
    Format: Hardcover
    A few years ago, I started my research about the Haavara Agreement, and my research kept dragging me (RELUCTANTLY) into researching the Holocaust & how the Zionist leadership responded to the calamity. From different sources, I reached almost the same conclusion. Many primary sources are now available online, especially for hearing for the "Jewish National Home in Palestine" by the US Committee on Foreign Relations in Feb 1944.

    I gained a lot of insight from reading the primary sources.

    Then I have concluded that this is an open secret in the American Jewish community; they know about it, but you cannot discuss it. It is a big TABO subject. In 1983, American Jews investigated this topic and were quickly nixed. just search online for, January 4th, 1983 US Panel on Jews
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Alexis Wolfe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched, fresh perspective
    Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022
    This book provides a well-researched non-partisan view, and reminds us that there has been a long tradition of Jewish dissent against Zionism.
    Helpful
     Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report