Book Description
The Destruction of the European Jews is widely considered the landmark study of the Holocaust. First published in 1961, Raul Hilberg's comprehensive account of how Germany annihilated the Jewish community of Europe spurred discussion, galvanized further research, and shaped the entire field of Holocaust studies. This revised and expanded edition of Hilberg's classic work extends the scope of his study and includes 80,000 words of new material, particularly from recently opened archives in eastern Europe, added over a lifetime of research. It is the definitive work of a scholar who has devoted more than fifty years to exploring and analyzing the realities of the Holocaust.
Spanning the twelve-year period of anti-Jewish actions from 1933 to 1945, Hilberg's study encompasses Germany and all the territories under German rule or influence. Its principal focus is on the large number of perpetrators -- civil servants, military personnel, Nazi party functionaries, SS men, and representatives of private enterprises -- in the machinery of death.
Customer Reviews:
A WONDERFUL RESEARCH!.......2006-11-08
One of the best books I have ever read about the holocaust. A serious research and it is indeed a great contribution for the studies on this horrible moment of the history of mankind!
A Seminal Work on the Holocaust.......2006-01-01
Hilberg's brilliant and dispassionate treatment of attempts throughout history to destroy the Jews sets a new standard for scholarship and for the historical analysis of emotionally charge subjects. Through his own efficient analytic framework of precedents, antecedents, and scope of organization, Hilberg gives us a lucid formula for both understanding and explaining the subtext, context, and pretext of the 1500-year old continuously running saga of anti-Semitism. The effect is to place the reader in the cockpit of the planners of one of the worst disasters known to man, the holocaust of World War-II. But more importantly, he also provides us with all the necessary facts that go with, and that load his framework.
The context of the holocaust is 1500 years of progressive improvements in ways of addressing the so-called "Jewish problem (or threat)," and corresponding Jewish cultural adaptations to these improved attempts to annihilate them. The improvements have ranged from failed attempts by Catholics to convert Jews into Christians, to expelling them from Europe, to Hitler's creation of a bureaucracy of industrialized death to implement his "final solution." (The author summarizes this progression as conversion, expulsion, and annihilation.)
The subtext of anti-Semitism ostensibly has always been about the "predatory Jewish character" but in fact has been about fears, fears of cultural, religious and ethnic differences and about independence from ordinary orthodoxy. It is precisely these fears that are the most easily serviceable, and most easily ignited into action during times of stress. They are best facilitated through hatred -- especially when guided by a catalyst of evil, ignorance, demagoguery, or demented and corrupt leaders. Inexorably they pass through a process of condoned and sanctioned violence to collective murder. (Fear of Jewish independence and failure to accept the Christian Jesus as their religious messiah and savior have throughout history served as one of the key subtexts of anti-Semitism).
Just as the pattern that serves as the subtext for anti-Semitism is generalizable to other forms of chauvinism, racism and hatred, so too is the pretext: The target is first demonized, dehumanized and vilified; and then disenfranchised, hounded and spatially as well socially segregated. This process of dehumanization then leads logically to, and serves as justification and collective psychological cover for, committing criminal acts against the targeted groups -- including mass industrialized murder. (Jewish religious idolatry, and ethnic character flaws, i.e. their predatory business acumen and slipperiness, their fear of honest work, etc. has throughout history served as the pretext for justifying criminal acts against Jews).
This book puts to rest the popular "magic bullet theory" of the holocaust: that explaining Hitler explains everything anyone would ever need to know about the holocaust. It does not. The anti-Semitic pressures along fault lines leading up to the holocaust had been building up for more than 1500 years. It was these pressures and not Hitler that bear the primary responsibility for the holocaust. Hitler just happened to be the demented catalyst that sparked an anti-Semitic eruption at a time when a demoralized German people needed a tonic for restoring their national pride.
Five Stars.
Obligatory.......2005-11-13
The text I read (three volume hard cover) is the definitive work on the Holocaust. It profiles all aspects of a demonic criminal conspiracy, as well as the practical planning and ultimate consequences.
I urge all to read Hilberg. It is the standard work.
Concise and revealing.......2005-05-30
I have several dozen books on the Holocaust, and more than that on my wish list. For a few years now, I have wanted to know 'How did it happen, and Why?'. I found myself stopping every other page to think about the words I had read, and the ideas they conveyed. This book is by far one of the best, seconded only by Martin Gilbert's 'The Holocaust'. I see survivor's messages that ask 'How could it happen...Where was God...Why the Jews?' I am slowly coming away with an answer in my head that just won't go away. Perhaps we would all {those of us deemed worthy to live, anyway} be speaking German today if Hitler hadn't focused so much effort on obliterating such a wonderful and gentle people. If there has to be a reason, maybe the Jews saved the world from the Nazi's!
The single best work on the subject.......2005-02-04
This is the most comprehensive and accurate single book on the subject and ought to be necessary reading for anyone studying it. Hilberg integrates the ground-level activities (what was happening to the victims), with an account of the higher level decision-making. Definitely worth it!
Book Description
The first book to speak out against the pervasive influence of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on American politics, policy, and institutions resonates today as never before. With careful documentation and specific case histories, former congressman Paul Findley demonstrates how the Israel lobby helps to shape important aspects of U.S. foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and even presidential elections. Described are the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House and the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists who seem too sympathetic to Arab and Islamic states and too critical of Israel and its policies. Along with many longtime outspoken critics, new voices speaking out include former President Jimmy Carter, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney, Senator Robert Byrd, prominent Arab-American Dr. Ziad Asali, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and journalist Charles Reese. In addition, the lack of open debate among politicians with regard to the U.S. policy in the Middle East is lamented, and AIPAC is blamed in part for this censorship. Connections are drawn between America’s unconditional support of Israel and the raging anti-American passions around the world—and ultimately the tragic events of 9/11. This replaces 1556520735.
Customer Reviews:
FINDLEY AMONG FIRST TO SPEAK ABOUT BRINGING AMERICA BACK.......2007-10-03
Findley, a pure PRO-AMERICAN is one of the rare congressman with a backbone who,... puts America first. He was and is the pioneer of bringing attention to Americas getting off course with a spineless and cowardly Legislature - especially today. I feel Findley's courageous and 'making America' aware of the cancer within it book should be read and taken VERY seriously. Outstanding and other A+ scholarly works on this topic are: Jimmy Carter's: Palestine:Peace Not Apartheid; ans most recent is "The Israel Lobby," by Mearshiemer and Walt. These are also excellent objective reads that bring true clarity to what's really going on today.
Nice try. It's the Norwegians we need to be worrying about........2007-09-17
Do not read this book. I have never in my life read so many lies in one book. He is just trying to divert our nation's attention from the lobbies that are doing the most harm: The pro-choice movement, the teachers unions, the environmental lobby, and, most theatening of all - the Norwegians.
These are the nefarious organizations with unlimited financial power and unrivaled political and media influence who use violence and intimidation to force their will upon our nation. Shame on Amazon for giving voice to this author who is obviously bent on the annihilation of God's Chosen Race.
Harder Read But Most Worthy, Start with the Other Book.......2007-09-03
This book is a perfect counter-point to The Power of Israel in the United States. I review that book also, and recommend both books to every American, just as I also recommend the books that document how the Saudis have bought the Bush Family and the Republican and Democratic parties, neither of which represents We the People. Completely apart from the venal immorality of Dick Cheney (see my review of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency in which I itemized the 23 high crimes and misdemeanors documented by that book), the fact is that Congress has been bought by multiple parties, and no longer represents We the People.
This book is a harder, longer read, so I recommend you start with the other book. As with the other book, this book is a strongly documented and very lengthy catalog of the sins of the Zionists and the Israeli Government, not at all against the moderate Jews and their legitimate concerns. I have seen Gaza and Beirut, and what Israel has done to the Palestinians, to the former "Paris" of the Middle East, combined with their Assault on the Liberty, is unforgivable.
This book logically catalogs how the Zionists intimidate even such a person as Ted Turner, who was forced to back down when he said both sides were committing terrorism (there is in fact a UN Resolution that finds Israel guilty of genocide and racism, but then that is one of those "fog facts" that our totalitarian monsters choose to ignore.
The author organizes the book around how Zionists silence the small and the weak, while buying out the Oval Office, the Congress, the media, while also subverting academic freedon.
I especially like the author's conclusion, "What Price Israel?" The US taxpayer is subsidizing Israeli genocide and Israeli idiocy, and the US and Israel appear to be the last two countries to continue to believe in the value of force that is both unaffordable and unsustainable in an unconquerable world.
Congressman Tom Moran, who represents my district, has personally said that Zionish have too much influence on Congress, and I agree. Tom Moran has been a very good representative, and he speaks the truth.
Here are some books and a DVD that can put the totally unacceptable Zionist influence on the USA in a larger context:
Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
Findley is Pathologically Obsessed With Israel and its American Supporters.......2007-08-28
If readers want to read a book that evinces a pathological obsession with Israel and its American supporters and blames them for every problem under the sun, then by all means buy this book. But if you don't, avoid this book like the plague. Paul Findley is a former Congressman who now serves as a pro-Arab propagandist and Palestinian apologist. When I read reviews that refer to him as objective, I have to laugh. Findley is as one-sided and biased in his views as they come.
The absurdity of Findley's thesis is easy to prove. People and institutions are constantly "speaking out" to attack Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in the most vicious terms. What punishment do they face for doing this from the Israel lobby? None whatsoever. No one is suppressing their free speech. Jimmy Carter and Professors Walt and Mearsheimer, among others, are free to present their biased and distorted views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the influence of the Israeli lobby without retaliation. Some criticism, yes, but no suppression of free speech.
One might ask why Findley was defeated in his Congressional reelection bid some years ago by a candidate supported by AIPAC? I would submit that it was Findley's greater concern for Yasir Arafat's interests than those of his own constituents that was responsible for his defeat, not any conspiracy on the part of Israel's supporters.
I note that many of the reviewers have repeated the standard and tired line that one can't criticize Israel without being labeled anti-Semitic. One can criticize Israel and the Israeli lobby without being anti-Semitic. Unfortunately, many of the reviews posted here show that some of the people who criticize Israel and the Israeli lobby resort to anti-Semitic stereotypes and cross the line into open anti-Semitism and bigotry, a la the Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgery. If you believe that there's a sinister Jewish conspiracy to control the U.S. government and media for nefarious purposes, you hold anti-Semitic views. For those of you who don't hold those views, stay away from this awful book.
Eye opening.......2007-07-28
Extremely well written and informative book about the powerful Israel lobby that operates under the radar--often times against the interests of the US.
Amazon.com
Postville, Iowa (population 1,478), seems an unlikely place to find a sizable Jewish population, let alone an ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher population. It is, after all, in the heart of pork country, and the world headquarters of the Lubavitchers is far away in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. But when the Hygrade meat processing plant, just outside Postville, went belly-up, threatening the town with decline, Sholom Rubashkin bought it and turned it into a glatt kosher processing plant, complete with shochtim and a rabbinical inspectorate. By the late 1980s, "Postville had more rabbis per capita than any other city in the United States, perhaps the world."
The enterprise was a huge international success, with its kosher meats exported even to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Jewish population grew to 150, and they were rich. The town was saved, and the people were grateful. All's well that ends well? Not quite. The Hasidim kept to themselves, did things their own way, and basically had no interest in integrating into Postville. And why would they? Their laws are strict, their mission clear, their community defined by race and religion. They are not interested in watermelon socials or coffee klatches at the diner. Their little boys do not swim with their little girls, are not educated together, and do not go on play dates with goyim. Small-town Iowans, on the other hand, are very friendly. They know each other's news, they support each other's businesses, they wish each other Merry Christmas, they want you to feel at home. They don't like that the new townspeople stomp up the street hunched over, talking in a foreign language and looking straight through them when greeted. They really don't like it when one of the newcomers drives around town with a 10-foot candelabra strapped to his car playing music at full volume for eight consecutive winter nights. They don't actually know about menorahs or Hanukkah.
Into this comes secular Jew Stephen Bloom, a professor at the University of Iowa. By the time he arrived in Postville, the town was riven along religious lines. One of the townspeople was running for mayor on the sole platform of annexation of the land on which the plant stood. Rubashkin was threatening that he'd shut the plant and leave if that came to pass. Bloom closely considers both sides, and the result is a wonderful book. It is a fascinating tale of culture clash in the American heartland: the John Deere cap meets the black fur hat. It is a book about identity and community and what it means to be American. It covers all the things you aren't supposed to talk about at the dinner table--religion, politics, and even sex. It is full of suspense: Will the plant be annexed? Will the Jews leave? And it is also Bloom's exploration of his own sense of belonging. --J. Riches
Book Description
In 1987, a group of Lubavitchers, one of the most orthodox and zealous of the Jewish sects, opened a kosher slaughterhouse just outside tiny Postville, Iowa (pop. 1,465). When the business became a worldwide success, Postville found itself both revived and divided. The town's initial welcome of the Jews turned into confusion, dismay, and even disgust. By 1997, the town had engineered a vote on what everyone agreed was actually a referendum: whether or not these Jews should stay.
The quiet, restrained Iowans were astonished at these brash, assertive Hasidic Jews, who ignored the unwritten laws of Iowa behavior in almost every respect. The Lubavitchers, on the other hand, could not compromise with the world of Postville; their religion and their tradition quite literally forbade it. Were the Iowans prejudiced, or were the Lubavitchers simply unbearable?
Award-winning journalist Stephen G. Bloom found himself with a bird's-eye view of this battle and gained a new perspective on questions that haunt America nationwide. What makes a community? How does one accept new and powerfully different traditions? Is money more important than history? In the dramatic and often poignant stories of the people of Postville - Jew and gentile, puzzled and puzzling, unyielding and unstoppable - lies a great swath of America today.
Customer Reviews:
For Everyone.......2007-07-16
What is cultural identity? Matzoh ball soup or holy scripture? John Deere caps or yarmulkes? Postville is a wonderful book because it isn't written as a traditional news report that pretends to be objective and removed from the subject at hand.
Stephen Bloom's book is worth reading because he makes clear that every observer brings predjudices and what Postville reveals is the author's discovery and coming to grips with his own set of beliefs. Are deeply religious people more moral than others? Are American values of freedom really available to everyone?
As an author of a memoir myself (Typo: The Last American Typesetter or How I Made and Lost 4 Million Dollars) that deals with culture clash in Iowa--I couldn't get a flat fixed on my rental car because "Men should know how to change a tire."--I can report that Bloom has nailed the difficulty outsiders have in small towns.
I have also seen first hand how people portrayed in a book will find the worst thing the book says about them and lock onto it. You can see that in the reviews of Postville here on Amazon. Jews think Bloom is an anti-semite. Iowans think he is a snarky city boy.
But Bloom does his best to show all sides of everyone in the story, which makes his narrative more, not less, believable.
Like the book The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust that talks about the poor reception for some European Jews by their bretheren in Israel, this book is honest.
Read it, and learn what Bloom has laid out so clearly: all of us are ready to blame someone else for our problems.
Bloom: Journalist, or Embarassed Jew?.......2007-04-17
Firstly, I enjoyed and was fascinated by Postville. Second, I'm a non-Orthodox, yet identifying Jew who hails from the Midwest and who attended University of Missouri-Columbia, quite similar to Iowa City. So yes, Bloom's descriptions were accurate and yes, the stereotypes are lived up to (feed commercials on TV, little in the way of ethnic culture). I also have had contact with ultra-Orthodox Jews; specifically, I have Lubavitch relatives. So I'm qualified to "judge", as it were, all sides involved, or at least no less qualified than Bloom.
Secondly, I too "came down on the side of" the Iowans. In fact, because of Bloom's descriptions of the Lubavitchers -- so antithetical to the behavior that I've come to expect from them -- I began to suspect that perhaps they were not actually Lubavitchers, but posing as Lubavitchers, or some sort of spinoff sect a la those Mormons you read about from whom the church hurries to disassociate itself. In any case, the Postville Lubavitchers certainly didn't resemble any Lubavitchers I've met.
Mostly, a seemingly trivial detail bugged me the entire way through; I say "seemingly", because it actually encapsulates (as does Bloom's stay in Iowa) what I call the American Jewish dilemma, i.e., must we be chained to an urban existence in order to remain Jewish? I'm referring to several instances wherein Bloom went out of his way to tell us that he ate treif food. Not just treif, as in "We stopped in at McDonald's for burgers on our way home", but specifically pork. The minute I read this, my respect for him dropped several notches. What was he thinking by deliberately spelling out to the reader his non-observance of kashrut? That this would endear him to gentile readers? This matter angered me far more than his unsavory descriptions of the Lubavitchers; while he can't control their behavior, he can control his own, or at least not "diss" Jewish observance from the rooftops.
The reviewer who pointed out that the locals' anger at the Lubavitchers' deserting their businesses for Wal-Mart may have been displaced anger at Wal-Mart was on target. After all, we all know what Wal-Mart is doing to small-town America's economy.
I also liked how Bookaholic put it regarding the Lubavitchers' behavior feeding into stereotypes. Indeed. However, the leap that some reviewers make to such behavior explaining anti-Semitism and pogroms -- whoa! That's forbidden territory. Don't even attempt to go there. That's where my intercultural tolerance ends, people. I had assumed that folks who read books are more incisive than that. Or do you, too, believe that an Easter newspaper headline reading "He Is Risen" is actually jounalism?
Read between the lines of this book and learn some of the reasons why Jews are hated.......2006-11-29
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America looks at how tensions gradually erupt between locals and hasidic Jews who opened a kosher slaughterhouse in a rural farming community. This book was written by a secular Jew from the west coast who had moved to Iowa to take a job as a university professor.
While the author certainly has issues of his own (he actually cites the scoutmaster mentioning Jesus Christ at his sons Boy Scouts meeting as an example of anti-semitism he has experienced in Iowa!) I don't think the most rabid Jew hater could have done a better job of making the Hasidic Lubavitchers look bad. After being taken under the wing of Lubavitchers who wanted to convert him, as a secular Jew, to their Hasidic sect, Bloom in the end exposes the Lubavitchers worst traits. From their petty haggling over prices in local stores over the smallest of items, to their racist attitudes towards "goyim" and "schwartzs", while simultaneously accusing anybody who disagrees with them of being anti-semitic, to their refusal to pay debts and honor contracts in business dealings and other bullying business practices, their importation of illegal immigrant riff raff to this once homogenous crime free town to cheapen their labor costs, even their cruel way of slaughtering animals to make the meat kosher are brought to light. All of these factors, along with the Hasidic Jews refusal to participate in the community other than by using it to make themselves rich, gradually over a period of time caused major tensions between multi-generational locals and the Lubavitchers. On the other hand he does show some of their admirable traits also, like being family oriented and their obsessivly strict adherence to preserving their own culture and customs.
Overall this a very good book that I would recomend to anybody interested in Jewish culture, or anybody that wants to delve into reasons why Jews, who seem to never be able to see the reasons themselves, are often disliked, throughout the world and history, by people of many races and cultures. You can also learn a lot about the tensions and infighting that goes on between secular Jews like Bloom and the Orthodox Jews too.
Disappointing in every way.......2006-09-29
Although the author purports to take an objective view of what he calls the clash of cultures in Postville, his portrait of the conflicts in the town are in no way nuanced or thoughtful. Clearly his ambivalence about his own religious identity has shaped his perception of life in Postville. The author has not taken the time to learn about the Orthodox Jewish traditions he so smugly and sanctimoniously dismisses as "guilt-producing." He manages to reduce his concept of meaningful Judaism to bagels, lox, and pastrami. By the end of the book I found myself wondering why he had bothered to identify himself as Jewish since his view of the religious traditions he derides seem so superficial to him. To me the book failed the basic test of intellectual honesty and clarity of thought. It was in addition, poorly written.
Badly written ant-Semitism.......2006-08-03
I found this book wholly disappointing. It was an extremely narrow and one sided view of not only the Lubavitch community but also Judaism itself. Like the author, I too am Jewish, however, I found the references to common day Jewish practices (such as donning tefillin) offensive, as this was seen as alien whereas in Judaism this is commonplace. Anyone who has had any contact with the Lubavitch community will find them nothing short of extremely hospitable, charitable and welcoming. With regard to their suspicion of the secular world: I think this book is proof, if it were required, that this type of suspicion is justifiable. In defence of the Postville community specifically, I'm amazed that there is little mention of the employment capabilities which the factories bring and the significant number of non-Jews employed by the family. I'm saddened that a Jew insecure as he must be with his own faith, feels it necessary to write a book like this. The book is at best badly written anti-Semitism and at worst a very dangerous attack on a religion to which Mr Bloom claims to belong, as is shown by some of the sadly anti-Semitic comments posted here. At this time in our history, Jews should be rallying to support each other instead of factionalising openly.
Book Description
Inspired by David Ray Griffin's internationally acclaimed book The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11, this anthology presents a variety of perspectives on 9/11 and empire from authors who identify with one of the major Abrahamic traditions. Co-edited by a major Christian theologian (John Cobb), a Jewish scholar (Sandra Lubarsky), and a Muslim scholar (Kevin Barrett), the book features essays by 9/11 revisionists and activists alongside those of noted writers and scholars, including several of the leading religious intellectuals of our time. The writers offer reflections on 9/11 and empire informed by the moral principles of their religious traditions as well as by the obligation to engage in thoughtful dialogue with those of other traditions. While the question of of the Bush administration's and Us military and intelligence leaders' possible complicity in 9/11- and the moral implications of facing that possibility-is at the forefront of the book's agenda, it also addresses the way 9/11 has been used to expand the US empire's "global domination project"-raising profound moral questions that confront all of us, whatever our views on 9/11 complicity and whatever our faith, worldview, or national/ethnic identification.
Contributors include Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, Kevin Barrett, Faiz Khan, Enver Masud, Yasmin Ahmed, Tamar Frankiel, Roger Gottlieb, Marc Ellis, Sandra Lubarsky, Rabbi Michael Lerner, John Cobb, David Ray Griffin, Carter Heyward, Catherine Keller, and Rosemary Radford Ruether.
Customer Reviews:
The Pagans will rule the world.......2007-08-19
Many years ago, someone said that if there were some smart aliens out there in space, their first knowledge of our civilization might come from capturing a few "I Love Lucy" shows, as they were some of the earlier television shows to be broadcast. And while that would confirm the presence of life on Earth, it might leave the aliens wondering about the possible presence of intelligent life here.
Well, I think they were wrong about Lucy. Sure, that was a mindless show. But I think our aliens would quickly guess that the characters might just be actors and actresses, rather than Important Leaders of Society. And they might even guess that the show was some sort of comedy or satire. I doubt that we'd have much to fear in this regard.
I wish I could say the same for this book.
I favor human rights for all. I value truth. I'm a Pagan and a Polytheist, and in my opinion, this book makes the monotheists look worse than any other book I have ever seen. It makes even "I Love Lucy" look honest, scholarly and sophisticated by comparison, and I'm not a fan of that show at all. If the monotheists do eventually become an insignificant minority and the Pagans become the majority, maybe some day, people will look at this book and say "Golly, no wonder the monotheists lost so badly." The contempt for facts and logic shown by the contributors to this book is incredible.
I was sorry to see that a book such as "Debunking 9/11 Myths" by Popular Mechanics was needed. But I guess some of you folks out there ought to read it.
By the way, I'm a liberal, and I do not like the present administration at all, and I think the war in Iraq has been a mistake. But books such as this one sure do not help those of us who say so. They tar us as immoral idiots and bullies.
John Cobb talks about "the evil that results from erroneous beliefs" and wishes that the Christian churches would adopt a "commitment to truth." Very funny. David Griffin says that "as long as the church does not explicitly oppose this empire, it is, by its silence, a de facto supporter of it." That does seem a little arbitrary, given how many ochlocracies the church really could justifiably oppose.
Next there are articles by Carter Heyward, Catherine Keller, and Rosemary Reuther.
Well, so much for the "Christians." What about the "Jews?" Sandra Lubarsky tells of John Kennedy, who indicated that refusal to abide human rights for the Blacks would make us "forfeit the right to worship God." She thinks we might be similarly accused if we fail to promote and protect life. Well, she might be right about that, and I think she needs to work much harder at promoting and protecting life!
Marc Ellis, Tamar Frankiel, Roger Gottlieb, and Michael Lerner also have some words for us. It's a pity that they did not use their talents to say something of value. Ellis may be the most outrageous of this bunch.
I found the sections by the Muslim contributors to be the most amazing. Kevin Barrett makes no sense at all. Nafeez Ahmed appears to wonder why there was a Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism. It sure looks suspicious to him! I'm not making this up, by the way. Faiz Khan has a fine title which refers to "the paralysis of discourse, the incompetence of academia, and the need for an accurate diagnosis." He should have stopped right there. We do indeed have a problem in academia, and we do indeed need the help of those who not only can but will provide us with an accurate diagnosis. And he's not helping! Enver Masud writes about "a clash between justice and greed." It makes me wonder if all the contributors are simply projecting. Yasmin Ahmed puts forth some fine questions. Are we indeed asking Muslims not to be "too Muslim?" If so, that would be arbitrary and immoral of us. But if we merely ask Muslims to agree to be law-abiding members of society, that would be reasonable. Which is it? And I think she does a poor job of answering this.
I'm not a monotheist, but I'm still embarrassed that anyone would come up with the stuff in this book.
A matter of life and death.......2007-03-11
This is in any case a very courageous book, even though the contributions vary in the extreme. Some authors accept the official 9/11 version. Most, however, see 9/11 as an inside job, a mantra for permitting preemptive war, disregarding human rights and personal freedom (S. Lubarsky).
One big chasm between the contributors is the fact that some see religion as an end, not as a means.
Religion is the institutionalization of people's irrational beliefs by the rulers to consolidate, enhance or justify their power and policies (J. Diamond). Fundamentalist followers are their best foot folk.
In the 9/11 case, R. Ruether speaks of `misuse of religious language'.
C. Heyward defines it more perfectly: `the problem with 9/11 is how religion was used to exploit the violence. The leaders of the US are justifying their behavior by faith in a god who is a concoction of their own lust of power.'
Nearly all the authors stress that Muslim fundamentalist terrorism with its symbol Al Qaeda and `its legend Osama Bin Laden' (R. Griffin), together with `the axis of evil' is the focal point. By creating terrorism as the main global enemy a screenplay of endless war (R. Ruether) should justify endless defense budgets.
But, there is not only Muslim fundamentalism. C. Keller exposes bitterly the Christian Right. She quotes one version of it: `war-making is precisely the work of killing people, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying one's work.' As Dante did already in the Renaissance, she pleads for a strong distinction between Religion and State.
More, N.M. Ahmed in `Interrogating Terrorism' explains clearly that the link between Muslim fundamentalism and Western intelligence is in no way cut. Muslim fundamentalism is still used in `the strategy of terror' and in covert destabilization of important oil countries to counter Russian and Chinese influence.
The most radical proposition comes from Rabbi M. Lerner `to use 5 % of the GDP to eliminate poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education and healthcare and repair damage to the environment'. In view of R. McNamara's statement that `the US military spending could safely be cut in half' (quoted in E. Masud), the 5 % should be absolutely no problem.
Rabbi M. Lerner has other very important propositions in his sleeve, thereby criticizing heavily the actual government: `eliminate the electoral college, instant run-off voting, fully publicly financial elections, firm public control of electronic voting.'
In his critic he is not alone. For J. Cobb Jr. the US `is moving away from authentic rule by the people. Today we are more a plutocracy than a democracy.'
And C. Heyward sees `our political system as inextricable from capitalist powerbrokers and that what we hear from government is bound up in greed, corruption, lies, and violence.'
This book is a must read for all those interested in the future of mankind.
The terror myth should not become a self-fulfilling prophesy (E. Masud) and the sovereignty of the people should be taken seriously (J. Cobb Jr.).
Common Ground for People of Faith.......2006-10-28
Following hot on the heels of 9/11 and American Empire Vol. I: Intellectuals Speak Out comes Vol. II: Christians, Jews and Muslims Speak Out.
Co-edited by Kevin Barrett, John B. Cobb Jr., and Sandra Lubarsky, Vol. II succeeds on several levels.
First, the quality of writing and serious contemplative nature of each essay builds on what has been an amazing year for written output about 9/11. Second, apart from Griffin's volume, Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11, Vol. II sets a standard for frank discussion of morality in the shadow of the US hegemon (in the wake of 9/11). Third, for someone who is devoutly or moderately religious, but has not examined the events of 9/11 in a critical light, Vol. II packs a powerful punch. Informed by Griffin's informative rundown of False Flag terrorism, and Nafeez Ahmed's thoroughly documented reinterpretation of "international terrorism", one cannot walk away from this book without being a little bit wiser about the Machiavellian nature of the War on Terror and the historical roots of state-sponsored terrorism.
With Barrett's name on the lips of Wisconsin politicians and attack dogs on FOX News, his notoriety is assured. Cobb is known and respected as a pioneer in the fusion of Process Thought and Christianity. Lubarsky seems to have come on board with the other two editors via her association with David Ray Griffin; she co-edited a volume with him called Jewish Theology and Process Thought. Griffin is also a Process Theologian, so we can say that Alfred North Whitehead is well represented here.
Other notable authors also contribute to Vol. II, not least the rabbi Michael Lerner, whose short piece reveals his willingness to contemplate the worst about 9/11, and also reveals his prior experience with infiltration of a political organization by agents of the state. Sage advice for the naive.
Vol. II makes for an interesting primer to all three religions, with discussion inspired by the notion that 9/11 was a catalyst for geopolitical maneuvering that most Americans would not support without such a catalyst. It turns out that there is a lot of common ground for people of faith to stand on, to examine their priorities and formulate a response to 9/11 that is not afraid to stand apart from the Imperial ambitions of a "New Rome".
Much of the value of the book can only be transmitted by a first-hand reading. The subjective nature of the 9/11 experience informed by each author's religious worldview is a welcome addition to the growing library of 9/11 skepticism.
Customer Reviews:
Detailed, but flawed........2007-05-23
Goldberg has produced an excellent book explaining why Jews often think the way they do with regards to politics. Still, after explaining in minute detail, he fails to truly explain the power of false charges of anti-semetism. The most notorious example is that of the A.D.L. and their constant smear tactics of those who don't gobble down the Israeli party line. He has also failed to explain some of the criminal elements within that organization, tracing back many years now. Otherwise, the book is very solid. He should have tried to stop explaining away Jewish power in places where Jews carry unprecedented weight, especially when it comes to fund raising and race relations. If you can forgive this and his failure to cover the A.D.L. properly, it is a worthy read.
An Ideal Read for a Book Club.......2006-02-28
This book really gets to the core of the influence of the Jewish community in America. It takes on topics that are explored in few other forums. Jewish Power is an ideal book for a bookclub made up of both Jews and non-Jews.
"Inside the American Jewish Establishment".......2003-04-30
JEWISH POWER by obviously liberal journalist J. J. Goldberg describes the influence of America's Jewish community in influencing the US government. There are several problems with the book. It does not provide enough historical context and skims over some areas where Jews are either predominient (such as in Hollywood or textiles) or grossly represented out of proportion to the rest of the population (such as the mainstream media and Ivy League schools). Goldberg has a lot of ace to cover, and this is the type of book that might rile up that old demon "anti-Semitism" because it gives striking details on how much power the organized Jewish community wields (which includes Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagouges plus the non-affiliated). But otherwise what Goldberg does say is worth the five stars. The vast majority of the book is about the ins-and-outs of Jewish 'alphabet soup' organizations, AIPAC's lobbying for Israel and its silencing of opponents, and a lengthy analysis of the conflicts between blacks and Jews from the mid-70s.
Jews form the most consistently liberal segment of the US population, and Democratic canidates for President have usually been able to command roughly 80% of the Jewish vote. One-half of the white civil rights leaders that went to the South were Jews, the NAACP was formed and directed by Jews into the mid-60s and Jews have been consistently leading the fight for "seperation of church and state" (i.e. demoralizing Christians). 50% of the Democratic party's money comes from Jewish contributers. This can be decieving, because the Jewish swing vote can influence elections, hence the Republican party also tries to drum up Jewish support, and 20% of Republican money comes from Jews. Although the section about Jews in the media is far too brief and cursory, it mentions the NEW YORK TIMES as being the front voice for current Jewish opinions (1/3 of the TIMES' readership is estimated as Jewish anyway) and 1/4 of major editors for news magazines are Jewish. As for the perennial rumors of Jews controlling the media and Hollywood in particular, consider this quote from page 280:
"And in a few key sectors of the media, notably among Hollywood studio executives, Jews are so numerically dominant that calling these businesses Jewish-controlled is little more than a statistical observation."
The most popular movement in America is what is called "Neoconservatism." Goldberg shows that the Neocon think tank was dominated from the start back in the sixties by ex-Marxists, most of whom were Jews. Aside for its disparaging of liberals and the media in general, it is basically a re-hash of Marxism popularized in the sixties, but made more efficient. Neoconservatives do not want to do away with the welfare state, but want to make it more efficient, and it is known as "kosher conservativism" because of its unconditional support for the State of Israel.
Not So Powerful.......2002-09-05
Jewish Power was probably written in reaction to books about Israel and Jewish politics like They Dare to Speak Out which author J.J. Goldberg considers to be overwrought fantasies.
He gives his evidence showing that Jews do have considerable influence on politics, but not as much as Gentiles think and not as little as Jews think. He shows why he thinks that the Isreal and Jewish political organizations aren't that strong. He shows why many think that the American media is actually anti-Israel. He shows the fractiousness and disorganization of Jews in which they are just as quick call each other names as outsiders, which I suppose is presented to dispel speculations that the Jews are a united political force. However he does say that American Jews have been put under a lot of pressure to support Israel's policies no matter what and not criticize them.
The book is most interesting in the beginning and near the end. In the beginning, he talks about President Bush Sr.'s remark about being "up against powerful political forces" when he was trying to make peace in Israel. This was considered to be a shaded antisemitic statement that may have had an adverse effect on his last run for election given the Jewish swing vote and huge monetary contributions to elections. Half of the Democrat's campaign money for major elections come from such generosity and even a good deal of Republican's, Goldberg claims. Of course, this fact is not mentioned much since this fuels conspiracy theories.
The interesting part in the end is the one in which Goldberg explores the split between the blacks and Jews in the mid-seventies over affirmative action. The Jews were against quotas and the blacks were not; the blacks felt betrayed by the Jews and therefore betrayed them in kind since I think the blacks need quotas more than the Jews. He covers the anti-Semitism or the criticism against the Jews of black leaders such as Jesse Jackson, Leonard Jefferies, and Louis Farrakan.
Sometimes this book can be boring as the reader wades through the coverage of the myriad of Jewish alphabet soup organizations and their leaders along with special interest group legislation that they support. Since Goldberg's premise is that Jewish politics isn't terribly powerful, it does not have the sensational appeal of the muckraking exposes. It also would have been a more effective account if the author would have confronted some more of what other more critical books were saying, such as the claim that Israel's military attacked the our USS Liberty. I wasn't entirely convinced with his arguments, but he gave it his best shot.
On etzer.......2002-04-12
I simply had to make a statement about etzer, because I found what he/she was saying incredibly disturbing. I believe that this person really needs to study the affects of abuse upon people. Abused people, unfortunately, often become major abusers themselves. Please rethink your thoughts on needing to have power and control over other people and your need to be "better" than other people. I think if you study your own history, tragically, you will find where this idea comes from. Please excuse my not reviewing this book properly.
Amazon.com
Most recently in the spotlight as one of the many defense lawyers attending O. J. Simpson in his first criminal trial, attorney Alan M. Dershowitz is also a powerful advocate for the liberal Jewish tradition in this country. In an earlier book, Chutzpah, Dershowitz celebrated an end to Jewish isolation and institutional anti-Semitism in America; in his latest book, The Vanishing American Jew, he decries the perhaps inevitable result of this desegregation: assimilation.
Dershowitz writes powerfully about his fear that, with nothing to struggle against and no powerful motivation to maintain traditions, American secular Jews will, within a few generations, lose their Jewishness. The author writes from a privileged position: raised an Orthodox Jew, he embraced secular Judaism in his young adulthood and thus comes equipped with an intimate understanding of what he has chosen to reject and accept. Though Dershowitz has no definitive answers for the problem of The Vanishing American Jew, the questions he raises may be the first step in discovering a solution.
Book Description
In this urgent book, Alan M. Dershowitz shows why American Jews are in danger of disappearing - and what must be done now to create a renewed sense of Jewish identity for the next century. In previous times, the threats to Jewish survival were external - the virulent consequences of anti-Semitism. Now, however, in late-twentieth-century America, the danger has shifted. Jews today are more secure, more accepted, more assimilated, and more successful than ever before. They've dived into the melting pot - and they've achieved the American Dream. And that, according to Dershowitz, is precisely the problem. More than 50 percent of Jews will marry non-Jews, and their children will most often be raised as non-Jews. Which means, in the view of Dershowitz, that American Jews will vanish as a distinct cultural group sometime in the next century - unless they act now. Speaking to concerned Jews everywhere, Dershowitz calls for a new Jewish identity that focuses on the positive - the 3,500-year-old legacy of Jewish culture, values, and traditions. Dershowitz shows how this new Jewish identity can compete in America's open environment of opportunity and choice - and offers concrete proposals on how to instill it in the younger generation.
Download Description
In "Is There A Future For Us?", Alan M. Dershowitz interprets what it means to be an American Jew in the next century--and the possibility that there may not "be" a future for American Jews--the loss of identity is that severe.
Customer Reviews:
It recognizes the problem .......2005-06-21
This book is to be commended for recognizing a real problem. The American - Jewish community is declining in numbers. It is an aging community, one with high- rates of intermarriage, and low rates of fertility. It is a community which is an increasingly small percentage of American society as a whole.
Why is this important?
I think that there are two answers, one for Jews and another for American non- Jews.
Jewish communities have thrived in various places in the world, and then disappeared. The American Jewry community is an especially important one for the Jewish people historically especially in its relation to Israel and the Jewish people as a whole.
As for the second reason, I would maintain that for general American society the survival and thriving of an American- Jewish community is important because this community has made great contributions to American life in many different areas, and as on the whole been a great creative factor in the shaping of American civilization.
In considering the situation of American Jews it is necessary to understand that the challenges and character of American life are different from those that the Jews have known elsewhere. Only in America have Jews been given a kind of access and acceptance which in our own time means that there is virtually no discrimination against them. It is because America accepts the Jews, and adopts so much of what is Jewish as part of itself that assimilation happens so readily in the United States.
Clearly to preserve its own tradition and way the Jews of America have to ( This is Dershowitz's major recommendation) greatly increase the quality and quantity of Jewish education. Sadly most American Jews are very ignorant about their own traditions. And one encouraging element in American - Jewish life is the intense return to Jewish learning by a certain minority of the population.
Clearly learning to understand what the Jewish community and its history is , is central to preserving Jewish identity.
Another point. Since the publication of Dershowitz's book there has been a dramatic increase in world-wide anti-Semitism. This often takes the form of Anti- Zionism and is directed primarily against Israel.
American Jews have in the past played an important role in helping support the survival of Israel. Though support for Israel among the broad American public is relatively stable over the past forty years, and though there is massive Christian Evangelical support for Israel there is also now in the US a strong anti- Semitic, anti- Israel movement which combines Islamic fundamentalists, Palestinian Arab nationalists, those of the extreme right, and perhaps even more alarmingly , extreme left, politically.
A strong American Jewish community is an important element in ensuring an Israel which can survive in the future.
In this regard one additional element in strengthening Jewish young people's identity as Jews is through their traveling to and knowing Israel. The special 'Birthright' programs have attempted to do some of this.
Dershowitz surveys the problem, and shows his heart is in the right place.
His book is in this sense highly recommended. It should be supplemented however by the works of Jack Wertheimer, Sylvia Barack- Fishman, and others who consider this problem.
A great read both for Jews and non-Jews.......2005-03-25
Book Review: The Vanishing American Jew
By: Alan M. Dershowitz
Review By: Joshua W. Delano
Alan M. Dershowitz uses his keen intellect to delve into the issue of The Vanishing American Jew with the same vigor and attentiveness he has applied to his storied criminal defense practice. Dershowitz makes a case that the prominent threat no longer lays within institutional anti-Semitism in America. Instead, he points out the threat to Jews and their way of life by assimilation. No longer do the Jews have to be united against a common enemy such as the Nazism of the Holocaust generation or Government sanctioned anti-Semitism. Intermarriage to non-Jews and assimilation into American society is now the primary danger to a people who've survived through so much persecution and toil.
Some 50 percent of Jews will marry non-Jews, and their children will most often be raised as non-Jews. In Dershowitz's view, the Jewish people will vanish from the planet sometime in the next hundred or so years. The threats to Jews are no longer external by his account. No longer are Jews in danger from the genocidal acts of Hitler or those fringe groups of present day whose threats Dershowitz discounts as marginal. Now Jews are threatened by themselves and the fact that as a people they've accomplished the American dream, becoming assimilated into the mainstream of this country.
Likely, there is no better person to take on this subject with a unique perspective both of Jewish religion and custom, as well as legal and political activism. Dershowitz has become an institution as well as a magnet to many young legal minds who aspire to greatness by choosing Harvard Law School, where he has enjoyed a successful tenure.
While dissecting the situation, the author elaborates on points such as Neo-Nazi whites and Nation of Islam anti-Semites uniting in lockstep against the Jews of present day. These threats are what he labels, as marginal and nothing compared to what Jews have faced in the past. He points out when he speaks to older Jewish audiences, he is often, "accused sometimes stridently, of minimizing anti-Semitism and am told that it is worse than ever." They see the glass as not half-full or half-empty, but instead as cracked and unfixable. A sentiment he says is in contrast with the reality of acceptance and notes that Jews are more so a part of mainstream America today than ever before. The author points out that the older generation's identities are so tied up with their victimization, they are incapable of accepting the good news that the situation is improving.
In comparison, a 1988 poll of Jewish students at Dartmouth College poignantly notes: When asked whether they believed that their Jewish ness would in any way hamper their future success, not a single student answered in the affirmative. Dershowitz considers this the current reality.
Whereas, the threat from black or Aryan neo-Nazi types is marginal, Dershowitz explains that the greater threat is that of the Christian right. Many Jews that convert to Christianity are not doing so per se, but actually converting to the American mainstream. At the present time Conservative Jews and Christians are uniting for many political causes and moving along at proficient level in policy and coalition building.
Though the author views this as a threat, it is hard for me to see it as anything other than the greater good. While Dershowitz calls it assimilation and a threat to group identity, I do not see it so cynical. Perhaps he has the wisdom and advantage of his years to have built upon his cynicism, but I see it in an ideally good way. Unity is a good thing, is it not? He refers to it as assimilation and a threat to the Jewish people and religion, I see it as all of God's people coming together for what is right, good, and just.
Mr. Dershowitz points out that his own son married a Catholic young lady, causing some unrest with his mother. He was happy, and is now with the outcome, although bothered in some ways internally. Though, Dershowitz's mother was a harder sell, requiring the consult of a Rabbi to find out why her grandson was "doing this to me." In the end all was well and Dershowitz lists some ways of handling these situations for Jews whose children intermarry. He urges that Jewish parents should be supportive, loving, and inclusive of the new spouse. Likewise, as in the case of his son, he recommended being positive and inclusive in the celebration of their Jewish identity.
This is what Dershowitz emphasizes as an essential aspect of maintaining Jewish identity and Jews as a people in America. Emphasizing the positive aspects of Judaism rather than always being so clannish and cynical. Numerous times however, Mr. Dershowitz uses humor in his book to emphasize the perceptions and misperceptions both of Jews as well as the anti-Semitic world view of those who are not Jewish. In his analysis, Dershowitz opines, "Judaism must become less tribal, less ethnocentric, less exclusive, less closed off, less defensive, less xenophobic, less clannish. We jokingly call ourselves "members of the tribe" (MOTs), as if to remind us of our tribal origins. Tribalism may be easy to justify when others treat us as a tribe, as they long have. But it becomes anachronistic and antagonistic - to behave like a tribe when others treat us like part of the mainstream."
In some aspects of the text, Mr. Dershowitz lists the sentiments of many Jews which the reader may confuse as the author's. As a seasoned defense attorney, he is always the epitome of a devil's advocate. In The Vanishing American Jew, Dershowitz weaves facts, perceptions, misperceptions, and myth as he makes his case for which modus operandi should be utilized to preserve Jewish identity in America. Jokingly, Dershowitz mentions that most Jews want their children to: be Jewish but not too Jewish, want their children to be observant of High Holidays, but not too observant, want their children to pray, but not too much.
One point I'd agree with Dershowitz on undoubtedly would be that there has to be a balance. He concedes that Jews must maintain their culture and religion without being clannish. Also, that Jews should assimilate into mainstream America to the extent that they should still be observant of their identity as Jews. Likewise that Jews of the present and in the future should maintain the religious connection passing on the Jewish culture and customs to future generations.
Mr. Dershowitz does a great job of weighing all perspectives and getting down to the problem at hand. The laborious analysis and supporting argument for maintaining and prolonging Jews into further generations gives the reader a sturdy foundation with which to come to a conclusion. While looking to the future, Dershowitz recalls from his own past as well as historical input to show that Jews must not forget who they are, where they've come from, and where Jews as a people are headed.
This issue in my eyes of course will be slanted by my being both a Gentile and a Christian, albeit a Monotheistic one. I view Judaism and the Jews as God's chosen people and the need for their survival as a people is very important. In the book Dershowitz uses historical analysis and Judaism as a religion as his vehicle for convincing the reader of his cause and his case. At the same time, he takes a more intellectual and humanistic approach as to the reasoning behind his argument, only supplementing it with the religious aspect to appeal to all Jews in the Orthodox to Reform-liberal strata.
It is obvious he believes in the importance of maintaining the religious aspects but seemingly he puts too much of a humanistic focus on the crisis to suit my palate. If God has seen Jews through all these years, why can Dershowitz not trust in God that He will see them through until the coming of the Messiah? I of course have faith that God will see Jews through because they are His people and they shall not depart from the earth as a people as Dershowitz predicts.
Dershowitz makes a great case and if you are thinking along humanistic terms and don't have any faith in God then this book is great. However this is the main shortcoming in that God is still all those things that we've attributed to him including, omnipotent. While Mr. Dershowitz's perspective isn't altogether wrong from my vantage, he doesn't see with the same eyes as I do, or from the same heart. I enjoyed his refreshing outlook on what he says is an over hyped threat of anti-Semitism in our day and time. Though it exists, I, as the author also feels, see this as something that has been much blown out of proportion. In our society there always remains a fragment of the population who will be oversensitive and read into things and see that which isn't there. Always, will there be among us those who are ignorant, bigoted, and uneducated.
On the other hand, as time passes not only can you describe societal norms being that of tolerance and acceptance but of that of unity and brotherhood to some extent. People will always be self interested and those who hate or are uninformed to the point of bigoted stupidity will eventually become marginalized over time. Jews and Christians as well as all races will, as I feel we are for the most part now, come together in consensus on many subjects and sentiments. This is why politics in America has had to become inherently centrist, since extremes exist but those moderate among us make this country work. America is a progressive country, which Dershowitz points out has been the most congenial to Jews, more so than any other host country in the past.
America was founded upon much bloodshed and treachery, even racism, though the positive attributes reflect the good of this country which has for so long welcomed so many to this country. The most important attribute to me and to Jews, as well as all people is not some PC baloney of this socialistic enlightenment period we live in but the saying engraved on our currency, "E pluribus Unum." While all of this sounds over idealistic and patriotic, I'm just pointing out that all thing work together for the good. God watches out for the Jews, in my opinion primarily, as they are His people, His children. I see myself as adopted and glad to be so by His grace and mercy. All of this is said not to preach or get theological, but to show my opinion of this case made in the book, that Dershowitz is well-intentioned and even correct on what he suggests to solve this problem. However, it is my thought, although I've been told that Jewish people, "don't do faith," as one good Rabbi friend of mine told me, that God is still the God who parted the Red Sea, helped Joshua, Daniel, David, and Job in their time of need. All I might add to victory. God will still see the tribe of the Lion of Judah through to the end.
Well written, enjoyable and on the mark.......2004-11-09
A well-written easy-to-read book that right on the mark as it tackles one of the most difficult problems in contemporary judaism. As with all of Dershowitz' books, this one is filled with humor, meticulously researched and contains compelling arguments in support of his view that organized judaism is failing to provide the proper educational foundation to ensure the continuation of reform and conservative judaism in the USA.
Even if you, like me, do not share Mr. Dershowitz' orthodox background or left-wing politics, don't let that deter you from reading this excellent book.
Interesting.......2004-08-15
Dershowitz conveys a genuine worry that Jewish people will lose their identity in the years to come. He is concerned about Jewishness getting lost in the struggle and furiousness of America. He says time and again in the book that the Jewish people need something to fight against to be great. He did not totally convince me of this. I think there are great Jewish doctors, professors, businessmen and women. Intellectual and business prowess. Isn't that something to be proud of?
I also wish that Dershowitz would have included more examples, perhaps little vignettes of various Jewish people and how they struggle in the world, or perhaps how they try to retain their identity in a fast-paced, sometimes fickle world. This would have been a good direction to take.
On the whole a very interesting topic for a book. Thank you for writing the book Dr. Dershowitz.
A reasonable attempt.......2004-01-30
This book is a reasonable and sincere attempt to deal with a difficult problem -- how to preserve Jewish culture in an era when the pace of Jews' assimilation into their home societies is accelerating.
Among its better points, it tries to grapple with defining the essence of what it is to be Jewish, especially if one is to be inclusive of secular and agnostic Jews such as Prof. Dershowitz himself. He shows that Judaism includes many principles and practices, but that many of these are either shared with other groups, or not practiced by some people who nonetheless consider themselves Jewish. So it's hard to say that the content of any of these principles or practices is the distinguishing content of Judaism. His discussion of this is very illuminating, I think.
Ultimately, he comes up with the distinction that the common essence of Judaism is procedural rather than substantive -- it is a *way* of dealing with changes and differing opinions, rather than a specific set of principles or doctrines (content). The distinction he attempts to draw is one familiar to lawyers, but perhaps less so to others, and might be a bit of a let-down to many.
Prof. Dershowitz also defends the principle that being Jewish should be a matter of self-identification. Along the way he points out the contradictions between, on the one hand, the ultra-Orthodox view that religious law has been fixed since the time of Moses, and, on the other, their position that a child's religion follows his or her mother's (opposite of what is set forth in the Old Testament). It isn't clear, however, whether his liberality would also apply to someone who neither had a Jewish parent nor went through a conversion procedure -- maybe someone should ask him.
It probably will be difficult for any reader, Jewish or not, to identify with all the issues he tries to deal with along the way to reaching this result. For example, I personally found his discussion of religious ceremonies for agnostics and atheists a bit mind-boggling. But while I don't fall into either of those categories, there are many people who do and who also consider themselves Jewish. For this reason, I understand why he'd discuss this and similar topics.
There are a couple of pertinent things he doesn't mention, especially when it comes to intermarriage. (I speak from the POV of a committed Jew married to a non-Jewish woman.) One is that many modern Jews are turned off by the exclusionary language that is found in many Jewish religious texts (written, for the most part, thousands of years ago or under circumstances of violent persecution by non-Jews). If you find it hard to believe that the Jewish G-d or supreme power is really different from that of a sincere Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, etc., it's harder to swallow the absolute necessity of marrying a Jewish person, especially when Jews make up less than 3% of the US population and less than 0.2% of the world's.
He also doesn't mention that it's possible to convert children to Judaism without necessitating the conversion of a non-Jewish parent. Sometimes the non-Jewish parent doesn't have the personal conviction to warrant a sincere conversion, but nonetheless strongly supports the idea that children should have an unequivocal identity as Jewish. (Maybe this is easier to do when that parent has a strong ethnic but weaker religious identity, as is common with many people from Japan, China and some other East Asian countries. Negotiating Jewish and Japanese identities within a family, for example, might be easier than negotiating simultaneous Jewish and Christian ones. Of course, there are some committed religionists in East Asia too.)
I've got to agree with the reviewers who mention Prof. Dershowitz's frequent self-aggrandizing comments as one of the truly irritating features of the book. From having heard him speak almost 30 years ago, I'd guess this is one of his more enduring traits (not that other trial lawyers are significantly more modest). His use of jokes bothered me less, though they mostly come from one source (Jewish Humor, by Joseph Telushkin, which relates many of them in an overly abbreviated, and therefore flat, manner). So if you know that book you'll have heard 'em all before.
But I disagree with reviewers who suggest that Prof. Dershowitz is racist or feels Jews are better than other people. I think that's a misinterpretation, though his self-aggrandizement doesn't help get his sincerity across. He's candid about his divided feelings about his son's intermarriage, but I think he recognizes that it's possible for a human being to have inconsistent or contradictory feelings inside themselves. I might not agree with him on every point, but think it's to his credit that he deals with the intermarriage issue from the standpoint of publicly examining his own personal ambivalence, rather than adopting some doctrinaire point of view (which he makes fun of later in the book).
For the most part, he's grappling with a very legitimate issue: As a tiny minority who find themselves in an open, hospitable home culture, there's a strong attraction for Jews to thoroughly assimilate into that home culture. Over the course of a few generations, such assimilation makes it easy to lose the distinctive culture from their past. Prof. Dershowitz feels that there's a lot of merit in the Jewish cultural heritage, at the same time that he's an enthusiastic supporter of the open society that creates this dilemma. My impression is that he'd like for Jews to participate fully in that society while also retaining something particularly Jewish.
I think that most ethnic groups in the US face similar issues about integration vs. identity, though there are some unique aspects that complicate Jews' attempts to accomplish this goal, just as other ethnicities have their own unique circumstances to deal with. In the case of Jews these issues include (i) blending of culture with a religious heritage that's different from US majority, and (ii) relative lack of distinguishing physical or linguistic characteristics. I think his book is a sincere attempt to help a Jewish audience deal with this difficult conundrum.
Book Description
Was there ever really a black-Jewish alliance in twentieth-century America? And if there was, what happened to it? In Troubling the Waters, Cheryl Greenberg answers these questions more definitively than they have ever been answered before, drawing the richest portrait yet of what was less an alliance than a tumultuous political engagement--but one that energized the civil rights revolution, shaped the agenda of liberalism, and affected the course of American politics as a whole.
Drawing on extensive new research in the archives of organizations such as the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, Greenberg shows that a special black-Jewish political relationship did indeed exist, especially from the 1940s to the mid-1960s--its so-called "golden era"--and that this engagement galvanized and broadened the civil rights movement. But even during this heyday, she demonstrates, the black-Jewish relationship was anything but inevitable or untroubled. Rather, cooperation and conflict coexisted throughout, with tensions caused by economic clashes, ideological disagreements, Jewish racism, and black anti-Semitism, as well as differences in class and the intensity of discrimination faced by each group. These tensions make the rise of the relationship all the more surprising--and its decline easier to understand.
Tracing the growth, peak, and deterioration of black-Jewish engagement over the course of the twentieth century, Greenberg shows that the history of this relationship is very much the history of American liberalism--neither as golden in its best years nor as absolute in its collapse as commonly thought.
Customer Reviews:
Too tame.......2005-03-20
How are two of America's minorities, Blacks and Jews, getting along? Are they fighting for human rights together? Or are some of them bailing out on support for human rights, at least on some issues, as if they have forgotten that oppression is bad? Michael Lerner and Cornel West explore some of these issues.
One question is, of course, justice, and that includes high-publicity trials for violent crimes. I have noticed that many Whites are willing to strongly denounce the outcomes of the Rodney King and Latasha Harlins cases. It seems to me that fewer Blacks are as willing to denounce the outcomes of the Nicole Simpson/Ron Goldman and Yankel Rosenbaum trials. I was hoping this book would have, as a minimum, both authors advocate that both sides do better here. There will occasionally be some outrageous outcomes of court cases. We have to accept that. But I think we have to speak out in favor of truth and justice and do it loudly. And I think this book is far from satisfactory in that regard.
On another topic, here is an amazing quote from Lerner:
"I don't underestimate the pernicious effect on Jewish consciousness of Commentary Magazine and The New Republic, each of which has given a certain intellectual legitimacy to racist tendencies in the Jewish world, most importantly the deep desire to imagine that Jews have no serious moral or political stake in ending the economic oppression of Blacks. But these are nevertheless not people who in any overt and conscious way say that Blacks are an evil force in the world."
Wow. It is true that there are a few Blacks who do insist that Jews are an evil force in the world. But why contrast them with Commentary, which is a conservative but non-racist magazine, let alone with The New Republic, which is a liberal magazine that does claim that we all have a serious moral and political stake in ending discrimination against Blacks?
There is an interesting discussion of Black nationalism. And I certainly agree that it is wrong to oppose nationalism simply on the grounds that some nationalists can be racists or bigots. When people have common interests or problems, it often makes sense for them to form a national group. There's also a discussion of Jewish nationalism. Lerner makes the point that the Dreyfus case in France was a key element in showing the need for Jewish nationalism.
Now, what ought one hope for in a book of this sort? One hope might be that right or wrong, the two authors would agree on how to cooperate. They would come up with some bad ideas, but the good part would be that they agreed! Another hope could be that they would come up with good ideas. I think they came closer to the former than the latter.
Hope for fighting Bigotry.......2001-10-01
It has been said that racism and bigotry are permanent in American culture. Not only is there not an ongoing public dialogue on issues of race and ehtnicity, but there's not even a common vocabulary for creating one. This is what West and Lerner try to change. While each maintains his own unique experience and perspective, the two of them solicit ideas and perspectives from each other, challenging each other's presuppositions, all in the atmosphere of a lasting, respectful, and genuine friendship.
This book is required reading for every American who cares about the growing devides between us.
Common Struggles.......2000-08-09
Micheal Learner and Cornel West attempt to solve some of the problems and tentions that have turned Blacks against Jews, and Jews against Blacks. What ethnic and or religious group have suffered the most? Native Americans,Chinese,Japanese,Blacks, Jews? What ever your answer maybe, the truth is that Blacks and Jews have been the some of the most oppressed poeple in America and the world. It is that one factor that has linked these two groups as allies, and enemies.
The Civil Rights Movement in America was centered around the coalition between Blacks and Jews. Jews and Blacks spent countless of hours, days, and years for the betterment and equality of African Americans. Blacks and Jews protested,fought, and died for the sake of the movement. The late Dr. Martian Luther King, and Rabbi. Abraham Joshua Heshual, Marched side by side in the March on Washington.
Micheal Learner and Cornel West explore the relationship between the two groups, during and after the 1950's-1960's. Learner and West specifically address the bitter end of what seemed to be a good thing. Inspite of the awesome force that the Black-Jewish coalition has forged, like most things, it came to an end. But the ending was not romantic as it was hurtful. The murder of Dr. King declined the progress, and a new Black Nationalism emerged from the surface. The Black Nationalist believed that if "good Whites" were sincere they would, "go back to your own neighborhoods and teach there own people. We blacks have to solve our own problems"! The nationalist movement broke the partnership between the two groups.
Micheal Learner and Cornel West dialog on current tentions, that includes Farrakhan and Crown Hieghts. There is no question that leaders from both sides added fuel to the fire between Blacks and Jews. When Jesse Jackson showed his favor Yassar Arafat, it disturbed the Jewish community. The American Jewish community layed out a full campain to murder the character of Jesse Jackson. They called themselves the "Jews against Jackson". There solgan was "ruien Jesse ruien". The Jewish attempt to destroy Jackson was an outrage to the Black community. No African American was more outraged than Louis Farrakhan.
Farrakhan couldn't believe that Jackson denounced, and dismissed his assistance. As a result, Louis Muhammed Farrakhan lead a huge cusade against the Jewish community. In an attempted to "break up the relationship between Blacks and Jews Farrakhan preached anit-semitism to anyone who would listen. He has distributed literature entitled "the secret relationship between Blacks and Jews, and the Protocals of the Elders of Zion". He has hosted lectures on the "international Jew, and the Jewish conspircy to destroy Black Leadership.
Although there is no question of small elements of Black anitsemitism, Micheal Learner also responds to racism within the Jewish community. He has admitted that racism is a double edge knife that cuts both ways. His book, along with the insite of Cornel West was designed to reach both communities. They reconized the problems and realities, than discovered positive ways of fixing it. They have done an excellent job of getting there serious message heard. Blackss and Jews, let the healing began!
Book Description
On the afternoon of August 19, 1991, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Lubavitch Hasidic movement headquartered in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, visited the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens to pray at the grave of his predecessor. A police car from the 71st Precinct accompanied him. On their return, they were joined by a station wagon containing four young members of the Lubavitch community, who had arrived earlier at the cemetery to prepare for Schneerson's arrival.
Traveling west, the procession reached Utica Avenue. Gavin Cato, the seven-year-old son of Guyanese immigrants, was on the sidewalk near his apartment on President Street, repairing his bicycle chain. His seven-year-old cousin Angela was playing nearby. The police car and Schneerson's automobile crossed Utica on a green light and proceeded along President Street at a normal speed. But the third car had fallen behind. Not wishing to lose sight of Schneerson's car, it either crossed Utica on a yellow light or ran a red light--and collided with a car moving north on Utica. The station wagon veered onto the sidewalk on President Street, knocking over a 600-pound stone pillar from a building and striking both Gavin and Angela Cato, pinning them beneath the car. Angela survived; Gavin did not.
Gavin Cato's death set off three days of riots. Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian Orthodox Jew doing research in New York City for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Melbourne, was stabbed to death a few blocks away by a group of young black men. Cato's and Rosenbaum's deaths became heated symbols in a political and cultural struggle that pitted not just Hasidic Jews against black residents of Crown Heights, but also black radicals against the black-dominated Brooklyn political establishment; the black mayor and his black police commissioner against the largely white police force; the United States Department of Justice against New York politicians; and the leadership of Manhattan-based Jewish organizations against Jews from the outer boroughs. The riot strained race relations in the city, led some to question the viability of urban liberalism and the black-Jewish political entente, raised concerns about the extent of black antisemitism, and led the federal judiciary to broaden the scope of federal civil rights legislation to include Jews.
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Books Index
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General
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| Americas
| History
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Perpetrators Victims Bystanders: Jewish Catastrophe 1933-1945
The Politics of Memory: The Journey of a Holocaust Historian
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945
The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War
