A Dream of Zion , livre ebook

Thank you for purchasing this Jewish Lights e-book!
Sign up for our e-newsletter to receive special offers and information on the latest new books and other great e-books from Jewish Lights.

Sign Up Here

or visit us online to sign up at www.jewishlights.com .

Looking for an inspirational speaker for an upcoming event, Shabbaton or retreat?
Jewish Lights authors are available to speak and teach on a variety of topics that educate and inspire. For more information about our authors who are available to speak to your group, visit www.jewishlights.com/page/category/JLSB . To book an event, contact the Jewish Lights Speakers Bureau at publicity@jewishlights.com or call us at (802) 457-4000.
PRAISE FOR A DREAM OF ZION
Bravo to Rabbi Salkin for gathering these impressive personal testimonies. They serve an urgent and vital purpose-reminding us of the nearly four-thousand-year bond between the Jewish People and Israel, and educating us on Israel s enduring meaning for American Jewry.
- David A. Harris, executive director, American Jewish Committee
A touching, emotional, funny book. Every essay touches a nerve in every American Jew who loves Israel. I highly recommend this book as a personal joy to read and to give as a gift to those who ask, Why should I care about Israel?
- June Walker, chairperson, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
The shared ahavat Yisrael (love for the Land and the People of Israel) uniting the incredible diversity of voices in this important anthology redefines Pro-Israel.
- Rabbi Arik W. Ascherman, executive director, Rabbis for Human Rights
Rabbi Salkin and Jewish Lights did it again! Thank you for this inspiring gift for Israel s 60th! A must for lovers and dreamers of Zion around the world and a great resource for anyone who explores a contemporary engagement with Israel.
- Rabbi Uri Regev, president, World Union for Progressive Judaism
A powerful collection of personal testimonies Christians who care about Christian-Jewish relations need to read this collection in order to understand the inescapable importance of Israel in that relationship. It also helps us understand why church statements and actions against Israel are so painful to Jewish friends.
- David Blewett, national director, National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI)
Here are voices from all over the community, from all ages, from all kinds of Jews. Together they show us the how and the why of our profound connection to Israel. This book answers the questions, why do we care so much and why should the fate of this tiny country affect us in America so deeply? The answers are personal and communal and revealing. This is an important book for all those interested in the Jewish people and their incredible story.
-Anne Roiphe, novelist, journalist and author of 13 books
In this sixtieth year of Israel s independence, it is incumbent on American Jewry to take a step back to reflect on the meaning of Israel s existence in our own lives. Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin has done us an immense favor in bringing together such a wide spectrum of writers and thinkers to ponder this question.
- Rabbi Robert R. Golub, executive director, MERCAZ USA, the Zionist arm of the Conservative Movement
As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov wrote- wherever I travel I go to Israel. For me and millions of other Jews-as well as Christians-Israel, both spiritually and existentially, is at the very core of our identities. Wherever we go in life, Israel is on our minds, in our hearts and shaping our ethos. A Dream of Zion does a wonderful job in bringing together a rich variety of paths through which we encounter and relate to Israel, her struggle for peace and security, and the meaning it has for our lives. If you love Israel-both the nation and state-and it vibrates the strings of your neshama , this book is a must read.
- Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
A Dream of Zion is exactly that-filled with miracles and triumph, the joy of coming home, and at the same time, aspiration and hope, that Israel can become the land flowing with justice and righteousness. Sixty years of love can be found on page after page, a worthy testament to the vitality of the dream and of the reality.
- David M. Elcott, PhD, executive director, Israel Policy Forum
Explores the connection to Israel from many varied perspectives that reflect on the historical, religious, and contemporary underpinnings of this special and unique relationship. You will identify with some, disagree with others, but you are certain to be stimulated to thoughtful reflection on this central aspect of Jewish life.
- Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
In this compelling volume one hears the multiplicity of views and emotions American Jews have for Israel. It demonstrates that there is no single American Jewish perspective of Israel. At this time when there are so many misconceptions about American Jewish attitudes towards Israel this book will serve an important purpose.
-Deborah E. Lipstadt, PhD, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University
C ONTENTS
Publisher s Note
Introduction
P ART I-I DENTITY H ERITAGE : M Y A NCESTRAL H OME R EBORN I S AN E SSENTIAL P ART OF M Y I DENTITY
Rabbi David Wolpe
Sylvia Barack Fishman
Matthew Brooks
Samuel Bak
Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar
David M. Suissa
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
Peninnah Schram
David Silverstein
Rabbi Gordon Tucker
Shira Dicker
Rabbi David Ellenson
George S. Blumenthal
Susan Weidman Schneider
Howard Schwartz
Alan Mittleman
Lisa D. Grant
Arthur Kurzweil
Debbie Friedman
Rabbi Alan Silverstein
Bethamie Horowitz
Wayne L. Firestone
Barbara B. Balser
James J. Katz
Michael Bogdanow
P ART II-R EFUGE : A R EFUGE FROM A NTI -S EMITISM , A P LACE OF S AFETY
Shulamit Reinharz
Abraham H. Foxman
Rep. Henry A. Waxman
Thane Rosenbaum
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
Senator Russ Feingold
Harold Grinspoon
Alvin H. Rosenfeld
Nat Hentoff
Assemblyman Dov Hikind
Stephen M. Flatow
Samuel Heilman
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Danny Maseng
Michael Walzer
P ART III-F AITH C OVENANT : A L IVING , V IBRANT P ART OF M Y R ELIGIOUS F AITH
Lynn Schusterman
Ari Spungen Bildner
Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield
Aryeh Lev Stollman
Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin
Ari L. Goldman
Rabbi Mordecai Finley
Peter Himmelman
Shara Yurkiewicz
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Lydia Kukoff
Jane Friedman
Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz
Marshall J. Breger
Rabbi Janet R. Marder
P ART IV- T IKKUM O LAM : A L IGHT U NTO THE N ATIONS -H OPES FOR R EPAIRING THE W ORLD AND D REAMS OF A B ETTER W ORLD
Dr. Marc D. Angel
Jonathan D. Sarna
Shoshana S. Cardin
Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf
Danny Siegel
Rabbi Sharon Brous
Arthur Green
Rabbi David A. Teutsch
Steven Bayme
Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff
Aaron Press Taylor
Rabbi Avraham Weiss
Stanley P. Gold
Rabbi Goldie Milgram
Ariel Beery
Rabbi Stanley M. Davids
Steven M. Cohen
Rabbi Moshe Waldoks
David M. Gordis
Rabbi Robert B. Barr
Richard Elliott Friedman
Rosanne Miller Selfon
Elliot Ratzman
Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein
Peter Edelman
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz
Laurie L. Patton
Dr. Robert Wexler
Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro
P ART V-A N A MERICAN H ISTORICAL P ERSPECTIVE : T HE W ORDS OF THE F ATHERS AND M OTHERS
Emma Lazarus
Richard James Horatio Gottheil
Rabbi Kauffman Kohler
Oscar Solomon Straus
Louis D. Brandeis
Felix Frankfurter
Solomon Schechter
Rabbi Milton Steinberg
Judah Magnes
Rabbi Felix Levy
Edward Jacobson
Abba Hillel Silver
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise
Rabbi David Polish
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn
Bernard M. Baruch
Emanuel Celler
Albert Einstein
Arthur Hertzberg
Morris Abram
Daniel J. Elazar
Max M. Fisher
Lillian Hellman
Harpo Marx
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Joachim Prinz
Marie Syrkin
Rabbi Joseph Baer Soloveitchik
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading and Sources of Current Information
Index of Contributors
Credits
About the Authors
Copyright
Also Available
About Jewish Lights
Sign Up for E-mail Updates
Send Us Your Feedback
Publisher s Note
The purpose of this note is to provide additional insights about: The origin of and overall approach to A Dream of Zion: American Jews Reflect on Why Israel Matters to Them , the methodology used to gather the contributions for it, and the structure of it. What we have learned-and you might learn-from reading and using it.
In our work with Judea and Ruth Pearl on the National Jewish Book Award-winning I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl , a project in honor of their son, Daniel, the goal was to create an inspirational book that would encourage people to reflect on Danny s words, I am Jewish, and the meaning of these words in their own lives, in understanding their identity.
Many Jews were particularly moved by Danny s words in which he affirmed his Jewish identity. Many were inspired to think about or analyze their feelings toward their lives as Jews and to explore their own sense of identity as Jewish people.
Across the world, from Singapore to Europe and in many cities in the United States and Canada, Jewish communities have used the concept of I Am Jewish to create events in which people wrote and spoke of their own feelings and thoughts about being Jewish. Synagogues, federations, Jewish community centers, and other organizations developed these events that have been attended by thousands of people. Many congregations have even provided copies of I Am Jewish to their members prior to the High Holy Days and shaped their High Holy Day services to incorporate personal explorations of the core question of Jewish ident