Oral Law Tiyul:  Beit Shaarim & Beit Alpha

   By Evie Kerner,    11^th grade,    Dallas

There was a time in 200 CE

The Sanhedrin ran with no place to call home

There only chance was to move all around

And just for the future of the Mishnah too

Then one night they decided that

The Mishnah was to be written down

Oral law was passed ledor vedor

But stood no chance without Yehuda Hannasi

Rabbis said, “ There is no future without teshiva

They promised that they’d argue for future plans

And ever since that day…

I am a Jew in Israel

Usually hanging out with the haza’’l

And when we’re bored we write halecha

Always writing oral law

Write read learn teach the Mishnah

Write read learn teach from all of talmidim

Jews prospered through time from assimilation

And now we’ve got the oral laws

In tradition views we came with written law on Sinai to

But modernists say different in gemura

One says we were there on Sinai receiving all our laws

Ten commandments and oral law too

And the modern cap says everything was developed

Oral law developed and written down too

Soon enough we learned our memories

Peacefully in diaspora we lived as Jews

And ever since olden days…

I am a Jew in Israel

Usually hanging out with the haza’’l

And when we’re bored we write halecha

Always writing oral law

Write read learn teach the Mishnah

Write read learn teach from all of talmidim

Jews prospered through time from assimilation

And now we’ve got the oral laws

70 rabbis, first generation all in yaveh

Making calendars

Legislate and judiciary government

Is now the way for the Jews future

Forever with oral law…

And for always I thank Sanhedrin…

I am a Jew in Israel

Usually hanging out with the haza’’l

And when we’re bored we write halecha

Always writing oral law

Write read learn teach the Mishnah

Write read learn teach from all of talmidim

Jews prospered through time from assimilation

And now we’ve got the oral laws

The Bar Kochba Revolt Tiyul

By Hannah Eggleston,    11^th grade,     Virginia

The Bar Kochba Revolt of the Second Century differed from the Great Revolt of the year 70 CE in many ways.  For one, during the Great Revolt there was little unity.  Not everyone was behind the idea and not everyone wanted to revolt.  During the Bar Kochba Revolt, however, people were unified behind an idea and supported a revolt.  An example of this is the coins that were minted during this period, which was a form of rebellion demonstrating that the Jews didn’t agree with the current rule.  Another reason these two revolts differ is the army and strategy.  The Great Revolt wasn’t really an army; it was just the zealots fighting the Romans.  They also lacked real strategy.  The Bar Kochba Revolt, however, was more unified as a fighting force and used a specific strategy to accomplish their goals.   Finally, the Great Revolt lacked real leadership.  The Bar Kochba Revolt had a leader, and the entire revolt was named after him.  He was a false-messiah, and for a long time rabbis refused to acknowledge him – when they did, they renamed him Bar Koziba, or “Son of Disappointment”.  Bar Kochba lead the revolt against the Romans from 132-135 when the Jews were unable to suppress their nationalism.

Roman Amphitheater in Beit Guvrin National Park

During the Bar Kochba revolt, the Jews were heavily reliant on underground caves and tunnels.  These tunnels and caves were extensive, and were a great place for the Jewish people to wait out their attackers.  They could stay in these tunnels for long periods of time, popping out and surprise attacking the Romans with guerrilla tactics.  It was essentially a giant game of whack-a-mole – the Jews would appear and attack the Romans and then retreat to their caves.  It was difficult for the Romans to follow Bar Kochba and his followers because their bulky armor made it difficult for them to fit through the tunnels and forced them to follow each other single file.  Because of this and their tactics, the Jews were able to hold out against the Romans for three years.

            I personally think that the Bar Kochba Revolt was justified.  The Jews couldn’t get rid of their sense of nationalism, and felt that the only way to fight for it was to start a rebellion.  Even the rabbis agreed that revolting was the only way to go.  The Romans were oppressing the Jews and their beliefs, and the Jews were not okay with that.  They collectively agreed that revolting was the best option in terms of getting the Romans to understand their unhappiness.  Had I been in that situation, I would’ve joined the revolt as well.  It’s unknown whether or not the Bar Kochba Revolt lead to the Hadrianic decrees or whether the decrees led to the revolt, but either way, having your religion and culture taken away from you is incredibly upsetting, enough so to start a revolt.

            There are many ways to see the Bar Kochba Revolt from the point of view of the Romans.  For one, you can look at different Roman sources.  There are more Roman sources relating to the Bar Kochba Revolt than sources of any other origin, such as Jewish, early Christian, and archaeological.  The Romans were so perturbed by the behavior of the Jews in Israel because they didn’t understand their customs and didn’t understand how the Jews could be monotheistic and believe in only one god.  Romans, at this time, were still polytheistic and used their gods and goddesses to explain everything, including every day happenings.

            Rabbi Akiva is known as “our greatest sage”.  He divided all of the Talmudic study materials into six parts, or the “Six Orders of Mishna”.  He lived through the destruction of the Second Temple and studied for 24 years with 24,000 students, or so the midrash says.  Because of his devotion to Torah and how learning Torah affected both his personal and spiritual life, he refused to stop teaching Torah.  The Roman emperor Hadrian banned the study of Torah.  Rabbi Akiva was one of the ten martyred rabbis.  He was executed at Caesaria and was willing to die for Torah.  His last recorded words were those of the Sh’ma prayer, holding out the final “echad”.  These events are highly inspirational.  Although the study of Torah was forbidden, Rabbi Akiva was not willing to give up doing something that he completely believed in, even though he knew it would probably end with his death.  The Romans tried to tell him to stop, but they couldn’t take away how he felt no matter how much they tried.

Masada

                                     by Chanah Haigh,     11^th grade,         New York

    The stars turned to a blue sky and still we climbed. Up and up and up, even when the path thinned to single file and the cliff edge reached out for us. Through the fatigue of waking up at four am and the physical strain of dragging our bodies up a mountain, we marched on. We had started in the dark at the bottom of  the mountain we could barely see yet as we reached higher the world was illuminated. Soft rays of the rising sun hit the sea below as we struggled through the never ending pass. People were doubled over or pouring water over themselves, all of us determinedly battling on despite the pain. The monotonous red stone couldn't tell us our progress as we stared at our feet, willing them to go on. And every time we glanced above, sure we were nearing the end, another turn in the path met our eyes. But then it was only five switchbacks left and then a hundred feet and a flight of stairs and suddenly we burst through the opening to the very top of the mountain. Beyond exhausted and swelling with the pride of our accomplishment, we didn't sit down until we had reached the wall looking over the Dead Sea and the sun and taken it the true magnitude of the height we had reached.

After a quick service under some shade we split into our class and took off in different directions. Traveling through ancient buildings, complete with waterways, David told us about the rich history of the mountain top. It was picked as a fortress for its defensive advantage, it was a very hard mountain to scale, as we could attest, and an entire army could surely never have gotten up there in one piece. Its history could be divided into three main stories, each more fascinating and violent than the last.

King's Rule

King Herod, the great. Well, I suppose great is a relative term. He built up much of Jerusalem and the temple mount in his reign from37 to 4 BCE. But he was constantly clinging to the power the Romans had granted him as their puppet king, and was always terrified of losing it.  In his paranoia he built up a fortress on Masada, one of many he could retreat to in times of danger. He built it lavishly, a palace befitting the grand king, built it in the image of the Romans. It was strategically placed and well stocked. Trenches guided the water from the desert hill tops to caves and water passage ways halfway up the mountain, after that slaves and animals would bring it up the rest of the way.

Sally With Her Dried Fruit

Herod's Water Ways

We had smuggled in dried fruit and sat in what used to be a bedroom, with a magnificent view. We ate our replica of ancient fruit and imagined what it would be like to wake up to the grandeur and natural beauty of King Herod's palace. And then to our dismay considered how easily a sleepy person in the morning might topple over the edge. We put ourselves in the mindset of a paranoid king with too many enemies, too much money, too much allegiance to the Romans, and not enough subjects who actually liked him.

Life

The zealots who refused to live under Roman rule went up the mountain in year 66. Under the leadership of Elazar Ben Yair, they conquered Masada after the destruction of the Second Temple. They had captured the fortress from the Romans in a sneak attack in the dead of night. Much of King Herod's old technologies they used to sustain life, such as his water tunnels and bath house. With their families they built a working Jewish community. The 900 Jews had a synagogue, houses, mikvaot, plenty of water and enough food to last them for years. In their little pocket of the world they created what might have been, for all they knew, the last Judaism in the world.

David Imitating The Zealot's Sneak Attack

The beit knesset of the Jews resided in an old amphitheater of King Herod's. In the corner was a geniza where they stored old holy texts that had been broken beyond repair. We sat in their old seats and wondered what it must have been like to pray there, in the Roman-like stage. We theorized whether the area held men and women, or just men and how that represented all the changes Judaism had made over time. WE have the same religion as these ancients, but maybe different traditions and beliefs despite that.

Defeat

Romans had been setting up camp around the mountain for a while. More and more campfires could be seen at night, as the predators surrounding the Jews grew. It was a threat to the Romans to have even one community not under their rule, but the mountain was nearly impregnable and the Jews had spent 3 years on its top in safety. It was steep and could only be climbed single file. But eventually, the Romans were able to build a ramp and a battering ram. The Jews saw this and knew the end was near. But these were the people who fled to the dessert to avoid Roan rule, they weren't about to accept it now. According to the historian Josephus, they didn't accept it.  All the men went home and killed their wives and families. Then they reconvened and picked lots and ten men cut the necks of all the rest. Then lots were drawn again and one man killed the other nine. Then that man killed himself. They had burned their whole village to the ground, razed their houses and destroyed everything that might have been a spoil of war to the Romans. They left only one thing untouched, their food, a message to the Romans  saying “We could have survived longer”. In one final act of rebellion, they left on the floor of their synagogue a quote from Ezekiel's prophesy of dry bones, the prophesy that we would return to Israel, that we would be a great people again.

We sat among the ruins looking out at the Dead Sea. Leaning against the rocks, we contemplated whether these people who died willingly were ones to admire or condemn. Where they wrong for taking their own lives, surely they were for taking the lives of their families. Is this really what we should be aspiring to as a people? This is a story that was recounted at army ceremonies and bnei mitzvot and had truly become a symbol of Israeli independence, until the last 20 years when we started reconsidering the wisdom of promoting group suicide. On the other hand, these were a people who knew the end was coming, they could die at the hands of the enemy or be taken into slavery to be raped and beaten. Maybe they were exercising the last right they had left, the choice of how they died. In the end they took it into their own hands, they died on their own call, not by the swords of the Romans.

Three stories happened on the mountain in the desert, but I'd like to add a fourth. The story of a group of  highschoolers who faced a mountain and managed to climb it. Who went up to learn the history of their people and revel in collective memory. Who achieved a goal that looked so daunting from the ground, but one they fought for and were able to conquer.

Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period

      By Tanner Smith,     11^th grade,       Illinois

One, two, three, four, five steps. In just these few steps, statistically speaking, I have almost definitely followed the exact path of one of my predecessors. Two thousand years ago Jews would venture forth up the very stairs I climbed, carrying sacrifices for God.

I make it to the top, hit the wall, and search for shade. We proceed down to the fallen Robinson's Arch. I contemplate the path that the cohenim of the Temple would follow. Right above me, two thousand years ago, the great priests in control of the Temple would lead the Jewish people in their daily life.  The modern day leaders of my community have the last name Katz, one of the names indicating forefathers that were cohenim. To think that their forefathers were right next to me, displaced only by time. Just before this we traveled underground in the Old City, into the ancient mansions of the cohenim. Inside we found approximately six mikvaot, the remnants of rich Jewish life, and the cutest cat (we can only assume that he is two thousand years old and has lived there all this time).

It strikes me now how close to history I was. There are four dimensions and I was only separated from my forefathers by one of them. In fact the wall I stood in front of and the steps I walked upon made it through that fourth dimension, calling out to me, saying ‘hello’ in David’s terms.

Israel Museum:  Rome, who survives?, and the oldest and the smallest Tanachim

                by Maya Epstein,     11^th grade,        NJ

On September 21^st, Kitat Yarden traveled to the Israel Museum. We started off our day by talking about the Hasmoneans (more commonly known as the Maccabees) and their dynasty. They started out as a very powerful family and a people that are very loyal to Judaism, but as time went on and there were new descendants they became more assimilationists. They also began forcibly converting people to Judaism, which as we know is a huge No No.    Within about 100 years a group of Jews who fought to protect our Judaism and right to practice became Greeks. 63 BCE was the start of the Roman rule, and the start of some good and bad things in the province of Judea. The Romans actually brought some good things.  For example they brought more civilization, more technology, they built aqueducts, and overall they were good for the economy and for law and order. Although they brought all these good things they also brought about a period of Sinat Chinam (Senseless Hatred), and a time where people were not able to practice freely. Sinat Chinam was the Avodah Zerah of this time period.

During the time of the Roman rule there were 4 different sects of Judaism, each who had senseless hatred towards each other. You had the Sadducees (Priests), Pharisees (Rabbis), Essenes (Messianic/hippy Jews), and the Sikarim (Zealots/Militant Jews). Throughout our trip to the Israel Museum we met some people from these sects to learn about their life. First we met the Priests, and learned that they actually admired the Romans. They were rich and lived in really large houses with many mikves, and they also were not messianic at all. We then met the Rabbis who were the poorest class. They focused on Torah study and cared a lot about oral law and the interpretation of the Torah. They were the most adaptable and thought about what was good for the future of Judaism. Next we met the Essenes. They lived in the Kumran and near the Dead Sea in something resembling a Kibbutz. There were no women allowed. They consistently thought the messiah was coming and would go in the mikve as often as possible, many times before meals and working, to purify themselves for the coming of the messiah. The last group we met was the Zealots who were the ones who wanted to fight and wage war against the Romans. They were the ones held out at Masada and believed that the Romans and liking them meant Avodah Zerah. Only one of these groups survive. I believe it will be the Rabbis because we still have them now.

We also met King Herod, the first Roman puppet king of the Jews. His mother was one of those forcibly converted into Judaism during the Hasomean Dynasty. A puppet king was someone who was Jewish but was loyal to the Romans. This was because the people would trust him but the Romans still had control. King Herod reigned from 37-4 BCE. He was a massive builder, and whatever was built during his time period was called Herodian. The saying we started going by was “Think Herod, Think Big”.

 We have seen many models over the past few weeks, and at the Israel museum there was a huge model of Jerusalem during Roman rule. It used to be behind where the museum is, but once the hotel it was in got sold, the model got sold too. It had to be taken apart and moved piece by piece, and put back together at the museum piece by piece. It is also consistently being fixed as they find new information about what it looks like.

After that we went to a metal sculpture that said אהבה (Ahava, Love). The only thing that could combat Sinat Chinam was Love, only thing that could combat hate was love. We all took a picture together on the sculpture. I had seen this picture from many semesters of EIE students and finally being able to see it and take a picture in it myself made me feel like I was a part of the EIE legacy.

From there we went to the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls were thought to be written by the Essenes. The story of the finding of them goes that the guy was a shepherd and 2 of his sheeps ran into this cave. He threw rocks to get them to come back to the flocks, but instead of hearing a rock hitting a rock was things breaking. Later he came back with his brother and they found these jars with scrolls inside of them. Inside were scrolls with writings from the Tanach and many from the book of Isiah, and writings about the rules of the Essenes. They longest scroll they found was the Book of Isiah. Before they found these scrolls the oldest scrolls were 1,000 years old. Once we found them we know have scrolls that are 2,000 years old.  We went inside where some of the Dead Sea scrolls were as well as where they had some of the tools from the area of the Essenes. Also, where the dead sea scrolls are place are very strategic. It is facing the Knesset to show the connection between the past and the present.

After that we went to where the nano-tanach was. When Barak Obama came to visit, they took him to the Israel museum where they put a lot of displays around. It also customary for leaders of countries to present other countries with a present. Israel presented Obama with the nano-tanach. It is the entire Tanach engraved onto a tiny piece of metal that could fit on the tip of your finger. Every word of the Tanach is on the piece of metal.

Tel Gezer: More Than One Ancient City

Tel Gezer: More Than One Ancient City

by Em Samuels,      11th grade,        Southern California

Today the group and I visited Tel Gezer, one of the most ancient cities in all of Jewish history. However, Tel Gezer is not the ruins of one era, but archaeologists have in fact discovered twenty six layers of separate civilizations, spanning over at least a thousand years. While incredibly interesting, I found myself asking why the hell the staff took us to this place because is was SO hot today... which led me to think, "why did people settle here for so many years?"

This bring me to what we learned today to be known as "The Four D's of Civilization". To build a successful civilization, one must have all four of the following:

1. Drink, or a water source. Originally built by the Canaanites about 4,000 years ago, the city of Gezer has an underground water system. Over the course of many years, the Canaanites chiseled away to create a 40 foot tunnel to access a subterranean water basin, creating sustainability for the city.
   
2.  Dinner, or a consistent food source. Gezer's land is fertile, and the grounds surrounding the archaeological sights are covered in grape vines and olive trees. Having such good agricultural soil and the livestock that were tended by the peole, Tel Gezer was able to thrive for an entire millennium.
   
3. Defense, or a way to protect the city from conquerors. The city of Tel Gezer built an enormous wall surrounding the hill that it was built on, some of which you can still see today. The front gate, the only entrance, was where the citizens of Tel Gezer held their trials and marketplaces, among many other cultural occurrences.
   
4. Dollars, or a stable economy. Gezer was built (26 different times) on a hill about 10 miles from the Mediterranean Sea, right along the ancient trade route that cut from the coast to Jerusalem. It was a minor city, mostly used as a trade stop on the way inland. In fact, if you look to the east, you see Highway 1, the first paved road in Israel, which was built exactly on top one of the major trade routes that runs North to South (parallel to the Judean Hills). 
   

Today we also learned about Canaanite religion and how it coincided with their day to day lives. When these people asked for rain (given that Israel is a desert), they first prayed to their gods. When the rains did not come, they started sacrificing animals. Whenthat didn't work, they kidnapped women and held them as "temple prostitutes" who had sex with powerful men in order to please the gods' sex drives. When even that did not work, they began sacrificing their own children. Because of all of these reasons, theTanakh condemns the Canaanite lifestyle, and even forbids Jews from intermarrying with them. Below is a picture of the alter where baby boys were sacrificed.

So today was quite eventful. I hiked through hot, dusty hills to see some of the most important physical evidence of ancient life in the Holy Land. I sat with my back against the walls of a 3,000 year old building and learned some very interesting facts about why Jews have lived in this specific area for all of these years.

Em Samuels has her own blog about time in Israel at:

http://eminisrael2016.blogspot.co.il/

The Amazing Book Report Project!!

By David Alon,    NFTY-EIE

For the past 5 years at EIE, the students in my Jewish history class have participated in a comprehensive book report project.  Each student has chosen a book from my own library that I read once and inspired me in some way.  The topics covered by the different books cover a broad range of events and ideas in the monumental history of the Jewish people.

Here below is the updated list of the all the books that the students in my class have the option to choose from.  I offer a brief description of each one and why it is essential for understanding the Jewish people and Israel.

The Chosen by Chaim Potok.    (fiction)  Moving story of two orthodox boys, both gifted students, growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s-50s.  One is modern orthodox whose father is a leader in the Zionist movement, while the other is ultra-orthodox and is expected to succeed his father as the rabbi of a large Hassidic sect which opposes Zionism.

Valley of Strength by Shulamit Lapid.    (fiction)  Story of a middle-class young woman who escapes the pogroms in Russia in 1882 and becomes a pioneer in one of the early Zionist agricultural colonies of the First Aliyah, and her romance with one of the veteran pioneers.  The plot focuses on the challenges that beset the Zionist pioneers in their attempt to create a new national identity for the Jewish people in their ancient homeland.    

Start-Up Nation  by Saul Singer & Dan Senor.    (non-fiction)  An in-depth look at how Israel has emerged as a world leader in science and technology through the sheer ingenuity of its people.  Looks at the different aspects of Israeli history and society that have triggered a thriving hi-tech economy.   

Fear No Evil  by Natan Sharansky.    (biography)  Gripping account of Natan Sharansky's years of imprisonment in the 1970s-80s in the Soviet Union for his pro-Israel and human rights activism, and the international campaign led by his wife to secure his freedom so he could ultimately make aliyah to Israel in 1986.  This book is central for understanding the struggle for Soviet Jewry.    

Exodus  by Leon Uris.    (fiction)  Famous novel depicting the birth of the State of Israel.  Though fictional, it is filled with historical detail.  Loosely based on the well-known story of the Exodus ship of Jewish refugees after WWII trying to break the British blockade of Palestine.  This book is written in suspenseful style reminiscent of a Hollywood script. 

The Vanishing American Jew  by Alan Dershowitz.   (non-fiction)  A controversial look at the incredible economic and professional success of American Jews, while analyzing the challenges of assimilation and inter-marriage that are a direct consequence. This book was written in mid 1990s as a reaction to the author's son's decision to marry a non-Jew, and raises thought-provoking questions about the future of Jewish identity in the U.S.        

History On Trial  by Deborah Lipstadt.    (non-fiction)  Deborah Lipstadt is a professor of history and Holocaust studies who published a book attacking some well-known anti-Semites for openly denying the Holocaust.  She was subsequently sued for libel in a British court by David Irving, one of the Holocaust deniers she singled-out.  She writes about her experience as a defendant in the year 2000 in which the history of the Holocaust was literally put on trial.

World Perfect:  Jewish Impact On Civilization  by Ken Spiro.   (non-fiction)  Rabbi and historian Ken Spiro traces the origins of modern democratic values to the revolutionary ideas first put-forth by the Jewish people in the Tanach.  With wit and insight, he compares Judaism to other great civilizations of the past and is astonished to learn that it is Jewish ideas that became the pillars of Western Civilization.

From Beirut to Jerusalem  by Thomas Friedman.    (non-fiction)  Ground-breaking and controversial best-seller by a Jewish-American journalist who spends years reporting out of Lebanon and then Israel in the 1980s.  Published in 1988 but still relevant today, it gives an in-depth look at the unpredictable turmoil of the Middle East and also a critical look at Israel's miss-steps in Lebanon in 1982 as well as the intifada in the West Bank & Gaza in the late 1980s.  Essential for a deeper understanding of MidEast current events + written in very engaging manner.        

Mila 18  by Leon Uris.    (fiction)  Suspense filled historical novel based on the true story of the famous Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis in 1943.  This book tries to recreate for the reader the conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto and daily dilemmas that people faced.  Like Exodus by the same author, Mila 18 reads like an edge-of-your-seat Hollywood thriller.

My Promised Land  by Ari Shavit.    (non-fiction)  A sobering and critical look at both the triumph of Zionism + the State of Israel, and the tragedy of the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict.  The author writes a lot about the Palestinians too and the hardships that resulted from becoming refugees following Israel's War of Independence in 1948.  Told from an un-apologetic leftwing point-of-view, but attempts to give an objective look at Israeli history and society.  Extremely well written as the author tries to get inside people's heads and explain Israel to the rest of the world.

The Jews of Silence  by Elie Wiesel.    (non-fiction)  Originally published in the 1960s, Elie Wiesel writes of his visit with Jews living in the Soviet Union and attempts to make their desperate plight known to the outside world.  He is able to gain an understanding of how Jews have managed to keep some semblance of an identity despite the brutal oppression by the Soviet communist regime.           

Scapegoat  by Eli Amir.    (fiction)  Poignant story of a teen-age boy who immigrates to Israel from Iraq in the 1950s.  Though his family lives in a crowded transit camp, he is sent with a group of Iraqi Jews to live on a kibbutz where he is unfamiliar with the Ashkenazi customs and the world of labor-Zionist, socialist ideology.  This book gives a good insight into the experience of Mizrahi Jews in the early years of the State of Israel.

The Lost:  A Search for Six of Six Million  by Daniel Mendelsohn.    (non-fiction)  This book reads like a mystery that slowly comes together as the author traces the fate of his relatives who perished in the Holocaust.  Although he grew up in the U.S. with minimal Jewish identity, he wanted to go to the Ukrainian village where his family came from and find out what really happened.  The book takes the reader on a journey to different countries to meet the survivors who can help piece together the real story of the author's family.    

Still Life With Bombers  by David Horovitz.    (non-fiction)  Published in 2004 at the height of the Second Intifada, the author tries to explain what it's like living in Israel and raising a family with small children in an age of terrorism.  This book is about the disillusionment that stemmed from the failure of the peace process from 1993-2000, and how the resiliency of the Israeli people allowed the nation to overcome a deadly wave of suicide-bombing from 2000-2004.

The Red Tent  by Anita Diamont.     (fiction)  This book spent weeks on the best seller list.  A new take on the Hebrew Bible, this book retells the events of the Book of Genesis from the narration of Jacob's only daughter Dinah.  To those who read the Tanach, Dinah is a minor character who is raped in the city of Shechem and later avenged by her brothers.  In this version, the author is able to inject a woman's point-of-view into a male dominated story and cast a new light on how we interpret the Bible.    

Like Dreamers  by Yossi Klen HaLevi.     (non-fiction)     This gripping account offers a window into the soul of modern Israel.  The author traces the lives of 7 Israeli paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in the Six Day War in 1967 and follows their development all the way to 2004.  The main characters range from kibbutznik peace activists to religious West Bank Settlers, both sides believing that their way is the utopian vision to secure the Jewish future.  A must read for anyone wanting to learn in depth about the divisions and also the unifying elements in Israeli society.

The Haj  by Leon Uris.  (historical fiction)  From the same author as “Exodus” & “Mila 18”.  This novel tells the story of a family of Palestinian refugees who are displaced by Israel’s war of independence in 1948.  Attempts to show the complex reality of both inter-Arab conflicts and Jewish-Arab conflicts.  A very important book for understanding the Palestinians and how the past has shaped the current reality in the Middle East.

Ally  by Michael Oren.   (non-fiction)  Written by Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S. during the Obama years.  An insider’s look at the tension between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Iranian nuclear program, the West Bank settlements, and clashing world views.  As essential book for understanding the complex U.S.-Israel relationship.  Just published in 2015.              

Beaufort  by Ron Leshem   (fiction)  Translated from Hebrew.   Intense novel depicting a group of Israeli soldiers manning an isolated outpost in southern Lebanon in the year 2000 as the Israeli army prepares to withdraw in the face of constant attacks by the Hezbollah terror group.  Gives a personal account of the daily dilemmas and tensions that IDF soldiers face, and the complex geo-political situation between Israel and Lebanon.        

Konin.  A Quest  by Theo Richmond     (non-fiction)   This book describes in vivid detail a small Jewish town in Poland before the Holocaust and succeeds in reconstructing what daily life was like.  The author’s parents grew up in the town of Konin which inspired him to go an exhaustive search for other old ‘Koniners’ around the world to gather information about the town and its fate.  While not exclusively about the Holocaust, the book does devote a good deal of time to what happened to the Jews of Konin during the WWII.  This book is absolutely essential to anyone trying to understand what Jewish life was like in Poland pre-WWII.