The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land, Updated in 2008 for the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of Israel | 
 enlarge | Author: Donna Rosenthal
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 53556
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0743270355
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.94
EAN: 9780743270359
ASIN: 0743270355
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
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Product Description
Israel is smaller than New Jersey, with 0.11% of the world's population, yet captures a lion's share of headlines. It looks like one country on CNN, a very different one on al-Jazeera. The BBC has their version, The New York Times theirs. But how does Israel look to Israelis? The answers are varied, and they have been brought together here in one of the most original books about Israel in decades. From battlefields to bedrooms to boardrooms, discover the colliding worlds in which an astounding mix of 7.2 million devoutly traditional and radically modern people live. You'll meet "Arab Jews" who fled Islamic countries, dreadlock-wearing Ethiopian immigrants who sing reggae in Hebrew, Christians in Nazareth who publish an Arabic-style Cosmo, young Israeli Muslims who know more about Judaism than most Jews of the Diaspora, ultra-Orthodox Jews on "Modesty Patrols," and more. Interweaving hundreds of personal stories with intriguing new research, The Israelis is lively, irreverent, and always fascinating.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
Healthy Multiculturalism November 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This vibrant & colorful work on the diverse society of Israel incorporates interviews with a large number of individuals, insightful observations, facts of history and the constantly changing figures & statistics of the dynamic little country. This second updated edition covers the start of the new millennium, bringing the story up to date. Rosenthal deftly integrates the personal opinions of hundreds of individuals with the latest developments in a rapidly evolving society for a most intriguing portrait of the miracle nation at the centre of the earth, a country of more than 7 million people of different geographical, cultural & religious backgrounds. She avoids politics as much as possible which is a definite advantage.
Israel is a tiny sliver of decency where the rule of law applies, in a vast neighborhood of oppression stretching from the Atlas Mountains to the Arabian Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Its free media, its buoyant - sometimes even tumultuous - democratic process and its freedom of religion set it apart from the rest of the Middle East, from North Africa as well as Russia and the states of Central Asia. It manages to maintain this respect for life despite continuous belligerence from its Middle Eastern neighbors, threats of divestment, opprobrium from organizations like the United Abominations and an onslaught of homicide-suicide bombings, the results of which are documented in Life in the Shadow of Terror by Nechemia Coopersmith.
Rosenthal's writing style is enthralling and very honest, as she deals with dating, family attitudes to various issues, relations between the sexes, relationships across religious & ethnic divides and the role of the IDF in bringing people together. In this section, my ears were perking up every 3rd paragraph or so, admittedly for anything but pious reasons. Her examination of the IDF, a formidable fighting force, illuminates and entertains in an amusing manner as does her analysis of the country's impressive technological innovation, an issue more thoroughly covered in Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation by Helen & Douglas Davis.
The book recounts several dramatic instances of the ingathering such as those of the Beta Israel from Ethiopia and the massive influx of Russians after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a valuable gain of skills in fields ranging from medicine to technology and culture. Regarding the Beta Israel, I highly recommend Operation Solomon by Stephen Spector, a book that recounts this tale of suspense in riveting detail. Rosenthal explains the difference between Ashkenazim, Sephardim & Mizrahim, Haredim, Orthodox and Secular as well as the diverse Arab and Christian communities. About 50% of Israeli Jews are descendents of refugees from North African & Middle Eastern states who fled or were expelled after the rebirth of the nation in 1948. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christian numbers are growing and Arab Christians are amongst the most wealthy & educated of citizens. Chapters are devoted to the Druze, the Muslim communities and the nomadic Bedouin who find themselves in a particularly interesting phase between tradition & modernity.
The final section deals with marriage, polygamy, adultery, divorce, sexual preferences and the use of substances. Considering the existential threats the country faces, especially from Hezbollah & Iran, and the psychological scars inflicted by two millennia of antisemitism, the negatives are not as severe as in other societies. One cannot but regret the occurrence of adultery, divorce and prostitution but even this part holds the reader's attention without depressing too much. Even in the sadness of these vices, a certain love of life shines through that is more affirmative than melancholy. However much those of us who love Israel would like to see less of this sort of thing, I think only Mashiach will ultimately solve these problems in wisdom & mercy.
The different communities comprising the nation of Israel might seem divisive on the surface but when assessed as a whole, thoroughly contemplated & digested, the words of all these individuals obliquely affirm an underlying unity in all the bewildering diversity. In other words, all the contributing cultural elements really serve to strengthen the soul of the nation. One highly admirable fact not discussed at length is Israel's embrace of Sudanese refugees from Darfur; while the world, the NGO's and the UN are babbling on without doing anything, Zion is extending mercy to those who by the grace of the Almighty manage to reach it. G-d bless Israel. This inspiring & uplifting book concludes with an epilogue, notes, bibliography and index.
The Israelis - 60th Anniversary Edition October 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is very interesting and easy to read, as one can turn to any page and read a short section at a time. I also found it very broad in scope; it does not shy away from controversial issues, such as homosexuality, extreme ultra-orthodoxy, poverty, crime, politics, etc. This appears to be an overview of Israel as it really is in 2008 -- a real eye-opener. I would recommend it to Jews and non-Jews alike.
Most Interesting & Informative August 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you have any intrest in knowing what life is like in Israel this book will satify your intrest. I found it very well written easy to read and the author gave intelligent insight and positions of all groups written about. Upon finishing this book I had a useful and fulfilling knowledge of Israelis and Israel. Of course this is only a glimpse but the book shows one there is such rich history and fascinating people in this diverse land. It gave some insight to both views mentioned in the editorial review. However I took from the book Israel is making attempts at assisting ALL Israelis no matter their ethnic origins. You will not regret adding this book to your Library.
My People June 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rosenthal, Donna. "The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land", New Press, revised and updated, 2008.
My People
Amos Lassen
Americans have no idea who the Israelis are. The stories we get in the American media by and large depends on the source of the report. We see them here as soldiers fighting for their freedom and we see them as aggressive colonizers who determined to stay in control over Palestinians who resent them. We know that there is truth to both depictions and at the same time they depictions are distortions of who the Israeli really is. Donna Rosenthal looks at the Israeli across the broad spectrum and she gives very interesting insight as to the nature of the modern Israeli in two aspects--an individual and as a group.
Many Americans are simply not aware of the vibrancy and diversity of Israel and as the nation is such so are the citizens. There are the very Orthodox who constantly study and await the Messianic age. They are against those that dress immodestly and violate the Sabbath. There are the modern Israelis who excel in business and industry and do not bother with their religious heritage. There are the Bedouin Arabs who still live primitively carrying everything they own with them to wherever they go. There are prostitutes and mailmen and waiters and there are farmers and fishermen and gays, lesbians and those that are transgender.
Rosenthal entered Israeli society and interviewed many people and she gives us their backgrounds and their viewpoints. She discusses the decline of the kibbutz movement which was once vital to the country and shows how the ethic of collectively is no longer relevant. She shows how the Orthodox remain a community unto itself and stays isolated from mainstream Israeli culture and society. She shows the vice and corruption with Israel and the presence of the drug trade and she gives us a history of Zionism as we hear the reminiscences of the way it was. We hear from the man on the street, from the leaders, from Arabs and from Druze, from the Russian mafia and from the subcultures of sex and gambling.
Rosenthal has a wonderfully readable style and she manages to weave interviews, anecdotes and vignettes to give us a picture of a people that most of us know little about. But let me tell you that you must be prepared to have your preconceptions become misconceptions. In giving us the information on whom the Israeli is, Rosenthal sheds light on the shadows. It is absolutely amazing when we realize that Israel is a nation that has "ingathered the exiles"--Jews from all over the world who have not much in common except a history of persecution and the desire to live free in their own land.
 Interesting, but if simple facts are inaccurate... May 17, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found this book (the first edition, 2003) in an apartment I'm renting in Jerusalem. It's quite interesting and well-written.
However, the author seems to have been rather sloppy in her research. I noticed at least two gross factual inaccuracies in details about the Orthodox communities in chapter 9, and this in turn calls into question whether the other information in the book is supported by the facts.
On page 176 (2003 edition), Rosenthal describes how "[s]oon after independence, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion agreed to Rabbi [E.M.] Schach's and other rabbis' requests to free haredi scholars of military obligation." Ben-Gurion's primary interlocutor on this issue was actually Rabbi A.Y. Karelitz (known as the Hazon Ish), the leading Lithuanian haredi rabbi of his day in Israel; the story of their meeting is quite well known in haredi circles, even to school-age children.
Again on page 188 (2003 edition), she writes: "For Lubavitch/Habad Hasidim, however, [Israel] Independence Day is a religious holiday becase they believe the birth of Israel in 1948 marked the beginning of the messianic redemption." This is completely incorrect: there are indeed religious Zionist Jews who believe this, and their communities are treated in the following chapter of the book; but Habad's position has never been that the establishment of the State has anything to do with the coming of the Messiah. Habad does support Jewish settlement on all territory under Israeli control, and opposes giveaways of land, for religious reasons having to do with saving Jewish lives; sometimes this puts them side-by-side with various Religious Zionist groups, as in opposition to the Gaza disengagement of 2005. Most likely our author saw or heard of such events and jumped to conclusions that the Habad and Religious Zionist ideologies are the same. But again, how hard would it have been to find out the real facts?
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