Jewish History

One of the leading architects of the historic Abraham Accords, David Friedman explains why in these turbulent and dangerous times, the simple phrase of three words—ONE JEWISH STATE—must be the guideline for Israel and the world’s collective future.

For 400 years - from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the US Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s - the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people.

The Jewish royal family in Roman times was descended from priests, and not from David. The starting point of this story is the fact that Josephus Flavius, and with him the whole Judaic priestly line, descended directly from Moses. Yet, according to the universally recognized and accepted tradition, all the priests descended from Moses's brother Aaron. It is a tradition that was born at the time of Ezra--and because of the works of Ezra. Since then, it has been continually reasserted with force and conviction, to the point of becoming an unquestioned truth that nobody has ever doubted, but ...

Why does Israel exist? Why is it worthy of remaining a critical ally of the United States? Why have critical race theorists identified Israel and the US as the most pernicious examples of "settler colonialism"? Answers to these questions were developing during the first term of President Trump. But they were abandoned by the Biden-Harris Administration, imperiling Israel and the United States. In The Battle for the Jewish State, Victoria Coates shows how the conflict in Israel is not a regional issue to be resolved through an interminable diplomatic peace process.

A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the 20th century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and societal conventions, Clara refuses to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan's Lower East Side. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, speaking up for those who suffer in silence.

Judaism, one of the world's oldest and most influential religions, is deeply rooted in history, culture, and spirituality. With a history that spans over three millennia, it is more than just a religion; it's a comprehensive way of life that has had a profound impact on the world. This is not a theological exploration but an intellectual voyage into Judaism and its practices, to give you all-you-need-to-know in a quick and easy-to-read format. In an increasingly interconnected world, a comprehensive understanding of Judaism is not only valuable but also necessary for promoting tolerance, ...

Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are based on Holocaust survivors? And how has Yiddish influenced Hollywood? These and other questions are explored in this stunning and rich anthology of the interplay of Yiddish and American culture, edited by award-winning authors and scholars Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert. It starts with the arrival of Ashkenazi immigrants to NYC's Lower East Side and follows Yiddish as it moves into Hollywood.

In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.

Walking through Jesus' life from birth to death, Rabbi Evan Moffic serves as a tour guide to give Christians a new way to look at familiar teachings and practices that are rooted in the Jewish faith and can illuminate our lives today. Among the critically acclaimed highlights of this book, Rabbi Moffic gives fresh insight on how Jesus' contemporaries understood him; explores how Jesus' Jewishness shaped him.

The Jewish War is an extraordinary historical document in that it details a calamitous period of four years during which the Jews pitted themselves against the might of the Roman empire. It is partly a remarkable account in that its author, Flavius Josephus (c.37–c.100 CE) was himself a Jew and yet, during the course of the conflict, found himself playing a prominent role for both sides. It is further underpinned by the fact that Josephus himself was not only a participant, but also an historian and a scholar of standing.

Even though he escaped the gas chambers, he was never truly free. In occupied Poland, there are whispers of a terrifying darkness in the northern forests. When a young Lodzi Ashstein learns the horrifying truth about the Treblinka extermination camp, he is kidnapped and tormented by a senior SS officer, Janich Heiss. After a prisoner uprising, Heiss disappears into the woods and Lodzi is left with nothing but his nightmares and the eternal scars of a survivor. More than 70 years later, Heiss has been mysteriously murdered, and Lodzi is accused of a crime of revenge. When attorney Thaddeus ...

Dr. Elisha Waldman's years at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center were filled in equal measure with a deep sense of accomplishment, with frustration when regional politics sometimes got in the way of his patients' care, and with tension over the fine line he would have to walk when the religious traditions of some of his patients' families made it difficult for him to give these children the care he felt they deserved. Navigating the baffling Israeli bureaucracy, the ever-present threat of war, and cultural clashes, Waldman learned to be content with small victories.

Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.

Marthe Cohn was a young Jewish woman living just across the German border in France when Hitler rose to power. Her family sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis, including Jewish children sent away by their terrified parents. But soon her homeland was also under Nazi rule. As the Nazi occupation escalated, Marthe's sister was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and the rest of her family was forced to flee to the south of France. Always a fighter, Marthe joined the French Army and became a member of the intelligence service of the French First Army.

The Palestinian Delusion is unique in situating the Israeli/Palestinian conflict within the context of the global jihad that has found renewed impetus in the latter portion of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Briskly recounting the tumultuous history of the "peace process", Robert Spencer demonstrates that the determination of diplomats, policymakers, and negotiators to ignore this aspect of the conflict has led the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world down numerous blind alleys. This has often only exacerbated, rather than healed, this conflict.

At one time, Corrie ten Boom would have laughed at the idea that she had a story to tell. For the first 50 years of her life, nothing out of the ordinary ever happened to her. She was a spinster watchmaker living contentedly with her sister and their elderly father in the tiny house over their shop in Haarlem. Their uneventful days, as regulated as their own watches, revolved around their abiding love for one another. But with the Nazi invasion and occupation of Holland, everything changed....

In this fascinating account of the surprisingly violent fifth-century church, Philip Jenkins describes how political maneuvers by a handful of powerful characters shaped Christian doctrine. Were it not for these battles, today's church could be teaching something very different about the nature of Jesus, and the papacy as we know it would never have come into existence. Jesus Wars reveals the profound implications of what amounts to an accident of history: that one faction of Roman emperors and militia-wielding bishops defeated another.

As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst. Gangland-style.

An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of the State of Israel, by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today. Not since Thomas L. Friedman's groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem has a book captured the essence and the beating heart of the Middle East as keenly and dynamically as My Promised Land.

We are told Joseph became a slave and rose to become King of Egypt to save the country, but most don't know he was the Brother-in-Law of the great Job that Moses wrote about and many don't know how Job became Moses' father making Moses Joseph's nephew. Many scriptures have been ignored until now as we find out how Joseph saved Egypt well after the famed famine and his famous nephew. The capabilities and actions of Joseph, Job, and Moses come together in a special way that is generally hidden so we don't understand what actually happened. This united and intertwined group secured the history...