Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Jewish Identity

The Jewish people were not only called to be chosen but also separate from other peoples. In both ancient and modern eras they often rebelled against these aspects of identity. In current times, even some rabbis reject the idea of chosenness. Further, some Jewish thinkers (as well as most Muslims) even reject the idea that today’s Jews are descendants of ancient Jewry. Indeed, Yassir Arafat contended at the Camp David talks in July of 2000 that there had never been the Holy Temple of Solomon on what is now called The Temple Mount! However, there is overwhelming evidence that the Israel of today is physically connected with ancient Israel and that she has a unique and continuous identity. In support of the fact, none other than Moses certifies Israelite identity: “You are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”
(Deuteronomy 7:6)

Chapter 2 - Israel, Gift to the World

“In you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” was God’s promise to Abraham. This chapter enumerates some of the ways that has happened. The epigram of the chapter is Psalms 115:1-4 which is followed by Everest’s description of the degrading and ferocious gods of the ancient world. The Chosen People were commissioned to be an example of the uplifting, life-enhancing worship of the one true God. The Old Testament records the positive observations of individuals like Rahab the prostitute who lived in idolatrous nations. They see, and thus Israel is a witness. The chapter continues with the benefits of Israel’s witness from ancient times to the present. Today, the State of Israel especially, is a blessing through its national rebirth and genius. Quotes are in this chapter are from the Apostle Paul, Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, the poet John Milton, professors of government Eric Nelson (Harvard) and Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa University). The Jews are not perfect, but the Lord’s hand has been upon them to be a blessing just as He promised.

Chapter 3 - Israel's Election

“Yahweh is the God who cannot be seen but whose voice was distinct.” That was the experience of Israel at Mount Sinai. Earlier He had introduced Himself to Moses as the “I am who I am.” This was His introduction—the One who heard His people’s cries in their bondage. In His freedom, He chose a people who would bear His name—a people He had formed. Following His introduction, He would act to give liberty to His people in a way which would convince them of His care and power. He burdened Himself with people that rebelled but continued to be true to His promises. That was then. In these modern times, who believes this? What Jews accept this narrative? Many in Europe and America do not.

However, there are many Jews in modern history who acknowledge the truth in their tradition. Three examples are given in this chapter: first, Anne Frank, confined to an attic with her family and writing that “it is God that made us as we are.” Yes. Secondly, Theodore Herzl, founder of Zionism, a European high-society journalist who declared in the First Zionist Congress of 1897 that “the Congress will concern itself with the spiritual means for reviving and fostering the national consciousness of the Jews.” Good. Thirdly, Natan Sharansky, who, while imprisoned in a Siberian labor camp, read the Book of Psalms thereby gaining courage to affirm his identity as a member of the Chosen People. Sharansky prayed for courage before every occasion on which he was brought before his captors. His further prayer was that someday he and his wife might travel to Israel, a prayer Sharansky and his wife saw answered despite all odds to the contrary. Amen.

Chapter 4 - The Land

A question often posed is “What right do modern Jews have to return to the land they claim to be theirs when it has been occupied by other people for two millennia?” This chapter uses the Torah itself, especially the Book of Deuteronomy, to make its case. The ancient Hebrew’s ownership of the land was contested from their first entry onto it. It was a gift from Yahweh; but, how could He give it to them? What were they required to do to maintain it? Once having the answers to those questions, how did they subsequently lose the land to the Romans?

Regardless of physical displacement, the Jews remained emotionally and religiously attached to the land throughout their 1900-year exile. It took World War I, the greatest war the world had ever experienced, to prompt Great Britain and the League of Nations to open the land up to Jewish (Zionist) immigration. Those Jews emigrating from Europe and North Africa were undeterred by the poor conditions of the land and the conflict with its residents. These were problems the Jewish immigrants were willing to face in order to escape the anti-Semitism from which they were fleeing.

Chapter 5 - Rejoicing in the Land

Throughout the ages of their exile, the Jewish people have dreamt about and yearned for their return to Zion. While in their adopted lands, they kept track of the weather patterns, politics and demographics of Palestine. In their liturgies they always vowed in hope: “Next year in Jerusalem.” This chapter gives a profile of the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, and his journey from the Russian Empire to Palestine where he was met with many hardships there where he met with many hardships but still declared, “All was strange and bewildering, as though I were errant in a legendary kingdom. Could it be? Joy turned to exaltation. My soul was in tumult.” Also included is an account of a large body of Ethiopians whose claim to be Jewish was accepted by the modern Israeli government thereby providing the Ethiopians passage to the land. These North Africans arrived in Tel Aviv in an ecstatic mood—laughing, weeping and kissing the ground. They had kept the ancient traditions and been faithful to the tenets of the Torah for millennia even their isolation. In marked contrast to those “uncivilized black Africans,” 770,000 Russian Jews went flooding into Israel when Russia established the liberalizing policy of perestroika and opened up its borders for them to emigrate. Those Russian “children of the lost generation,” knew little to nothing of their Judaism or their traditions as they flooded the new nation with their presence.

Chapter 6 - The Rejection

Arab Muslims have alternatively co-existed or brutally oppressed the Jews of the region. To Arab Muslims, Palestine, having been once conquered by Muslim armies, is deemed to be literally owned by Allah. Any threat to that ownership is to be met with unbridled warfare. Further, in Muslim countries (which now have very few resident Jews) Jews along with the Christians are considered “dhimmis” —people of the book who are perhaps deserving of life…but nothing more. Thus, when the Jewish People were given the blessing of the League of Nations to return to Palestine, the Muslims resorted to harassment and warfare.

Much of this chapter tells the story of that oppression and warfare as the Jewish people immigrated and Great Britain waffled on its previous agreements to support that immigration. The Israel War of Independence ended without a peace treaty, making it clear that what remained would be a continuing state of hostility.

This enmity we see today is found in biblical stories as well, such as the hostility between the twin brothers Jacob and Esau (who even battled in the womb!) and between the Israelites and Edomites. In fact, many Arab Muslims today consider themselves descendants of Ishmael, the rejected offspring of Abraham and Hagar (handmaiden of Sarah). Tellingly, official maps do not show the State of Israel while in government-run schools children are taught, from an early age, that Jews are evil descendants of apes and pigs. Thus hatred of the Jews remains a noxious passion in the Middle East.

Chapter 8 - Land Forfeiture

This chapter opens with the contrast between England’s growing indifference towards Zionism (the return to Palestine) and the historic American support of it. The British were contending that there was no more room in Palestine for Jews. However, U. S. Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Woodrow Wilson, and many other top American officials, became active in the rescue of persecuted Jewry living in Russia. Later, President Truman would agree to recognize the new nation of Israel whereas the British cabinet recommended the abandonment of the Palestine Mandate which had authorized Jewish settlement. In time, this trajectory was furthered by the Americans and their push for the Peace Process which amounted to a land giveaway by Israel in exchange for promises of peace from the Palestinians and the Arabs generally. Intriguing “natural” parallels to U. S. efforts to further a peace process that was detrimental to Israel occurred on the very days when U. S. Administrations were literally at the sites of the consultations/peace accords, urging Israeli prime ministers to give up land. The U. S. twice experienced some form of natural disaster! The first was a “perfect storm” up and down the East Coast which occurred simultaneous with the first attempt to structure a “land for peace” deal. Meteorologists called it a very rare configuration that had widespread, devastating effects. The second was a storm that did physical damage and flooding, including to the personal family property of then President George H. W. Bush. Could it be that such events as this were signs of a jealous God watching over Israel.

Chapter 7 - The Peace Offers

Some commentators have remarked, “The Zionists never gave any thought to the people (Arabs) already living in the land.” This was simply not true. Theodore Herzl, founder of the movement, had conversations and correspondence with Arab leaders. David Ben-Gurion, as he rose to leadership in the Yishuv (Jewish community in Palestine), insisted on the necessity of “finding the way to the heart of the Arab people.” This chapter provides proof that the Jewish presence in Palestine greatly improved the lives of the Arab Palestinians who agreed to cooperate with them…and even those who did not. Even today, Palestinians living in the West Bank of Jerusalem (biblical Judea and Samaria) live better than they would if they had fled in 1948 or beyond and arguably better than their fellow Arabs in most neighboring Arab countries, not to mention enjoying greater human rights.

Arabs in the new State of Israel were given full rights within five years of national independence. However, reciprocity did not exist. In fact, to the contrary, the lives of Israelis were in jeopardy if they traveled to neighboring Arab lands. So the questions arise: First “Are the Jews accommodating and tolerant of the Arabs?” And next: “Are the Arabs accommodating and tolerant of the Jews?” This is undoubtedly a complex relationship, the seeds of which were sewn in ancient times while the repercussions remain ongoing, awaiting divine intervention.

Chapter 9 - The Acceptance Summaries

The first and indeed the foremost crisis of Judaism is the absence of sacrifice for sins which came about through the destruction of the Temple in 70 A. Since then, there have been synagogues in which to gather and pray, but no authentic temple. There has been liturgy, but no sacrifice. There has been Yom Kippur, but no atonement. Judaism has become humanistic—a do-it-yourself religion with a mammoth accumulation of law, judicial commentary study of it which became the virtue of all virtues. The Sages who probed the law and taught it were highly revered. They established yeshivas (religious schools) and great centers of Jewish learning. All this took the focus off the Torah itself as well as the Prophets and the Writings. All this would seem to ignore the warning that Moses gave the Israelites when he cautioned: “You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take anything away from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God…” (Deuteronomy 4:2) Many Orthodox Jewish rabbis do, in fact, believe that their own people’s unfaithfulness has brought punishment upon them; and they think that they—God’s Chosen—are now still repairing the damage they brought about when they rebelled against the Lord.

This chapter elucidates the ways Orthodoxy is trying to renew the covenant, then closes with the message of the Apostle Paul on being justified by faith. The example for this: Father Abraham who was declared righteous…yes, through faith!