Jewish History
Subtitle: 4,000 Years of Accomplishment, Agony, and Survival
Edition: 1ST edition
Publisher: Vantage Press
Published: May 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 449
ISBN-13: 9780533138036
Subjects: Biblical period; Religious heritage; European history; U.S. History; Holocaust history; State of Israel; Jewish survival
Genres: historical
First sentence: The extremely long history of the Jewish people has been full of accomplishments that left legacies to the Jewish people and to the world in general. In the biblical period, the Torah provided the foundation of Judaism. The "One God" concept captivated the people who looked for a higher-being that affected and influenced the lives of everyone. 

The history of the Jewish people is short on glory and full of tragedies. Considering all the agony that the Jewish people suffered during their four thousand-year history, including two thousand years in exile, that Judaism has been able to survive is "stranger than fiction."
Description: This history book provides an excellent opporunity for the reader to walk the path  of the Jewish people through four thousand years of history. It recounts the dramatic changes in the Jewish lifestyle from the  biblical period until modern times. Unlike most other history books, its easy-to-read style makes learning about Jewish history easy to absorb and an enjoyable reading experience. The book covers five major areas of Jewish history. biblical history, European history, life in the United States, the Holocaust history, and the history of the State of Israel. It ends with an insight to Jewish survival prospects. This book also provides  a view of the major personalities involved in each historical period and area. 
           
The Biblical history  section provides an insight to the  birth of Judaism and the Jewish theological One-God concept that spawned Christianity and Muhammadanism,  the exodus from Egypt story, basic Jewish theological messages and practices, the history of the Jewish kingdoms and the Maccabean period, the major Jewish Prophets and their impact on Jewish history, initial exile from Judah, the return and the transformation from the God-centered sacrificial Judasim to current rabbinic-centered Judaism, the Roman domination and the relationship to Christianity, and the expulsion from the Jewish homeland that lasted almost two thousand years. Additional areas of interest include a brief introduction to the Talmud  and the imapact the Muslim world had on Jewsih religious and cultural history.
           
European Jewish history is like the spectrum of light, shining bright during the Golden Age in Spain, turning black during four centuries of terror and oppression associated with the crusades and the expulsion from Spain and other countries-- it was the age of the wandering and depressed Jews that spawned several false messiahs. Europe turned more colorful for the Jewish people during its period of European political enlightenment resulting in Jewish religious enlightenment and the birth of the modern Zionist movement. 
           
Jewish history in the United States represents such a short period with respect to the long history of the Jewish people but these  four hunded years had most remarkable results--the largest Jewish popualtion of any country in the world, living with religious freedom,  political equality, and minimum anti-Semitism. Jewish contributions to the development of the United States  are highlighted. An insight to the birth of the Jewish religious diversity and to many Jewish national communal organizations is provided. The U.S. contributions to  the the creation of the State of Israel and the  political support of Soviet Jewry that won their freedom to emigtrate are featured.
           
The 1939-1945 Holocaust tragedy with the genocidal death of 6 million Jews has become a major part of Jewish history and a lesson for the world not to let equivalent genocide be repeated anywhere in the world. This important subject merited a separate volume which covers how the Nazi "final solution"  started, the details of the evil process, Jewish resistance , liberation, rehabilitation, resettlement , noble gentiles who saved jews, and the Vatican's attitude and the American response to Holocaust period events. 
           
 Two thousand years  of Jewish prayers for a return to Jerusalem were seemingly answered with the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948.  The details  of its remarkable development and current achievements, fascinating to Jews and non-Jews alike, are presented in detail to provide an understanding of the difficulties  and challenges involved  in its establishment. The highlights of the first fiftyyears of its history provides exciting and illuminating reading and a basis for understanding the current impass between the State of Israel and the Palestinians regarding establishing a Palestinian State with a measure of security for the State of Israel. 
           
 Survivability issues are discussed and survivablity prospects are offered.
Notes: The author's objective was to create easy-to-read informative narratives covering the complex and exciting four thousand year history from a Jewish perspective that would appeal to both Jews and non-Jews who have an interest in Jewish history. The comprehensive Holocaust history was presented in this easy-to-read approach so that younger readers would fully grasp the impactof this tragedy for the Jewish people and remember it.

author availablity:  rshapirox2@aol.com
Table of contents: label: Part I
title: Biblical History
pagenum: 7-108; label: Part II
title: Jewish History in Europe
pagenum: 109-181; label: Part III
title: Jewish History in the U.S.
pagenum: 182-254; label: Part  IV
title: Holocaust History
pagenum: 257-331; label: Part VI
title: Survival of the Jewish People
pagenum: 417-440