This past Sunday, members of the Jewish community gathered in the Beit Midrash of University Synagogue in Brentwood for a special conversation with acclaimed author Yossi Klein Halevi about his recent book, Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation.
Through the personal stories of IDF veterans, Halevi traces the relentless optimism of the kibbutz and secular Zionist generations in shaping Israel, as well as exploring with equanimity the factions of Israeli society that these same men represent and in some cases helped to create.
“These men fought in many wars, some wars that didn’t even have names, and between those wars they were struggling with each other to determine the nature of Israeli society,” said Halevi.
Rather than the usual author’s book talk, Halevi wanted to especially hear from those who had read the book already, to gauge the reactions of a diaspora audience to this very Israeli story. One participant listened to the book on audio and found himself so involved in the story, he would stay in the parking lot after his morning commute until there was good stopping place. More than one attendee mentioned how they came away with a new understanding of the nuances within the settler movement.
The program was presented by the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America in partnership with Jewish Federation Los Angeles through The Board of Rabbis of Southern California. Board of Rabbis members Lisa Edwards, Morley Feinstein, Dara Frimmer and Judith HaLevy were in attendance with congregants, along with participants from other synagogues.
Halevi said he “felt the vitality of the story” even as he was struggling with bringing it to life for over 11 years, searching for the book’s unique voice. Eventually, he realized that, “The voice of the book is Israel arguing with itself.”
Following the conversation on Like Dreamers, Halevi gave a talk on the Hartman Institute’s iEngage Israel Project. His subject was “The Future of Judaism in the Jewish State – And the Implications for American Jewry.”
Halevi expressed frustration with the diaspora narrative that says Israel is being taken over by the ultra-Orthodox, a narrative he called both destructive and wrong. He proposed a counter-narrative, “the rise of Jewish pluralism in Israel.”
Israelis now want “less Judaism in our government and politics and more Judaism in our social and cultural lives.” He spoke of an emerging cultural center that outnumbers, and is beginning to take on, the extremes of both Israel’s right and left, religious and secular.
“When I’m asked what denomination of Judaism I belong to, my answer is that I belong to an Israeli denomination that doesn’t have a name yet,” Halevi said.
In conclusion, Halevi emphasized that Israel is listening to American Jewry in ways it never has before, and urged his listeners to do the same, “Open yourselves up to the Israel you are uncomfortable with… and get to know the new Israeli culture.”
Jonathan Freund is Vice President, The Board of Rabbis of Southern California of The Jewish Federation.
