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1. Publishers Weekly
Unabashedly left-leaning, but by no means homogenous, this literate, thought-provoking
collection examines from all angles, in some four dozen essays, the idea that editors
Polner and Merken believe "reflects the most basic attitude in our Jewish heritage":
Shalom, "much more than the absence of war... it encompasses wholeness, grace, and
truth." Covering everything from scriptural imperative to Israel to Arab-Jewish
relations to animal rights, this is an excellent addition for libraries and classrooms.
Standouts include Kenny Freeman''s Middle East dispatches, in which friendships
with Arabs illustrate how "Jews and Arabs could live together... if their primary
allegiance was to a unified Holy Land, rather than to their own nationalist needs."
Claudia Dreifus contributes a remarkable elegy, recalling trips to Germany on which
she pieced together the story of 14 family members killed by the Nazis. Helen Fein''s
vital essay addresses the false "Articles of Faith" that form part of the Holocaust''s
legacy, such as the lingering myths that "our existence is always in peril," and
that Jewish victims "went dumbly... to their deaths, 'like sheep to the slaughter.'
" Calls to action include Richard Schwartz admonishing readers "not to wait for
the right opportunity to come along... but to actively seek opportunities to practice
justice." Though some essays feel slight-especially in the opening section, "What
We Believe"-there is much to learn here for anyone, Jew or Gentile, interested in
global issues of peace and justice.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.
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2. Arthur Waskow "Author, Godwrestling -- Round ... (Philadelphia, PA United States)
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Like all anthologies, the book is a little uneven. But its best dozen essays are
VERY good. If you have been wondering what your sunday school teacher or your rabbi
refused to tell you about Jewish critiques of Israeli policy or US policy, about
failures to seek peace & pursue it or to seek just goals by just means, this book
will open a locked closet filled with unexpected light. (Disclosure: I wrote 2 of
the essays included.)
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3. Soujourners Magazine reviewed the book in its December, 2007 issue.
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Soujourners Magazine
from December, 2007
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4. Richard Deats, is editor emeritus of Fellowship magazine, the International FOR
governing committee, and author of Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Liberator.
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Fellowship
Magazine Review
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5. The Pennsylvania Gazette March/April 2008
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PEACE, JUSTICE, AND JEWS: Reclaiming Our Tradition Edited by Murray Polner
G'51 and Stefan Merken. (Bunim and Bannigan, 2007. $25.00.) In this collection of
contemporary Jewish thought, the editors bring together a wide variety of thinkers
and activists in Israel and the United States—from animal-rights advocates to refuseniks,
prison workers to rabbis, soldiers to scholars—all of whom seek justice by nonviolent
means. Polner was the founding editor of Present Tense magazine.
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