Avraham Burg Books

The book is a new interpretation of the weekly torah reading. It is written from a world view deeply committed to Judaism, which places the responsibility of interpretation and identity on each one of us. The Torah is not in heaven but in the heart and mouth of you and me, to study it and to live by it. Through this book the author tries to involve the reader in the language of the five books of Moses that has been present in our lives for thousands of years. It s a language which is human, universal, moral, historical and national. "My interpretation is one of many and I try to invite the reader or student to argue or to agree, to add or to subtract from my interpretation, or even better to develop their own interpretation and spread it around."

The unorthodox former speaker of the Knesset offers a his clear-eyed assessment of Zionism's failings and what the future holds for Israel and for Judaism

Modern day Israel, and the Jewish community, is strongly influenced by the memory and horrors of Hitler and the Holocaust. Burg argues that the Jewish nation has been traumatized and has lost the ability to trust itself, its neighbors or the world around it. He shows that this is one of the causes for the growing nationalism and violence that are plaguing Israeli society and reverberating through Jewish communities worldwide. Burg uses his own family history--his parents were Holocaust survivors--to inform his innovative views on what the Jewish people need to do to move on and eventually live in peace with their Arab neighbors and feel comfortable in world at large. Thought-provoking, compelling, and original, this book is bound to spark a heated debate around the world.