by Lorraine Blatt, Librarian
Last month I described three of the five books donated to Sha’are Shalom by Pat Myers and Mark Holt. This month I will give you a glimpse of the other two.
Raoul Wallenberg, The Biography
by Ingrid Carlberg
The book was originally a Swedish bestseller and winner of the August Prize for non-fiction. This copy is the English edition published in 2015. The author made every effort to adhere to the facts of Wallenberg’s life and his efforts to save thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. Wallenberg, a Swedish businessman, saved countless Jewish lives and this ultimately cost him his own life. Wallenberg was made an honorary citizen of the United States and is designated as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by Israel. “He was a modest envoy to Hungary whose heroism in Budapest at the height of the Holocaust saved countless Jewish lives.”
A series of unlikely coincidences led to the appointment of Wallenberg as Swedish Special Envoy to Budapest in 1944. Demonstrating remarkable bravery, Wallenberg created a system of protective passports and sheltered thousands of Jews in buildings he claimed were Swedish libraries and research institutes and therefore were considered Swedish sovereign territory. Wallenberg stood up to the Germans, and with the help of Hungarians he was able to enlist, he stopped a number of plans that the Germans had to destroy the total Hungarian Jewish population. As WW II drew to a close, Wallenberg voluntarily went to meet with the Soviet troops who were relieving the city of Budapest. Wallenberg was arrested as a spy by the Soviets and he disappeared into the depths of the Soviet system never to be seen again.
Carlberg carried out extensive and unprecedented research into all elements of Wallenberg’s life and death.
A New Voice for Israel:
Fighting for Survival of the Jewish Nation
By Jeremy Ben-Ami
The book is a critical look at Israel, American politics, and the American Jewish community. Jeremy Ben-Ami takes the reader through the building of the Zionist communities in Ottoman Palestine by immigrants from Russia, Poland, and other areas in Europe who wanted to leave the anti-Semitism that surrounded them. Many of the Jews who fled the anti-Semitism fled to either Europe or the United States. A number of others got involved with the Zionist movement and fled to Israel to re-establish a national home for Jews. Ben-Ami follows the early settlers, many his ancestors, who built the villages, towns, and cities of the growing Jewish homeland. He describes the pioneers, builders, and the fighters who established the Jews in Palestine. Ben-Ami takes us through the two World Wars and the support offered by American Jews and European Jews such as Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.
Ben-Ami looks at American politics and the voting patterns of Jews in America. He notes the connection between Jewish voting and its alliance with evangelical Christians. Ben-Ami questions the mainstream Jewish advocacy groups that “demand unquestioning support for Israel’s actions regardless of their consequences for the Middle East or America.”
Ben-Ami offers ideas and alternatives for Jews seeking a more moderate approach to the Arab/Israeli problems. He voices concern that Israel still has no definite borders that are recognized by the world and he believes a two-state solution is needed.
Ben-Ami, one of the founders of the advocacy group J Street, wrote this book as part of his effort to change the American conversation on Israel in the United States.
Thanks to Pat & Mark for these valuable donations.
As a reminder, please do not drop off books in the library without leaving a note with your name and contact information. Thanks!