Far from Zion: In Search of a Global Jewish Community

By Charles London

Book Overview

A fascinating narrative of community and faith, Charles London's Far From Zion explores the Jewish Diaspora in some of the most unexpected places--from Burma to Tehran to Cuba and even Bentonville,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061561061
• ISBN13: 9780061561061
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An interesting and sincere exploration of Jewish identity and practice.

I just happened to pick this up at the library, intrigued by the title and jacket information, and expected to browse lightly and return. Imagine my surprise when I found it immensely readable and dropped everything else to finish it. It is the sincere spiritual journey made by an assimilated and secularly raised member of Generation X as he visits far flung Jewish communities across the globe. Overall, this is a very good read. I'm a bit older, but can certainly relate to the sense of trying to find true meaning in the over the top Bar Mitzvah celebrations and the sense of having to step away from the Jewish experience as he knew it, in this case, the abundance of such experiences in the Northeast of the US, to truly find and appreciate his Jewish identity. London traverses diverse and unexpected Jewish communities throughout the world, and gives a vivid account of the personalities and peculiarities of their political, geographic and social makeup. It is fascinating to experience Jewish life in Uganda, Arkansas and Iran for example. I throughly enjoyed the author's sincere interest and observations of these disparate communities and how different his experience has been in lively suburban American Jewish communities. I did, however, have difficulty with his presumption that the reader shares his particular political point of view regarding Israel. I too, share questions and concerns, but I felt that his agenda in this regard was naive and heavy handed and as a result, distracting. Overall, however, this is a very good read for anyone interested in exploring Jewish identity and practice with a view of Judaism in some very unexpected places.

finding his Jewish self

I grabbed this book off a public library new title shelf and couldn't put it down. I found the descriptions of unusual Jewish communities around the world to be journalistically skilled and astute, and I appreciated London's weaving in of his personal quest for Jewish identity. As one who started off from a very different Jewish background but ended up in a similar place, I thought London's commentary into the nature of community, tzedakah, nationalism, ritual, pilgrimage, and diaspora to be insightful and thought-provoking. I plan to present this book at my congregation's next book club meeting, and I would recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by offbeat Jewish communities in odd parts of the world and to any questioning and reflective Jew trying to find a place within the Jewish world.

An Elegant Work about Jewish Identity

"Far from Zion" is more of a travelogue with insight than a straight-out story telling or novel. The author is a non-practicing Jew from Baltimore (who happens to be gay) who discovered that his grandmother was born in an Yiddish speaking community in ...Virginia? That community has dissolved but Mr. London started his own personal search of what it means to be a Jew in the Diaspora. His travels take him to visit Jewish communities in Burma, Arkansas, New Orleans, Bosnia, Uganda, Iran, Cuba and finally Israel. The Jewish communities he encounters are fascinating and probably deserve a book by their own right. From the community in Bosnia who is there to help all, to the one in Cuba where many join just for the material benefits. There are fascinating descriptions of communities which come together through struggle and hardship, only to build a better place for themselves and their neighbors. Along the way Mr. London's inner struggle of his religious identity, traditions and his connection to Zion is a constant subtext in these stories. The author makes some personal and observational insights - some illuminating and some superficial as well as displaying a range of emotions towards Zionism - from understanding to hostility. I always said that one's moral compass is in direct relationship with their distance from the problem. At one point Mr. London proves me right. I found this book to very interesting, not so much from a historical angle but from the personal and intimate journey of discovery that the author makes along the way.