The Future of Israel

By Devin Sper

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976161303
• ISBN13: 9780976161301
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Sy Publishing
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Brutally honest-Yet compassionate in its view of all.

Our author has written a very readable book outlining what he believes to have been the pacifist strain in Judaism. The peace party as he calls them embodied in Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai was the train of thought that led Jews to be silent and sometimes complicit in their own misery. The Rabbis who stood by the people in their efforts to negate the crushing weight of Roman rule such as Rabbis Akivas and Ishmael were eventually killed for their principles. With their deaths the pacifist movement took over. The peace movement basically did flips and flops to try and keep peace with the current govt by using the mentality of "Render unto Caesar" Even so when post 73 revolts broke out, their kumbaya style of diplomacy and gun control ended with whole villages being destroyed and people murdered by the thousands, since for the Romans a Jew was Jew was a Jew. He dosent judge the participants. He states he cannot walk in the shoes of those that suffered thru all of the grievous tumults from 68 to 135 a.d. and does not mock or scoff or belittle those Rabbis he feels were wrong, in fact I think he feels very sad for them, but he does state that he thinks their politics was misguided and led the nation to further calamity. Using quotes from the Talmud and Greek and Roman historians in particular Dio Cassius as his sources, the author presents a thesis that you may well disagree with but cannot ignore. Thank You Devin Sper for such a thought provoking book.

An atypical book about Israel

I think this fascinating book goes a little overboard. But it makes some excellent points. Still, it could be that this book was not really written primarily for a polytheist such as myself. Sper begins by noting that many people have enemies that persecute them. Some overcome them. Others succumb. The Jews have done neither. He then gives an unforgettable example of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, who berated a starving Jewish girl but gave gifts to the Romans who persecuted her. After that comes a section on Jewish history which I think is a little biased and misleading. I think Jews often overestimated their strength and suffered the consequences. In my opinion, Sper also overestimates the potential of the Jews to compete against the Roman Empire. Still, I think it is worth reading what he says. The author makes a good point about truth: some folks have sacrificed it in favor of convenience. And that has led to some great absurdities, such as terrorists being called "freedom fighters" (although the only fighting they do is against freedom) and Yassir Arafat getting a Nobel Peace Prize. Sper discusses the Jewish right to the land of Israel. He mentions that Arabs left the land desolate. I think that's a very good point! Mongols left Russia desolate, and that was a big clue that Russia, not Mongolia, was going to have a better claim to the land. He also mentions that Arabs have 500 times as much land as Israel. That means that Israel can afford to buy its land while the Arabs can not afford to buy theirs. Another good point! Some Arabs say that they want the land of Israel. But when they did have the West Bank, they used it for little more than a base from which to try to destroy Israel. I believe that Abraham Lincoln said that those who deny freedom to others do not deserve it for themselves, and Sper surely makes that point as well. And I have to agree. Just as the Sudetens forfeited their rights to Czechoslovakia by denying rights to the Czechs, I think Arabs who do not abide rights for Jews have forfeited their rights to Israeli land. The author wants Israel to make use of its strengths and build on them. That makes sense. And if one looks at it from the point of view of the Arabs, it makes even more sense. As Sper says, the Arabs (not Israel) are the source of political instability in the Middle East. If they can't stop fighting their neighbors, they'll eventually run into opponents who make full use of their abilities to fight back, whether they be Jews or others or both. I agree with Sper that Israel ought to declare some borders and state its case for them. That would get others to realize that Israel has both a goal and a case to support it. As it stands, many folks believe that Israel has neither. And the author correctly points out that there has never been a "peace process," only a "surrender of land" process in which Israel loses land and gets its people killed. I was going to give this book t

An important book!

This book gives me hope for the Jewish people. Sper's message is Powerful. I encourage Jews and Non-Jews to read it.