John Rosove’s deeply probing and arresting memoir tosses aside the neat little identity boxes we put ourselves in. Longtime Hollywood rabbi, he is proof that a thinking person can be many different things at once. American Liberal. Progressive Zionist. Lover of Israel. Dreamer of Palestine. This sweeping and finely-wrought narrative traces Rosove’s journey from West to East and his philosophical evolution shaped by a trio of unforgettable mentors. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Benjamin Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, and Marwan Barghouti, the promising Palestinian leader who sits in a prison cell in Israel, make cameo appearances. The killing of 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, by Hamas militants becomes a horrible crime that challenges the core of Rosove’s beliefs. For months, he finds himself lost in doubt and grief and, yes, a desire for revenge. In the end, as the tragedy of Gaza unfolds, his brave voice does not waver in its determination to see peace and social justice come to the Middle East, for the children of Palestine and Israel.
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Nonfiction
From the West to the East: A Memoir of a Liberal American Rabbi
- From the Publisher
September 1, 2023
Discussion Questions
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