Overview

An eye-opening memoir on the struggle between religion and domocracy in Israel. Israel claims to be a modern democratic state, but Israeli writer Ofra Yeshua-Lyth reveals some startling truths about modern day Israel: how although up to 70% of Israelis do not follow the Jewish religion, all citizens are subject to laws designed to favor religious Israelis over all others. In matters of birth and death; marriage and divorce; finance and the military, Israel's rabbis exercise iron control over their government. Yeshua-Lyth sees the seeds of Israel's demise in the growing tension between Israelis who want to lead modern secular lives, and those who wish Israel to continue in the iron grip of the rabbis. The author's arguments are woven through the story of her childhood and later life in Israel, illustrating the conflicts between modern democracy and an outdated theocracy in everyday life.

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9781566560108

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Reviews

It is easily the most important thing I have read on Israel in years, perhaps ever. It gets to the structural underpinnings of the tragic 'dead end' of Israeli life.--Tom Harrington, professor, Trinity College Poignant and painful Both evocative memoir and sober analysis.--Noam Chomsky

It is easily the most important thing I have read on Israel in years, perhaps ever. It gets to the structural underpinnings of the tragic 'dead end' of Israeli life. --Tom Harrington, professor, Trinity College Poignant and painful Both evocative memoir and sober analysis. --Noam Chomsky

"""It is easily the most important thing I have read on Israel in years, perhaps ever. It gets to the structural underpinnings of the tragic 'dead end' of Israeli life.""--Tom Harrington, professor, Trinity College ""Poignant and painful "" Both evocative memoir and sober analysis.""--Noam Chomsky"

Author Information

Ofra Yeshua-Lyth is a veteran Israeli journalist and author. She served as a foreign correspondent for the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv in Washington, DC and Germany.

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