ISRAEL: An Echo of Eternity

by Abraham Joshua Heschel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 1968

It is difficult for the non-Jew to understand the unbreakable but invisible link that seems to bind Jews all over the world to the state of Israel. It is more than a rational patriotism expressing itself after a nineteenth-century period of suppression; it is a mystical tie which transcends time as completely as it does geography. Heschel, in this small book, manages to convey to the Gentile reader something of the ""feel"" of Israel both as a nation find as an idea. He first reflects on the ""charismatic city,"" Jerusalem, the head and heart of the Israeli body, then goes on to explain the significance of the Israeli state historically religiously, and apocalyptically for the Jew--""because of hope, because of memory, because of distress."" It is a strangely moving book, prosodically poetic, half meditation on the intangible reality of Israel and half apologia for its political reality, a fine testament to the spirit of a people and a nation.

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 1968

ISBN: 0374507406

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION