Learning about Jewish experiences
In the past year, I've read "The Bedwetter" by Sarah Silverman, "My Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs, and "The Story of My Life" by Moshe Dayan.
"My Year of Living Biblically" was my favorite of these three. Jacobs is a writer for Esquire who was raised in a secular Jewish household, where his few Orthodox relatives were considered kinda weird. He wrote this book as a follow-up to his book about reading the Encyclopedia Britannica all the way through, and did not expect to be as emotionally affected by his journey as he was. Though he attempted to carry out the rules of the Christian Gospels part of the bible ("New Testament") that did not require him to accept Jesus as Messiah, it was trying to apply the rules laid out in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") that brought him closer to his Jewish heritage, and made him decide to raise his sons in a more observant household.
Moshe Dayan's autobiography is over 700 pages long, and after a while, the battles begin to blur, but it does describe Israel's history as a series of wars. Dayan was born on Israel's first kibbutz, south of the Sea of Galilee. As a teenager, he joined Haganah, a Zionist militia formed while the area was controlled by the British. He was a founder of the IDF after independence in 1948, and lead it in the Sinai War (1956), the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973).
A few weeks ago, I rented "Waltz with Bashir", an animated film about an IDF veteran of the first Lebanon War (1982) who can't remember chunks of what happened after he arrived in Lebanon. Tracking down comrades he remembers from his incomplete dreams, he eventually reconstructs his memory of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese Christian paramilitary, which then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was fired for facilitating. "Bashir" in the title was the Christian Lebanese president whose assassination set off the Christian militia's act of revenge.
Last week, I watched "You Don't Mess With the Zohan", the only Adam Sandler movie I've ever sat through. I actually laughed at parts, particularly once the action moved from Israel to Brooklyn.
I want to read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl this year.
"My Year of Living Biblically" was my favorite of these three. Jacobs is a writer for Esquire who was raised in a secular Jewish household, where his few Orthodox relatives were considered kinda weird. He wrote this book as a follow-up to his book about reading the Encyclopedia Britannica all the way through, and did not expect to be as emotionally affected by his journey as he was. Though he attempted to carry out the rules of the Christian Gospels part of the bible ("New Testament") that did not require him to accept Jesus as Messiah, it was trying to apply the rules laid out in the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament") that brought him closer to his Jewish heritage, and made him decide to raise his sons in a more observant household.
Moshe Dayan's autobiography is over 700 pages long, and after a while, the battles begin to blur, but it does describe Israel's history as a series of wars. Dayan was born on Israel's first kibbutz, south of the Sea of Galilee. As a teenager, he joined Haganah, a Zionist militia formed while the area was controlled by the British. He was a founder of the IDF after independence in 1948, and lead it in the Sinai War (1956), the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973).
A few weeks ago, I rented "Waltz with Bashir", an animated film about an IDF veteran of the first Lebanon War (1982) who can't remember chunks of what happened after he arrived in Lebanon. Tracking down comrades he remembers from his incomplete dreams, he eventually reconstructs his memory of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese Christian paramilitary, which then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was fired for facilitating. "Bashir" in the title was the Christian Lebanese president whose assassination set off the Christian militia's act of revenge.
Last week, I watched "You Don't Mess With the Zohan", the only Adam Sandler movie I've ever sat through. I actually laughed at parts, particularly once the action moved from Israel to Brooklyn.
I want to read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl this year.