Edward Kessler is the founder of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations and writes widely on Judaism and Jewish-Christian issues. In this volume in Walker and Company's new series on the world's belief systems (see our review of What Do Muslims Believe? by Ziauddin Sardar), the author examines Jews as a religious community, a land-based people, and a culture.
There are all kinds of Jews — religious ones and secularists, Ashkenazi and Separdic, those who live in Israel and those who choose to live in the Diaspora. One thing is clear: they are a minority that goes back 4,000 years. Kessler offers four snapshots of this history: Abraham to Moses, the Rabbinic Period, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, and Zionism and the Creation of the State of Israel.
In his examination of what Jews believe, Kessler delves into monotheism, Torah, covenant, Shabbat, and the festivals. He describes five Jews who reflect the diversity of the Jewish way of life today: Woody Allen, Hugo Gryn, Golda Meir, Jonathan Sacks, and Andrea Dworkin. After discussing the synagogue and prayer, Kessler concludes with a look at future concerns of Jews. One of the most important of these is winning the peace in Israel:
"It is in Israel's self-interest to make peace, as the vast majority of Jews recognize. The State of Israel survived and flourished because it was able to withstand decades of attacks. It won the military battles. Its future survival now also depends on winning the peace."
