Let Me Create A Paradise, God Said to Himself: A Journey of Conscience from Johannesburg to Jerusalem

by Goodman, Hirsh

• ISBN13: 9781586482435
• ISBN10: 1586482432
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-24
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Hirsh Goodman's childhood in South Africa was white and Jewish in ways he did not initially appreciate. While the local culture brutally suppressed the black population, Hirsh and his friends marched off to Zionist Socialist meetings, full of rhetoric about equality, justice, and democracy all within the context of Israel. By his midteens, Goodman could no longer ignore South Africa's anti-Semitism and racism. He soon left for Israel, never expecting that the promised land of his dreams would also prove to be riven by ethnic and religious conflict. It was after marching victoriously through the Sinai as a paratrooper in the Six-Day War that Goodman heard David Ben-Gurion on the radio warning that Israel must rid itself of its Arab territories lest it "become an Apartheid state," a warning that had a very specific meaning to the young soldier. Then, as a journalist, Goodman witnessed firsthand all of Israel's subsequent troubles, from frontlines, to occupied zones, to the summits that attempted to find even a temporary peace. Let Me Create a Paradiseis a wise, warm, and wry memoir. It is one man's life story and the story of two divided nations in two different eras; the tragedies in their histories, and the hope that still exists for both of them.

Author Biography

Hirsh Goodman was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1946. He immigrated to Israel in 1965 and since 1971 has been a journalist, starting as the military reporter for the Jerusalem Post, then as editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report. He has been a contributing editor to U.S. News & World Report, a contributor to the New Republic, and a news analyst for CBS News. He is currently a Senior Research Associate at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is married, has four children and lives in Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
PART ONE OUT OF EVIL
Osmosis	3	(11)
Grace	14	(9)
Sapling to Seed	23	(20)
PART TWO DREAM TO REALITY
Homecoming	43	(11)
Rite of Passage	54	(12)
Seeing Red	66	(21)
PART THREE FROM VICTORY TO WAR TO PEACE
The Day the Eye Patch Blinked	87	(17)
What Goes Around Comes Around	104	(22)
My Land Is Holy	126	(19)
PART FOUR BAD TO WORSE
March to Folly	145	(19)
The Big Lie	164	(23)
Yom Yavo-The Day Will Come	187	(22)
PART FIVE CONQUEST AND CONSEQUENCES
Shai	209	(11)
Paradise in Hell	220	(17)
The Gordian Knot	237	(8)
Taking Stock	245	(22)
Selected Bibliography	267	(6)
Index	273