Eyewitness to Jewish History by Rabbi Benjamin Blech (hardcover)

Throughout history, Judaism and Jewish culture have enriched the entire world with revolutionary conceptions of God, justice, freedom, learning, and, indeed, the very meaning of history. Eyewitness to Jewish History brings you face-to-face with the people, places, and events that have shaped and been shaped by the Jewish experience, from ancient times to the modern day.

This unique chronicle transports you into the past through the vivid and passionate accounts of people who witnessed and took part in these pivotal moments in history. Drawing from diaries, journals, letters, newspaper accounts, public testimony, official communications, and ancient documents such as the Torah, Rabbi Benjamin Blech enables you to feel each historic moment as if it were happening to you.

Traveling in this literary time machine, you’ll meet Abraham and witness the birth of the Jewish people, flee with Moses from Egypt and ascend Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, and struggle with the prophet Samuel over the formation of the Kingdom of Judea. You’ll be there the first time the Torah is translated from Hebrew into another language, labor with Talmudic scholars to preserve and interpret Judaic Oral Law, and revel in Jewish accomplishments during the Golden Age of Spain.

You will taste the bitter hatred, violence, and oppression that Jews have endured over two millennia–merciless Crusader attacks, the unspeakable persecution of the Inquisition, pogroms in Russia, countless expulsions from country after country, and, ultimately, the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust.

In every period of Jewish history, however, great evils have been balanced by even greater good. You’ll witness the founding of the modern State of Israel, the remarkable accomplishments of Jews in every aspect of American life, and important steps in the ongoing effort to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Supplemented with Rabbi Blech’s insightful comments, helpful clarifications, and thought-provoking questions, Eyewitness to Jewish History is must-reading for anyone who seeks a deeper and more immediate understanding of Jewish history and the Jewish experience through the ages.