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Books
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Coming Together, Coming Apart |
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Wiley Trade Hardcover
0-471-78961-5
July 2006
"To read Daniel Gordis' Coming Together, Coming Apart is to be engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one of Israel's most thoughtful observers. … His conversational narrative is irresistible."
Alan Dershowitz
Professor of Law at Harvard
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In 2005, two disengagements loomed large for Gordis. The first was Israel’s pullout from Gaza and eviction of the Jewish settlers it could no longer protect. The second separation was a more personal one: his daughter was drafted. With his children marching willingly into a future potentially devoid of peace, Gordis peers deeply into the soul of a country where the more people appear bound together, the more completely they’re torn apart.
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"It takes a writer of unparalleled sympathy, creativity, and hope – a writer like Daniel Gordis–to produce a narrative that lays bare the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and underscores the toll the conflict takes on every human being it touches."
“Whether describing a walk through Jerusalem in snow, a hike in the desert or a farewell family drive to the Gaza settlements, Gordis manages to capture the essential details that tell us the larger meaning of our Israeli lives. There is much irony in this book, and also anger… Those of us who share his passion are fortunate to be so well represented by this book.”
—Yossi Klein Halevi, Foreign Correspondent, The New Republic
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Home To Stay |
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Random House / Three Rivers Press Paperback
Updated Edition
1-4000-4959-8
October 2003
In the summer of 1998, Daniel Gordis and his family moved to Israel from Los Angeles. Immediately after arriving in Israel, Daniel had started sending out e-mails about his and his family’s life to friends and family abroad. These missives – passionate, thoughtful, beautifully written, and informative were excerpted in The New York Times Magazine to much acclaim. An edited and finely crafted collection of his original e-mails, Home to Stay tells the story of a family that must cope with the sudden realization that they took their children from a serene and secure neighborhood in Los Angeles to an Israel not at peace but mired in war. This is the chronicle of a loss of innocence. Ultimately, through Gordis’s eyes, Israel, with all its beauty, madness, violence, and history, comes to life in a way we’ve never quite seen before.
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"An outstanding work … powerfully and movingly written."
— Jerusalem Post
"A must read for American Jews, it would not be a bad idea for Israelis to do so as well."
— Jerusalem Report
"A work that dazzles with its nuance as it winds up to sock you in the gut."
— Kirkus (Starred Review)
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If A Place Can Make You Cry |
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Random House / Crown Hardcover
1-4000-4613-0
October 2002
In the summer of 1998, Daniel Gordis and his family moved to Israel from Los Angeles. Immediately after arriving in Israel, Daniel had started sending out e-mails about his and his family’s life to friends and family abroad. These missives – passionate, thoughtful, beautifully written, and informative were excerpted in The New York Times Magazine to much acclaim. An edited and finely crafted collection of his original e-mails, If a Place Can Make You Cry tells the story of a family that must cope with the sudden realization that they took their children from a serene and secure neighborhood in Los Angeles to an Israel not at peace but mired in war. This is the chronicle of a loss of innocence. Ultimately, through Gordis’s eyes, Israel, with all its beauty, madness, violence, and history, comes to life in a way we’ve never quite seen before.
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"A work that dazzles with its nuance as it winds up to sock you in the gut."
— Kirkus (Starred Review)
"Gordis is a provocative and penetrating observer, and his writings perfectly capture the complex conundrum of a soul in the tense present, yearning for a state of eternity."
— Publisher's Weekly
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Becoming a Jewish Parent |
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Random House / Harmony Books Hardcover
0-6096-0408-2
September 1999
A National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Raising Jewish children in today's secular culture poses unique and serious challenges. How do you instill a positive, vital sense of identity, religion, and heritage without turning off your kids or overwhelming them? How do you explain what it means to be Jewish if you are ambivalent about it yourself? And how do parents who have little or no formal religious training themselves pass on rich, multilayered traditions that may have been missing from their own childhood experiences?
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“A wonderfully clear and comprehensive guide I can’t imagine anyone doing it better.”
— Rabbi Harold Kushner, Author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“This book is a gem. It shows us how to enrich our children’s lives with Judaism, from the moment they wake up to that blessed moment they fall asleep—and everything in between. In the process, we become better parents and smarter Jews.”
— Ari L. Goldman, Author of The Search for God at Harvard
“An act of love and faith on the part of its author, this is one of the finest treatments of spirituality and parenting ever published . . . A masterpiece of intelligence and clarity.”
—Library Journal
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Does The World Need the Jews? |
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Scribner Trade Hardcover
0-6848-0389-5
September 1997
What would happen if the world woke up one day and there were simply no Jews left? Would the world be worse off? In Does the World Need the Jews? Gordis suggests that on the eve of the twenty-first century, one of the chief sources of malaise among contemporary Jews is that many cannot answer this critical question. Though many Jewish community leaders now speak of an American Jewish "continuity crisis," Gordis sees a very different problem. The issue, he argues, is not continuity, but identity. American Jews simply have no conception of why they matter or what their tradition stands for. In this sure-to-be-controversial book, Gordis argues that by assimilating so thoroughly into American culture, Jews have lost their distinctive voice. What emerges is a dramatic and compelling agenda for American Jews who want to believe that Judaism still has a reason to survive.
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“A passionate, persuasive plea for loyal Jews to become serious Jews.”
—Rabbi Harold Kushner, Bestselling author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“Daniel Gordis has a rich and variegated mind, the sort that makes stunning and otherwise ignored connections.”
—Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Jewish Literacy and Jewish Wisdom
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God Was Not in the Fire |
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Scribner Trade Hardcover
0-684-80390-9
October 1995
We all wrestle. All human beings — in all ages and of all generations — struggle with similar questions: What deserves our love, and what should we hate? What should we pursue in the relatively few years we are alive, and what should we shun? What is ultimately valuable, and how do we seek it? What is ultimately devoid of value, and how can we avoid it? How do we need to live, to feel or to dream if we are to make our lives worth something? Jews add another question to the list: Does Judaism have anything relevant to say about these issues anymore?
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“Daniel Gordis is a major new voice on the American Jewish scene, and readers will find themselves edified, uplifted, and moved by this wonderful work.”
—David Wolpe, author of The Healer of Shattered Hearts: A Jewish View of God
“God Was Not in the Fire is a unique blend of intellect, erudition, and passion … This book is sure to become one of the most important guides for contemporary Jews who are seeking a spiritually satisfying and emotionally as well as intellectually demanding way of life.”
—Professor David Ellenson President, Hebrew Union College
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