One Book I'm Taking to Israel. . .

. . .besides my compact NLT Bible and a guidebook. Or two.

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Another Great Book

Yeah, I'm a real bibliophile, a sucker for books. I devoured Israel is Real. It was so good, I bought the company. Oops, that's a line from a Gillette ad. It was so good, I bought the book. (The first read was from the library which meant I couldn't highlight it in my favorite yellow. Bummer. But now I own it, I can read it again. And highlight it.)

But first, I have to finish reading this one, Real Jews, pictured to the right. Ok, first I have to answer the question if all books, to be genuinely Jewish, must have "Real" in the title. Hmmm.

This one, also from the library, is an intriguing look at an aspect of Israeli life that I've really not been aware of: the disdain (hatred?) the majority of Jews in this secular state have for the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox fundamentalist Jews.

A sample: "That is why I cannot get out of my head the jokes about gassing ultra-Orthodox or pushing them out of planes. Growing up in the United States, I was innocent of anti-Semitism. I never experienced it: I was never insulted; I was denied nothing because of my religion. Anti-Semitism existed as a grand abstraction, like communism, an unseen threat to all that I loved, an organizing principle of my worldview, but it was utterly absent from my life in any practical way. My first encounter with anti-Semitism was in Israel, and the anti-Semites were my people, my heroes, the people I'd moved halfway around the world to join. After many years, I had finally seen the face of anti-Semitism, and it looked surprisingly like my own" (p 10).

I Really Hope I Don’t Get Jerusalem Syndrome

Just started reading a fascinating book by Rich Cohen, Israel is Real (2009):

“There is a condition suffered by tourists who visit Israel. It’s called the Jerusalem Syndrome. It’s contracted mostly by Christians, who, touched by the light of the city and its ancient names (Gethsemane, Calvary) lose their minds, claim they are not the person on the passport but a figure from the Bible, sometimes a major figure such as Solomon or John the Baptist, sometimes a minor figure such as Boaz or Enoch. They say they have come with a mission, a purpose: to ready the people, to clear the way for the end time. Their eyes glow. They shout fearful warnings. There are around a hundred cases a year. The symptoms usually disappear when the sufferer leaves the country.”  - p 3,4.

Hope I don't get it. Could be a bit embarrassing. "More coffee, Graham?" "My name is not Graham. It's Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Repent!"

If, like me, you're a little skeptical, check out this wikipedia article:

"The Jerusalem syndrome is a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences that are triggered by a visit to the city of Jerusalem. It is not endemic to one single religion or denomination but has affected Jews, Christians and Muslims of many different backgrounds.

The best known, although not the most prevalent, manifestation of the Jerusalem syndrome is the phenomenon whereby a person who seems previously balanced and devoid of any signs of psychopathology becomes psychotic after arriving in Jerusalem. The psychosis is characterised by an intense religious theme and typically resolves to full recovery after a few weeks or after being removed from the area."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome