Let me create a Paradise
Hirsh Goodman
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 Public Affairs
ISBN: 1586482432

God said to himself. A Journey of Conscience from Johannesburg to Jerusalem.

Hirsh Goodman's childhood in South Africa was white -- & Jewish -- in ways he did not initially appreciate. While the local culture brutally suppressed the black population, Hirsh & his friends marched off to Zionist Socialist meetings, full of rhetoric about equality, justice, & democracy -- all within the context of Israel.

By his midteens, Goodman could no longer ignore South Africa's anti-Semitism & racism, & soon left for Israel, never expecting that the promised land of his dreams would also prove to be riven by ethnic & 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 this young soldier.

Then, as a journalist, Hirsch 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 Paradise is a wise, warm, & wry memoir of one man's life story, & the story of two divided nations in two different eras; the tragedies in their histories, & the hope that still exists for both.

An outstanding read, packed with vibrant memories of youthful bliss, immigrant confusion, war, politics, philosophies & love, offering a unique, mature & articulate inside look into this passionate region.

Hirsh Goodman was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1946. He immigrated to Israel in 1965 & 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, & 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 & lives in Jerusalem.
(09/11/05)

Rebecca