Reviews for Israel: An Echo of Eternity

The average rating for Israel: An Echo of Eternity based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-06-08 00:00:00 Margery Schultz If you want an idea of what the land of Israel means to the Jewish people, this is a pretty good place to start. Heschel wrote this shortly after Israel's resounding victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, and, not only was that fresh in his mind, the memories of the Holocaust would still have been fairly fresh. I think the section where he talks about living side by side with the neighboring Arab countries still resonates today, and all Israelis and Arabs would do well to read the wisdom of that chapter. I have been to the Middle East multiple times, and I've been to Jerusalem once. When Heschel says "Once you have lived a moment at the [Temple Mount's Western] Wall, you never go away." It is such a true statement. You have to go for yourself in order to understand.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-12 00:00:00 Raymond Worley It is impossible imagining a world where I give Heschel less than four stars. This was my least favorite and most challenging of anything I've read from him. The book is a deep and wisdom-filled look at the Jewish people and the physical land of Israel. As usual, it is beautiful and poetic in its writing and does not disappoint in that regard. I had to keep reminding myself that this book was written at a particular point in history (1967). This is critical to understanding the context that moves Heschel to write what he does. I had to keep disconnecting the content from the current socio-political setting of today. I am very confident that if Heschel were writing a similar book today, he would not have written this one. Having said that, the book is full of rich, rich ideas and imagery. He talks about the importance of the land and the necessity of hope. The final few chapters are fantastic and especially helpful on his thoughts on Christians (ancient allegorical readings that shaped Christian theology) and the interaction with the Text. In my opinion, not Heschel's best, but definitely reading one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of our era when you read this book.