Book Launch: Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership by Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser
The highly anticipated book, Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership, curated and authored by Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser, will launch on May 21 at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.
This book is unique and long overdue. It is a thought-provoking work which analyzes and documents the failure of American Jewish leadership to effectively confront the ideological and physical onslaught that many in the Jewish community are experiencing. The contributing writers describe and explain the failure of Jewish leaders to stop the ongoing demonization and defamation of Jews and Israel in the media, on college campuses, in high schools, and even Congress.
This failure is scandalous, and reminiscent of Jewish leadership inactions during the Holocaust. It is due to several factors, but primarily a lack of understanding of the emerging threats and a deficit of courage. Too often Jewish leaders seem more loyal to a progressive ideology than to the safety of Jews.
The book sheds light on the importance of leadership and the crucial role which Jewish leadership must play to defend and protect American Jewry during a time of growing hostility.
Jacobs, Goldwasser, and a distinguished group of contributing authors — Alan Dershowitz, Mort Klein, Caroline Glick, Richard Landes, Jonathan Tobin, and Thane Rosenbaum among them — skillfully analyze the ideological onslaughts and physical threats that have become all too common. The authors delve into the pervasive presence of anti-Semitism in numerous spheres of American society, from news media to educational institutions, religious organizations, and, more recently, from political leaders.
This insightful 22-essay collection persuasively demonstrates that American Jewish establishment leadership today consists mostly of politicized bureaucrats operating on the basis of feel-good utopian notions disconnected from the real world. Betrayal loudly rings the alarm for a somnolent American Jewry. The Jewish community can ill afford to ignore the alarm.
Charles Jacobs — a distinguished advocate for human rights and founder of several human rights organizations including the American Anti-Slavery Group and the David Project — combines his extensive experience with that of Avi Goldwasser, a former financial executive with whom Jacobs co-founded the David Project, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, and, most recently, the Jewish Leadership Project. Goldwasser has been a member of the board of the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council and the American Jewish Committee. He is also a film producer with several films to his credit, including the award-winning documentary The Forgotten Refugees (2004). Together, Jacobs and Goldwasser — authors of the book’s opening essay — provide a unique and critical perspective on the consequences of Jewish leadership failures. They go beyond criticism and offer a list of actionable solutions to combat the alarming rise of anti-Semitism.
Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership is poised to be a catalyst for urgently need changes, requiring a re-evaluation of failed strategies and policies within the American Jewish community. It is a must-read not only for those who care about the Jewish people’s future, but also, crucially, for the donors who are instrumental in choosing community leaders.
The book is now available for purchase at https://amzn.to/41IEh2p.
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