Antisemitism is at record levels throughout the Jewish Diaspora. Violence against Jews has spilled from the verbal to the physical, with murderous results from Washington, D.C. to Boulder, Colorado, and from Manchester, England to Bondi Beach, Australia. American Jews are hounded on campuses, in the arts, and in the public square. The unholy alliance between the anti-Zionist left and extremist elements of the Muslim world has shaken the sense of Jewish safety, deterred many Jews from expressing their identity in public, and made it almost impossible to use the word Zionism in polite society.

But.

That “but” underpins and drives the argument of this entire book. That “but” means that Jews must not allow the rise of antisemitism, devastating as it may be, outrageous as it may be, soul-destroying as it may be, to deflect our attention from our own internal crisis.

This book is about that internal Jewish crisis. And it offers a unique solution.

- From the Introduction

Alex Sinclair has issued a lively, lucid, and ambitious challenge to readers who, like him, are disturbed by the damage that fundamentalist Orthodox Judaism is inflicting on Israeli society and the soul of the Jewish people. After making a convincing case that fundamentalism flies in the face of two centuries of Biblical scholarship and two millennia of halakhic debate, the author urges the rest of the Jewish world to stop providing moral and financial support to fundamentalist individuals and institutions. Many more schools and communities committed to pluralism are needed in both Israel and the Diaspora, Sinclair argues. The work required is great, but Jews dare not not undertake it.

Alex Sinclair’s “How to Win the Struggle for the Soul of the Jewish People" refuses the false choice between defending the Jewish people from external hatred and confronting the dangerous extremism growing within our own community. Rooted in profound commitment to Jewish peoplehood and Israel, this provocative work challenges fundamentalism while calling us toward a vibrant, morally serious Judaism and Zionism. Readers will not agree with every argument, but anyone concerned with the soul and future of the Jewish people should engage this courageous and timely book.

Professor Arnold Eisen

Chancellor Emeritus and Professor of Jewish Thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary

ADVANCE REVIEWS

Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Rabbi, UJA Federation of New York, author of The Covenant of ‘And’

Sinclair offers a necessary and deeply-considered analysis of the extremism that is plaguing Israel and the Jewish people, and a prescription for how to dismantle these dangerous trends. This book is an essential rallying cry for anyone who cares about Israel and the Jewish people enough to fight for their future, rather than mourning the crisis of the present.

A timely, passionate polemic, this book lays bare what is at stake for the future of Zionism if extremist forces continue unchecked. Even where one might challenge its historical omissions or contested definitions, Sinclair’s call for a profound cheshbon nefesh following the destruction in Gaza demands attention. By confronting the human origins of the Torah to dismantle fundamentalism, Sinclair charts a bold path toward a vibrant, honest, and morally courageous Jewish identity.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs

CEO, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Ittay Flescher

Author of The Holy and the Broken: A cry for Israeli-Palestinian peace from a land that must be shared

In our painful new era, when self-preservation for Jewish people can sometimes present as wanting to flee far away from the debates around Zionism tearing it apart, Alex Sinclair once again does the hard work of deep reflection that injects order and morality into the chaos.

Dina Kraft

Journalist and Author of My Friend Anne Frank

Alex Sinclair has written an important book for our times, a call to action for those who do not want to let Judaism (mostly in Israel, but also in the Diaspora) be hijacked by fundamentalist elements who claim they hold the truth, when, in reality, all evidence points to "the truth" being in the hands of the proponents of academic biblical criticism - the scientifically proven theory that the Bible was written by a variety of authors at different points in time and only later edited and woven together. He beseeches those of us who believe in a Judaism that reflects the liberal values we hold dear, to stand up strongly and proudly for a post-enlightenment interpretation of Torah that understands the Bible and classical halakhah are not God's word and therefore give us no license to act above civil law or common morality "in the name of God". Sinclair's book not only analyses our current alarming state of affairs, but also offers a plan of action to save the soul of Judaism and the Jewish people, before it is too late. I recommend this book for all liberal Jews (including those who label themselves modern Orthodox) who care about the future of Judaism, Israel, the Jewish People, and the place of all three in the world.

Rabbi Dr Haviva Ner-David

Mikveh Specialist, Spiritual Companion and Writer; Founding Rabbi, Shmaya: A Mikveh for Mind, Body and Soul; Author, Life on the Fringes; Chanah's Voice; Hope Valley: A Novel; Dreaming Against the Current: A Rabbi's Soul Journey; To Die in Secret: A Novel

I have not previously read a book that connects the future of Israel, the crisis of modern Judaism, and a scholarly grasp of the Hebrew Bible quite like this one. Deftly conjoining current events, Israeli politics, Jewish theology and biblical scholarship, Alex Sinclair is renewing a longstanding but recently spurned Jewish legacy of political moderation. Jewish extremism, he shows, cannot be defeated in the Knesset, media or by international pressure alone, because its deepest roots lie in how some Jews understand their sacred texts. This lively essay is deeply learned, urgently relevant and politically heartening.

Professor Fania Oz-Salzberger

Professor Emerita of History, University of Haifa

The questions Alex Sinclair raises are at the heart of the work of all who believe that Israel's future depends on preserving a democratic, pluralistic, and ethical Zionism. This is a bold, timely, and thought-provoking book that will enrich an essential conversation within the Jewish community and beyond.

Nadav Tamir

Former Israeli diplomat and Executive Director of J Street Israel

Alex Sinclair has written a brave and necessary book. At a moment when antisemitism tempts us to close ranks, he insists that we also face the crisis within: a fundamentalist theology pushing Israel toward extremism. By turning serious biblical scholarship into a tool for Jewish renewal, he gives liberal Zionists what we have long lacked - a way to argue back as Jews. Anyone who loves Israel and cares about the Jewish future should read it.

Rabbi Josh Weinberg

Vice President of the URJ for Israel and Reform Zionism, and Executive Director of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America

Most thinkers, politicians, and analysts (whether Diaspora Jewish, Israeli, or international) critique Israel extremism through the prisms of politics, security, international law, ethics, sociology, or economics, but none of this has worked. Despite this decades-long barrage of critique, Israeli extremism continues to flourish. In this book I argue that the most effective way (perhaps the only effective way) to undermine political Jewish religious extremism is to attack its theology, and specifically, extremist Judaism’s fundamentalist belief that the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) is a perfect, divine, uncontestable document. That specific belief in divine authorship underlies and fuels the entire political and societal agenda of religious Zionists and Ultra-Orthodox Jews. The shattering of that belief is a necessary first step in challenging the agenda of religious extremists in Israel, and building new Jewish, Zionist and Israeli narratives and alliances that will take the Jewish people in a more moderate direction in the future. And the most powerful way to shatter that foundation is to use academic Biblical criticism, the scholarly study of the Bible.

This is the core innovation of this book: advocating the use of academic Biblical criticism as a political tool.

This has never been done before, and may at first sight raise questions. How can an academic discipline impact the rough-and-tumble of Israeli politics? How can the esoteric conclusions of the dusty ivory tower speak to the real-world cultural and religious schisms of the Jewish people? What does Biblical source criticism have to do with Israel’s politics, security, and ethics, and with how Diaspora Jews can influence those issues?

Everything.

- From the Introduction