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Let Me Create a Paradise God Said to Himself
By Hirsch Goodman
Hirsch Goodman’s autobiography traces his ‘journey of conscience’ from Johannesburg to Jerusalem. The early chapters are among the most powerful as they trace his childhood and adolescence during the apartheid years in South Africa, his roots in a Zionist home and the influence of the Habonim movement.
After making aliyah to Israel in 1965, together with his Time magazine collection, he confronts the reality of the Zionist dream. On kibbutz he notes, “socialism seemed to stop at the front gate.”
Hirsch achieves his aim of serving in the army as a paratrooper so we are able to experience the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War from behind the scenes. In parallel runs his career as a journalist, first as military correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, then as editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Report. His insights into Israeli politics, the intifadas, the war in Lebanon and the anomalies of life in the Gaza settlements and refugee camps are particularly valuable.
Along the way there are two marriages and four children. His son Shai undertakes the reverse journey, from Israel to South Africa. Serving in the Israeli army during the intifada comes at a price.
You can hear Hirsch Goodman talking about his book at Jewish Book Week, with Jewish Chronicle editor Jeff Barak, and South African author Jonathan Kaplan, on Saturday 4 March at 9pm.
Click here to view this session
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