Exodus by Leon Uris

 Exodus by Leon Uris

 

This is a long, epic story. In a way, it covers about 6,000 years of the history of the Jewish people, with the hardship, holocaust and fight for survival which has been going on to this day.

 

I am fascinated by the Jewish culture, people and tradition: I’ve started my working career and the chance to learn with Israelis. I’ve been a tour guide, manager and organizer for about 20 years and a large part of my clients have been Jewish-most of those I dealt with in my first four or five years of labor. These were the days when I worked for the tourist office and was sent to places like Slanic Moldova, Felix, Caciulata, and Govora to deal with sick people, looking for cure in remote spas. Ani medaber tzad ivrit…in an approximate spelling and translation: I speak a little Hebrew. Most of the clients in these remote places came from Russia and knew Russian and Hebrew-we had to find a way to communicate.

There were chances to take Israelis on tours, from the best geologists of Israel to players in a Druze team, people from all walks of life taught me about Sabbath, kosher food-indeed, when traveling with the Orthodox Jews we had to make sure that the rather difficult process was respected.

I started learning about the Promised Land and ever since I maintained a keen interest in Israel.

 

Exodus deals with the difficult period after World War II, when Jews started migrating to the Palestinian protectorate, which would later become the state of Israel. It is an amazing story, even if at times it feels a bit too much like a history book, with perhaps too many details of some battles. I am prejudices in favor of Israel, but even so, I still felt the author is all in favor of the chosen people and finds no (or very little) sympathy for the enemies.

That being said, it is true that the Israelis suffered massacres at the hands of Romans, Nazis and Arabs. Even now, it is incredible how this small state can withstand the pressure, hatred and existential threats from nearby and distant neighbors: Ahmadinejad of Iran and other Arab, Muslim leaders claim that Israel has no right to exist and that the Jews must be thrown into the sea.

 

It is unbelievable that a people should not only exist, but prosper under those circumstances. Exodus, even if a work of fiction, presents actual facts: the Israelis did beat their enemies against all odds: with a force many times smaller, with few weapons initially: we should only consider a few examples: the Six Days War and Entebbe.

I do believe that Jewish people are different and somehow “chosen”- if we look at their small numbers and the many scientists, writers, actors, creators and top politicians that they gave the world, we understand that we’re dealing with a “special „people with superior gifts, culture…let us consider Einstein, Proust, Kissinger.

 

In a nutshell: this is a very interesting book, which will teach you a lot about Jewish history, character, strong will, destiny and culture.