I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl

It is difficult to write a few lines about this book without thinking about the cruel and evil event that led to it. The murder of Daniel Pearl simply because he was Jewish would seem to take us back into the darkest times of Jewish and human history, to the Nazi era. And in truth the new Islamic Fundamentalism in whose name Pearl was murdered is a frightening and abhorrent phenomenom which is a threat to human civilization and freedom as a whole. Pearl's last words ' My father is a Jew. My mother is a Jew . I am a Jew' are as I understand it a courageous affirmation of his own identity and connection with his people. It connects with generations of Jewish martyrs who died on ' Kiddush Hashem' crying out as their last words the Jewish declaration of faith in G-d, " Shema Yisrael" The book itself consists in around one- hundred and fifty personal statements by largely well- known Jews about what being Jewish means to them. The selection to my taste is a little slanted to the ' left and to the Diaspora' and should in my opinion have had more Israelis, and more with a strong religious identity. There are a few who I would not have included. But on the whole the selection is varied, interesting and provides a great deal of meaningful thought. I especially was touched by the words of Kerri Strug the courageous Olympic gymnast but there are many other inspiring accounts also. This is an important book for anyone who wishes to see the collective face of the Jewish people at this time.

I recently purchased this book and was truly touched by it. I have to admit that I am saddened that some believe that this is too "narrow" because it focuses on what being Jewish means to Jews. Of course this book is not simply for Jews; in fact, I would love for my non-Jewish brothers and sisters to read it to understand what being Jewish means to us. What if it were a book about another community? Can no one write about their own community? The first part of international understanding is understanding oneself and this book does a great job at this.

I had to respond to the criticism that this book is only for the "narrow Jewish community". I thought exploring various people's thoughts on what it means to be Jewish was an excellent idea. I am not Jewish and I felt the book was aimed at me as much as is it at Jewish people. Daniel Pearl's last words were "I am Jewish", so why not explore what this means? This was not intended as a biography - his wife has written a book, and there are others that deal with Daniel Pearl as an individual and in the larger context of his murder and terrorism.This seemed to me to be a very positive means of celebrating his life. I thought the stories were interesting and felt it did what it set out to do.