Audacious Jews Volume 5
From Hillel to Simone Veil, via Nachamides, Groucho Marx, George Gershwin and more – the lives, ideas and influence of nine audacious Jews - what they did, what they believed and their contribution to the Jewish story. Courageous, challenging and often misunderstood, they left a lasting legacy for both Jews and the wider world. Their insight and experiences can still be applied to help tackle contemporary moral and political challenges.
This book has in-depth separate chapters on a range of characters, presented in an easy-to-read bullet point format. Each chapter gives a summary of a character’s life, personality, beliefs and contribution to Judaism.
The appendices include a reading list, a glossary of many of the Jewish terms used, as well as short descriptions of the lives of the most important Jews in the Jewish story.
| Hillel | The greatest sage of the second Temple era and a significant influence on Rabbinic Judaism. |
| Nachmanides (Ramban) | A medieval scholar who was the Jewish defendant in the disputation of Barcelona and a leading figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem. |
| Eliezer Ben-Yehuda | One of the first Zionist leaders and the idealistic
driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language. |
| Claude Montefiore | A founder of Liberal Judaism in the UK, scholar of
Christianity and opponent of Zionism.
Why are there both Liberal and Reform Jewish movements in the UK? |
| Groucho Marx | An American comedian, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star. |
| George Gershwin | An American composer and pianist who wrote Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess. |
| Lillian Hellman | A modern American dramatist, screenwriter, socialite and communist, a leading defendant against McCarthyism. |
| Abba Eban | A South African-born, British scholar and Zionist who became an Israeli diplomat, politician and one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century. |
| Simone Veil | A survivor of the Shoah, who was responsible for legalising abortion in France and was the first President of the elected European Parliament. |
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