Led by BJ members Rabbi Carole Balin and Jennifer Sylvor, the Israeli Authors Discussion Group takes us on a journey of rich and thought-provoking Israeli literature. This month we will be reading The Only Jew in the Room: Searching for Understanding in an Arab Islamic College by Avi Shalev. After 24 years of service in the Israel Defense Forces and the Civil Administration, Lt. Colonel Avi Shalev (Ret.) set out to experience the Arab world from a different perspective—by studying Arabic and Education at Al-Qasemi College. As the first Jewish student at this Arab Islamic (Sufi) college located in the Arab Israeli town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Shalev gained an intimate view of Israel’s Arab Palestinian society. Through vivid journal entries, he introduces us to the many young women and men who studied alongside him—learning of their hardships, personal strengths, hopes and dreams, as well as their resentments, struggles with identity, and ambivalence toward Israel as a Jewish state.
