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In his prologue, Hirsh Goodman makes the book's assessment of Rabin clear: "He was Israel, that new generation of Jew, all that I aspired to be. And thus he remains and will remain forever."
Nevertheless, the book also contains strong criticism for many of its subject's actions, such as, displaying a transparent preference for Richard Nixon over George McGovern in the presidential race of 1972, when Rabin served as Israel's Ambassador to the United States. Its assessment of Rabin's first term as Prime Minister (1974-1977) is harsh: "Rabin himself considered this first term in office, marked by dissension in his own cabinet, unrest in his party and public disillusionment with his administration, to be a period of personal failure."
One of the book's major subplots is the rivalry, dating to the late '50s, between Rabin and his co-Nobel laureate, Shimon Peres. The enmity between the two was a constant in Israeli life for more than 30 years until the last years of Rabin's life and the acceleration of the peace process.
The book also contains serious criticism for the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security system. "The writing on the wall could hardly have been clearer," the book contends, as it builds the case that Shin Bet should have known about Yigal Amir, Rabin's assassin, and should have stopped him at several junctures.
The last chapter of the book begins: "In the Jewish mind, history is never far from the present." There follows a stirring and memorable polemic against the dangers of religious extremism, refracted through the prism of Jewish history.
The careful, seamless craftsmanship of the book belies the fact that it is the product of 15 authors. Far more than a hurry-up biography of a fallen leader, Shalom, Friend is an important contribution to the history of Israel and to the continual evolution of Jewish thought.
Rabbi Stephen Fuchs is Senior Rabbi at The Temple, in Nashville, Tennessee.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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