The computer has changed the way top players think about chess. The silicon mind has no psychological barriers. It is "willing" to check moves that most humans, including top players, consider absurd and reject instantly. Thus this brave, new computer era inevitably leads to a reassessment of old axioms, principles and evaluations. In this book the reader will discover the incredible power unconventional moves can have. These moves contradict the most fundamental principles of the "old chess", and yet most of them played by leading grandmasters. At first sight these moves look so strange that the reader can not avoid asking, "Was this grandmaster was inspired or drunk?" The answer will definitely surprise you.
The computer has changed the way top players think about chess. The silicon mind has no psychological barriers. It is "willing" to check moves that most humans, including top players, consider absurd and reject instantly. Thus this brave, new computer era inevitably leads to a reassessment of old axioms, principles and evaluations. In this book the reader will discover the incredible power unconventional moves can have. These moves contradict the most fundamental principles of the "old chess", and yet most of them played by leading grandmasters. At first sight these moves look so strange that the reader can not avoid asking, "Was this grandmaster was inspired or drunk?" The answer will definitely surprise you.
Zeev Gries’s analysis of what books were being published and where shows the importance of the printed book in disseminating religious and secular ideas, creating a new class of Jewish intellectuals, and making knowledge of the world available to women. This unique perspective on Jewish intellectual history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the history of book-publishing throws light on many of the key Jewish cultural issues of the time.
The well-known historian and political scientist Zeev Sternhell here advances a radically new interpretation of the founding of modern Israel. The founders claimed that they intended to create both a landed state for the Jewish people and a socialist society. However, according to Sternhell, socialism served the leaders of the influential labor movement more as a rhetorical resource for the legitimation of the national project of establishing a Jewish state than as a blueprint for a just society. In this thought-provoking book, Sternhell demonstrates how socialist principles were consistently subverted in practice by the nationalist goals to which socialist Zionism was committed. Sternhell explains how the avowedly socialist leaders of the dominant labor party, Mapai, especially David Ben Gurion and Berl Katznelson, never really believed in the prospects of realizing the "dream" of a new society, even though many of their working-class supporters were self-identified socialists. The founders of the state understood, from the very beginning, that not only socialism but also other universalistic ideologies like liberalism, were incompatible with cultural, historical, and territorial nationalism. Because nationalism took precedence over universal values, argues Sternhell, Israel has not evolved a constitution or a Bill of Rights, has not moved to separate state and religion, has failed to develop a liberal concept of citizenship, and, until the Oslo accords of 1993, did not recognize the rights of the Palestinians to independence. This is a controversial and timely book, which not only provides useful historical background to Israel's ongoing struggle to mobilize its citizenry to support a shared vision of nationhood, but also raises a question of general significance: is a national movement whose aim is a political and cultural revolution capable of coexisting with the universal values of secularism, individualism, and social justice? This bold critical reevaluation will unsettle long-standing myths as it contributes to a fresh new historiography of Zionism and Israel. At the same time, while it examines the past, The Founding Myths of Israel reflects profoundly on the future of the Jewish State.
Defending the Holy Land is the most comprehensive analysis to date of Israel's national security and foreign policy, from the inception of the State of Israel to the present. Author Zeev Maoz's unique double perspective, as both an expert on the Israeli security establishment and esteemed scholar of Mideast politics, enables him to describe in harrowing detail the tragic recklessness and self-made traps that pervade the history of Israeli security operations and foreign policy. Most of the wars in which Israel was involved, Maoz shows, were entirely avoidable, the result of deliberate Israeli aggression, flawed decision-making, and misguided conflict management strategies. None, with the possible exception of the 1948 War of Independence, were what Israelis call "wars of necessity." They were all wars of choice-or, worse, folly. Demonstrating that Israel's national security policy rested on the shaky pairing of a trigger-happy approach to the use of force with a hesitant and reactive peace diplomacy, Defending the Holy Land recounts in minute-by-minute detail how the ascendancy of Israel's security establishment over its foreign policy apparatus led to unnecessary wars and missed opportunites for peace. A scathing and brilliant revisionist history, Defending the Holy Land calls for sweeping reform of Israel's foreign policy and national security establishments. This book will fundamentally transform the way readers think about Israel's troubled history. Zeev Maoz is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis. He is the former head of the Graduate School of Government and Policy and of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, as well as the former academic director of the M.A. Program at the Israeli Defense Forces' National Defense College. Cover photograph: Israel, Jerusalem, Western Wall and The Dome of The Rock. Courtesy of Corbis.
My greatest fear? To get to the end of my life only to realize that I blew it. I missed the whole point of life entirely. Assuming, of course, there is one... One day, I realized that I have to come to an informed decision about life’s most fundamental questions: Does G-d Exist? Is there meaning and purpose to life? If yes, what is it? Otherwise, I would be making my greatest fear a reality. This book is about the most fundamental question of all: Does G-d exist? It is the product of well over 20 years of research and slow, methodical analysis. The claims for and against, the rebuttals, and the counterclaims. All of it. If you, like me, are afraid you may be missing the point - then get this book! Take a journey with me to investigate life’s most fundamental question. See if you agree with my assessment of the evidence and my conclusions. Fear no more.
Zeev Levin seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of government efforts to socialize the Jewish masses in Uzbekistan, a process in which the central Soviet government took part, together with the local, republican and regional administrations and Soviet Jewish activists. This research presents a chapter in the history of the Jews in Uzbekistan, as well as contributing to the study of the socialization process of the Jewish population in the USSR in general. It also contributes to the study of relations among political and government bodies and decision makers. The study is based on archival documents and provides a unique glance at the implementation of Soviet nationalities policy towards Bukharan Jews while comparing it to other national minority groups in Uzbekistan.
October Earthquake presents a chronological account of the days surrounding the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) War, along with the significant military and political events of each day of the conflict. Zeev Schiff's comments on Israel's exaggerated self-confidence, the hopelessness of Israeli leadership, the intelligence failure, the concept of the Bar Lev Line, the role of the air force, and the preparedness of the Arab army are interspersed throughout.Rather than judging and awarding "grades" to the parties involved in the war, this work bases itself on authentic source materials, such as recordings of command discussions during the battles, and documents. Many of the details included are not found elsewhere. The author skillfully weaves the recollections and accounts of many participants and commentators into a coherent narrative that brings to life the war's events.Although written largely from the perspective of Israelis, October Earthquake reviews political, diplomatic, and military events in Egypt that set the stage for the war. In the postscript, Schiff also explores key lessons for Israel from the Yom Kippur War, which ended its sense of invincibility and complacency, despite Israel's impressive victories on the battlefield. Winner of the Sokolov Prize, Israel's highest journalism award, this book should be read by all foreign policy specialists, historians, and anyone interested in the Middle East.
This book examines the local and global political and institutional processes that have led to the strengthening of the Israeli central bank within the context of the now predominant neoliberal regime. Using Israel as a case study to identify broader patterns around the world, the authors examine the strengthening of central banks as a key dimension of the institutionalisation of the global regime. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of the political economy of the Israeli central bank since the mid-1980s, the authors show how the Bank of Israel mobilized global logics in order to strengthen its position vis-à-vis competing actors, especially the Ministry of Finance, and to promote the institutionalisation of the neoliberal regime. Employing a conflict-centered theoretical perspective, the authors elucidate the character of this institutional transformation and the mechanisms that were involved. Chapters examine the different phases of the process of central bank strengthening, focusing on the actors involved, the interactions between them, and the political strategies they employed, and analyse the consequences of the process for the shift in macro-economic management and in the mode of state involvement in the economy. Addressing the political and institutional processes that have led to the fundamental transformation of Israeli political economy, this book is a valuable addition to the existing literature on the Israeli banking system, political economy and globalisation.
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