Reviews
Association of Jewish Libraries
May/June 2012
"The author is a journalist and a Zionist. In this, unfortunately short, book, she presents a number of potted biographies of people living in Israel, who contribute to its society. Her aim is to try to fight the stereotyping of Israel in the press by showing a side of society that is not generally covered by the media. Her first rule is to exclude people who are prominent and newsworthy. Her choice includes...." read more
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Jewish Book Council
May 2012
"The charm of Israel comes to life with stories and photos of its colorful Jewish citizens. Beyond Politics: Inspirational People of Israel features 18 amazing souls, such as the plucky Chicken Lady of Jerusalem, Clara Hammer, who started a charity fund out of her own pocket to give poor Jews a proper chicken dinner on Shabbat.
Beyond Politics is designed to show life in Israel behind the headlines. It offers a welcome balance to...." read more
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Jewish Week
By Yocheved Golani, April 18, 2012
"....Unlike formulaic biographies from popular publishing houses in the Orthodox Jewish world, Beyond Politics is not predictable. The vignettes of individual men and women who trekked through Ethiopia and Sudan, flew in from Austria, India, and Algeria, or were born on Israeli soil are gritty, adventurous, and heartwarming.
Robinson lets her readers see, hear, and taste the efforts that her subjects undertook to become part of Israel. Shlomo Molla rose from being an illiterate desert dweller who walked 485 dangerous miles to become an Israeli and later a highly educated politician; former Algerian Sara Lanesman made aliya to unify Israel’s deaf citizens with a...." read more
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Florida Jewish Journal
By Rabbi Jack Riemer, April 11, 2012
"How do you measure a society?
By the grossness of its Gross National Product? If so, then some country that manufacturers widgets or bombs is greater than Denmark or Switzerland.
By the amount of land it occupies or the size of its population? If so, China and India are far more significant than any other countries in the world.
By the number of museums and art galleries that it has? That could be a way of judging the character of a society, but there are some counties that are rich in culture and yet brutal in their behavior...." read more
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International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
By Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, March 29, 2012
"Beyond Politics calls us to expand our understanding of “what is going on in Israel today” by focusing not on our current events, but on the lives of people – individuals living today in Israel...." read more
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National Public Radio
Listen to Ronda's interview by NPR, December 2011. It starts at the 35:00 timeline.
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Overseas Press Club of America
By Al Kaff, August 15, 2011
"Examine a nation through its people, not through the headlines. That is what OPC member Ronda Robinson does in Beyond Politics: Inspirational People of Israel [Jacksonville, Florida/Jerusalem, Israel: Mazo Publishers]. Her book features 19 Israelis who are making a difference in the lives of others. They range from the first Ethiopian to be a Knesset member to an Iraqi-born pediatric heart surgeon who saves the lives of children who come to Israel from all over the world. Another character is the “Chicken Lady of Jerusalem,” Clara Hammer, who in her 70s started a charity fund out of her own pocket to give poor Jews a chicken dinner on the Sabbath. Her mitzva grew until she was feeding 250 families a week, with the support of donors worldwide...." read more
