People Who Came Out of Nowhere: The 4,000 Year Journey of the Jewish People

Alan S Gover

Book cover for People Who Came Out of Nowhere: The 4,000 Year Journey of the Jewish People
Book cover for People Who Came Out of Nowhere: The 4,000 Year Journey of the Jewish People

People Who Came Out of Nowhere: The 4,000 Year Journey of the Jewish People

People Who Came Out of Nowhere: The 4,000 Year Journey of the Jewish People

Alan S Gover

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Description

The title itself represents the mysteries of the origins of the Jewish People, their endurance and their unique place in the history of humankind. The book opens with a reflection on the nature of humans, and how story telling is both intrinsic to and essential for our species; and what follows is how the Jews formed as a people, were first identified archeologically as such in the monuments of Egyptian pharaohs, and how they cohered tightly by telling their story from generation to generation. How although storytelling bound the people, they faced internal discord and faced grave external challenge, even exile and worse, during their first two millennia, and how in their second two millennia they endured as mostly unwanted and oppressed, sometimes brutalized guests of others, without losing their peoplehood. How they created ways to maintain their faith through a unique portable scroll called the Torah and later houses of study and worship wherever they were. How over four millennia adversaries claimed to have destroyed not only them but their God, but unexpected and improbable benefactors came to their aid. How the Promised Land was always part of their story, from hope, to fact, to dreams and finally back to fact. How the Jews' core origin belief in ethical monotheism came to be the faith of more than half the people on earth. This is a story of mysteries, tragedies, wonders and miracles. Not told as a sermon or a polemic but just as a story.

Critical Reviews

"This is the story of the Jewish People. I commend it highly and am truly grateful to have been invited to reflect on its beauty." James W. Betts. Colonel and National Chief Secretary, The Salvation Army of the United States; " Alan Gover has elevated the study of Jewish history to new heights, His research transcends the role of instructor, making an original, thought provoking question of the origins of the Jewish people....With ease clarity and intellectual rigor Gover engages a question that continues to baffle and challenge assumptions worldwide. Be forewarned, the implications of the work are far reaching." Rabbi Yamin Levy, Senior Rabbi of Beth Haddash Synagogue, Great Neck, New York, author of numerous books; "With elegance, depth and a touch of wonder 'The People Who Came Out of Nowhere' offers not only a sweeping meditation on the Jewish story, but a profound refelction on the power of beginnings that we cannot explain - but cannot ignore." Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, Head of Iyun Institute, Israel, Editor of 'Tzarich Iyun Journal", Jerusalem; "If history, literatue and wisdom got together to write a book this would be it 'The People Who Came Out of Nowhere' is profound, provocative and startlingly relevant." Rabbi Yosie Levine, Senior Rabbi, The Jewish Center, New York; "Inspired and inspiring, Alan Gover's 'The People Who Came Out of Nowhere' is a masterpiece of synthesis, exegesis and scholarship of Jewish history. Every gem-like paragraph is riveting and revealing." Stuart Yudofsky, M.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Baylor College of Medicine, Past President, American Neuropsychiatric Association, author of multiple books and textbooks; "Alan Gover has written an amazing story in a beautiful, dramatic and eloquent way." Stephen Marmer, M.D., Ph D, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA, "The short telling of a long history is a riveting read in the hands of a masterful writer." Lois Farfel Stark, author of Amazon Next Generation Inde Award winning "The Telling Image."

Publishing Information

Publisher: 173 West Seneca
Pub date: 2025-07-15
Length: 148 pages

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