Praise for Shavei Israel’s new book “A Drop in the Ocean”
“This is an absolutely exceptional book that appears at an extremely important juncture in history,” Rabbi Sholom Gold said this week at the OU Israel Center in Jerusalem. He was introducing the new book by Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund, “A Drop in the Ocean: A Daily Dose of Eretz Yisrael.”
Freund teamed up with Rabbi Moshe Lichtman to write “A Drop in the Ocean,” which is organized like a “Daf Yomi” – the worldwide daily Talmud study program – except that all the study material is about enhancing one’s appreciation for the Land of Israel.
Rabbi Gold introduced “A Drop in the Ocean” during his weekly Portion of the Week class at the Israel Center. The book was also for sale.
“We have to get this book into the hands of as many Orthodox Jews as we can in North America,” Rabbi Gold said. “They’ve lost touch with the mitzvah [the commandment] of yishuv Yisrael [settling the land of Israel]. This book might just inspire them.”
Rabbi Gold practices what he preaches. He made aliyah in 1982 from West Hempstead, New York, where he served as the rabbi of Young Israel for 11 years. Upon his arrival in Israel, Rabbi Gold established the Zichron Yosef congregation in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, and in 1984, founded the Avrom Silver Jerusalem College for Adults, which merged with the OU Israel Center in 2002. His latest book is “Touching History: From Williamsburg to Jerusalem.”
Rabbi Gold also contributed one of the 365 lessons in “A Drop in the Ocean.” The book is meant to be used daily, rather than a book that you sit down and read over a Shabbat afternoon. It is available for purchase online at the Shavei Israel bookstore for $25 a copy.
“The source material presented here embraces the wealth and richness of Torah literature through the ages,” Rabbi Gold said. “This is a book that cannot be ignored.”
Michael Freund shares Rabbi Gold’s passion for encouraging Jews to make their homes in Israel.
“I pray that many of my fellow Jews in the Diaspora who take the Torah and its commandments seriously, who value the words and insights of our Sages, and who seek to live lives of meaning and purpose, will be inspired by what they read within these pages,” Freund said. “And perhaps even more importantly, that you the reader will take a look in the mirror and ask yourself one simple yet straightforward question with unembellished honesty: as a religious Jew who strives to serve G-d, where is it that I truly belong?”
Watch Rabbi Gold introduce “A Drop in the Ocean.”