The Israeli Mind: How the Israeli National Character Shapes Our World

by Alon Gratch

Overview

Israelis are bold and visionary, passionate and generous. But they can also be grandiose and self-absorbed. Emerging from the depths of Jewish history and the drama of the Zionist rebellion against it, they have a deeply conflicted identity. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for the collective, but also to sacrifice that very collective for a higher, and likely unattainable, ideal. Resolving these internal conflicts and coming to terms with the trauma of the Holocaust are imperative to Israel's survival as a nation and to the stability of the world.
Alon Gratch, a clinical psychologist whose family has lived in Israel for generations, is uniquely positioned to confront these issues. Like the Israeli psyche that Gratch details, The Israeli Mind is both intimate and universal. Intelligent and forthright, compassionate but sometimes maddening, it is an utterly compelling read. Drawing on a broad cultural and historical canvas, and weaving in the author's personal and professional experience, The Israeli Mind presents a provocative, first-hand portrait of the Israeli national character.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250067807
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dr. Alon Gratch is an Israeli-born, New York-based clinical psychologist, organizational consultant, and author. He has been on the faculty of Columbia University and worked with clients such as Pepsi, Chase Manhattan Bank, Nikko Hotels International, and the NFL. Dr. Gratch is the author of two previous books, the international bestseller If Men Could Talk, which was translated into 25 languages, and If Love Could Think. He has written for both academic and popular publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Rabbi, I Object
One. Who is an Israeli?
Two. It's Easier to Change a Song than a City
Three. The Whole World is Against Us and the World is Silent
Four. Crying While Shooting
Five. Anatomy of a Cliché
Six. There's No Place Like Masada
Conclusion: Saying No, Getting to Yes
Epilogue: Dinner in Jerusalem

Editorial Reviews

05/11/2015
As an Israeli-American who is also a clinical psychologist, Gratch seems uniquely qualified to dissect the Israeli mind-set, which he does in this provocative blend of psychological profile and foreign policy analysis. Gratch brings up habits of thought in his home country’s mentality that made sense when the nation was young but are now counterproductive to its peaceful coexistence with other countries and peoples. He traces many of them to a sense of helplessness engendered by the Holocaust, asserting that it led to a culture of defensive hypermasculinity. After profiling the collective Israeli mind, he speculates about how changes in thinking could help Israelis better confront present challenges, including the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. If readers accept the premise that a national character can be dissected in the same manner as an individual psyche, then they will find this book illuminating and full of fresh insights into contemporary geopolitics. At the very least, it is a fascinating thought exercise, and worth the read for that alone. Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Alon Gratch's book intends to explain the Israeli mind to the world, because of Israel's importance to other countries. But it is first and foremost a beautiful love song to Israel, by a post-Israeli, who is able to look at us from a certain distance, understand us better than we can understand ourselves, warn us against existential dangers, and encourage us to do the right things.” —Yossi Beilin, former Israeli Minister of Justice

“Alon Gratch has wielded his Israeli mind to produce an incisive and provocative analysis of how his countrymen think about life, culture and the politics of the Middle East. His brilliant riff on the roots of the oppositional Israeli character is worth the price of the book alone. You may not always agree with Gratch but you will certainly be stimulated, absorbed and entertained.” —Joseph Berger, author of The Pious Ones and Displaced Persons

“[A] provocative blend of psychological profile and foreign policy analysis... Illuminating and full of fresh insights into contemporary geopolitics...a fascinating thought exercise, and worth the read.” —Publishers Weekly

“Gratch demonstrates a mastery of the delicate inner workings of the human mind and, at the same time, a profound insight into the epochal movements of history — a rare but essential balancing act. He is a compassionate but exacting observer of the Israel character at a moment of great peril and consequence. That’s why his book is not only a work of genius but also, and more important, a beacon of light and hope.” —The Jewish Journal

From the Publisher

2015-05-18
An attempt "to forge a comprehensive, provocative, and accessible narrative about the Israeli mind." Israeli-American clinical psychologist Gratch (If Love Could Think: Using Your Mind to Guide Your Heart, 2005, etc.), based in New York, uses his background as a sabra (an Israeli Jew born in Israel), combined with humor and anecdotal evidence, to provide a useful exploration of Israeli national character traits, most of which he shares. The "outside-inside" approach is compelling, though admittedly, the author is wading into perilous waters; a fellow scholar warned him that "the very concept of national character could be racist." Yet as a psychologist, Gratch is fascinated by group action and conflict resolution. First, he delves into the trauma and fragmentation inherent in the Israeli makeup: the endurance of cycles of war and peace, followed by immigrant arrival and absorption, dramatic change, instability, and forced adaptability. Israelis are hugely polarized along right-left lines and largely secular yet devoted to the national Jewish founding (i.e., biblical) myth, although Gratch shows how each side is passionately attracted to its opposite—a reflection of Freud's concept of reaction formation. The author offers astute observations regarding the mind and actions of the narcissist. On one hand, the Jews' self-identity as the chosen people allowed them a self-aggrandizing role in history; on the other hand, their "outsized" accomplishments in all fields over the ages have resulted from a "compensatory drive" to overcome their sense of insignificance. Another facet of Israeli narcissism, Gratch notes, is the lack of empathy, revealed in the inability to understand and experience the plight of their neighbors, the Palestinians. More troubling than the Israeli disrespect for authority and penchant for cutting corners is the deeply internalized sense of victimization that manifests in paranoia and defensiveness—a frightening mix vis-à-vis the Iran nuclear crisis and conflict with the Palestinians. A solid overview of how psychology, rather than violence, might provide the way to peace.

Kirkus Reviews