Riders Towards the Dawn: From Ultimate Suffering to Tempered Hope (History and Politics)

Dr. Friedlander argues that the Jewish people must move out of the shadow of the Holocaust. He insists that the Jewish emphasis on the Holocaust is not a plea for sympathy, but as George Steiner has said, "We are our own remembrancers". The evil that caused those deaths is still in the world. Now there is a new generation entering the 21st century. Jews must move beyond the trauma of a suppressed past which endures within the dark corners of the psyche. The author enters into a dialogue with the great Jewish thinkers and writers of our time - Primo Levi, Bruno Bettelheim, Elie Wiesel, George Steiner and tries in his exploration to move towards a concept of humanity which includes evil as a component of our make up, which sees the glory of human existence in winning partial victories against darkness and which celebrates the hope that even a journey moving into darkness has dimensions of hope within itself. Albert Friedlander is the Rabbi of Westminster Synagogue in London. He is lecturer at Leo Baeck College and is in constant demand as a lecturer and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books including a biography of Leo Baeck.