The Jewish Singularity

Each nation is unique in its own way. What is it that makes Jewish people unique? "The Jews: are They Human?"; this was the title of the book by a British-Canadian author and painter, Wyndham Lewis, published in the thirties. Winston Churchill wrote that "they are beyond all questions the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world." Vladimir Solovyev, a Russian religious philosopher, was convinced that the world rotated around the Jewish axis. On the other hand, Nancy Yos, a convert, recently wrote about Jews: "I have found after all the books, cogitation, and self-absorption, a people without whom life would be intolerable."

Virtually everything concerning the Jews is complicated and disputable. That is why considerations of the Jewish phenomenon should be multifaceted. After the journey across its genetic, spiritual, historic and cultural aspects, Barr discovers a magic loop which underlies Jewish endurance and vitality.

Popular science at its best, "The Jewish Singularity" covers the diversified but interwoven subjects of faith, history, and genetics in a fascinating and fully accessible way.