ACCLAIM

“Tsvi Bisk presents a comprehensive critique of where the Jewish people are at the beginning of the 21st century, how we got here and where we should be going if we want to not only survive but also to flourish.  The Optimistic Jew is original and iconoclastic.  It deals with reality and not ideological wishful thinking.  But it is also an idealistic book that presents a positive, even heroic, vision of what the Jewish future could be if we choose to apply our rational faculties to the new global reality.  The book challenges inherited assumptions and presents a framework for positive action.  It should become a primary reference for Jewish policymakers.”
Gad Yaacobi, former Israeli Ambassador to United Nations and Minister in Israeli Governments.

“Few writers can match Bisk in his in-depth grasp of the situation of world Jewry yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Few have the creativity, the sensitivity, and the chutzpah to make spirit-stretching sense of it. Few are as helpful in enabling us to feel the urgency of the situation, know how high are the stakes, and resolve to do more to assure a 21st century for world Jewry that honors us all, Jew and Gentile alike.”
Professor Arthur B. Shostak Sociologist Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

 “At a time of rising anti-Semitism, nuclear proliferation, stagnant peace process and open calls by Muslim leaders for the destruction of Israel many predict a gloomy future for the Jewish people. Tsvi Bisk is not one of them. In this thoughtful and compelling book Bisk argues that the 21st Century offers a bright future for the Jewish people and many opportunities for them to excel in an increasingly globalized world. This book is a wonderful antidote for Jewish fatalism.”
Dr. Gal Luft, Executive Director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, Washington D.C.

"Tsvi Bisk is one of the most innovative thinkers about the future, the Jewish People, and the interaction between them. Bisk combines the best of the futurist and the visionary - able not only to understand what the future might hold, but also embracing that future with a sense of opportunity, rather than one of fear and denial. Bisk has a gift for courageous imagination. He is a provocative and lucid thinker who challenges our existing frames of thought and encourages us to see the benefit in adopting new modes of thinking. Above all, Bisk contributes to the ability of the Jewish People to actively improve their future, rather than sit passively by as a new wave of change washes over. This is a book which every person who wishes to be a leader of the Jewish People, or of some Jewish people, in 2020 should read."
Einat Wilf, Author of My Israel, Our Generation and founding member of Kol Dor

“This book has made me again proud to be a Jew after years of despair of Israel and the Jews.  Bisk opens a new realm of identity for me as a Jew and a Zionist”
William Cohen, Data Management Consultant, Tel Aviv, Israel

PURPOSE

My purpose in writing this book is to stimulate imagination and activate energy and idealism in a Jewish context. The seeds of the positive future envisioned here are already germinating in numerous projects initiated by young Israelis and Diaspora Jews who want something more from their Jewish identity. It is my hope that the ideas suggested will help stimulate the development of a 21st century Jewish paradigm as compelling as the 20th century Jewish paradigm which created the State of Israel and the extraordinary institutional structure of Diaspora Jewry.

This paradigm succeeded beyond its creators’ wildest expectations. But for many young Jews it is no longer adequate to their needs and ambitions as they confront the reality of the 21st century.  For many it is no longer attractive or compelling.

Yet I am the Optimistic Jew. I believe we have the capability to reinvent ourselves and build a wonderful new Jewish paradigm. The core theme of the book is that the global reality of the 21st century at last provides Israel and the Diaspora with the means to enable the self-actualization of the Jewish individual.