Daniel Gordis

EXCLUSIVE
  • Senior Vice President and Koret Distinguished Fellow, Shalem Center
  • National Jewish Book Award Winning Author
  • Founding Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism
  • Commentator on Israel and the Jewish People

Award-winning author Daniel Gordis is a revered scholar and commentator on matters pertaining to Israel. Gordis is the author of twelve books, including Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn – which received the 2016 National Jewish Book Award as “Book of the Year.” Of his book We Stand Divided, Ambassador Michael Oren wrote, “Impassioned, brilliant, and riveting… the essential book for understanding American Jewish-Israel relations.” Gordis’ newest book, Impossible Takes Longer: 75 Years After Its Creation, Has Israel Fulfilled its Founders’ Dreams? is due out in April of 2023. In his writing as he does in his talks, Gordis offers a balanced perspective and a deft and multifaceted assessment of Israel. Leonard Fein has written that Gordis is “perhaps the single most popular speaker on Israel to American Jewish audiences.”

Alan Dershowitz has called Gordis “one of Israel’s most thoughtful observers,” and his writing has appeared in The New York TimesThe New Republic, New York Times MagazineAzure, Commentary, and Foreign Affairs, while his books have received numerous awards. Gordis is a sought-after speaker who consistently receives rave reviews for his speaking engagements, such as: "Dr. Gordis was over the top fabulous. Warm, friendly, and brilliant. Roundtable, cocktail receptions, and program… he nailed every tier of our event. Articulate, knowledgeable and passionate. You could hear a pin drop during his keynote address. Our audience was completely engaged." (Tampa Jewish Federation)

 

 


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Past Hosts Include:
  • Tampa Jewish Federation
  • Beth Tfiloh Synagogue
  • United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto
  • Park Avenue Synagogue
  • Israel Bonds
  • Temple Beth Sholom
  • Beth El Durham
  • Combined Jewish Philanthropies
  • Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte
  • Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ
Rave Reviews About Daniel Gordis
Of the many renowned speakers whom we host and from whom we learn in Toronto, Daniel Gordis stands tallest. His analysis – on Israel and the Middle East, on other matters, too – is unrelentingly astute and compelling. What he says is delivered with passion, intelligence, warmth and humor – the clarity of his remarks never blurred with a bow toward popularity, however tempting, however hard the facts. He is unfailingly gracious and generous. In short, to host Daniel Gordis and to learn from this leading figure in the Jewish world today is a terrific pleasure and a genuine privilege.

An evening with Daniel Gordis | Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Daniel Gordis
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Impossible Takes Longer: The Next 75 Years for Israel

Based on his latest book, Impossible Takes Longer, renowned scholar and commentator DANIEL GORDIS offers a nuanced and thoughtful examination of Israel’s past, present, and future. ...

Based on his latest book, Impossible Takes Longer, renowned scholar and commentator DANIEL GORDIS offers a nuanced and thoughtful examination of Israel’s past, present, and future.

Israel and Zionism

Not a Moment’s Regret: Reflections of an Unabashed Zionist Curious George Goes to the Army: Reflections of a Soldier’s Father 2048: Will Israel Survive until its One Hundredth Birthday? The High Price of Jewish Statehood: Is Israel Really Worth the Cost? Fighting For Israel's Soul While Fighting Is ...

  • Not a Moment’s Regret: Reflections of an Unabashed Zionist
  • Curious George Goes to the Army: Reflections of a Soldier’s Father
  • 2048: Will Israel Survive until its One Hundredth Birthday?
  • The High Price of Jewish Statehood: Is Israel Really Worth the Cost?
  • Fighting For Israel's Soul While Fighting Israel's Enemies

World and Contemporary Judaism

John Lennon vs. The Bible – Today’s Battle between Universalism and Particularism Not “Who Is a Jew?” but “What Is a Jew?” – What Is at the Heart of the Conversion Crisis? Pledges of Jewish Allegiance – What Conversion has Meant in Jewish History, and What It Might Still Mean Today “The Chosen Peop ...

  • John Lennon vs. The Bible – Today’s Battle between Universalism and Particularism
  • Not “Who Is a Jew?” but “What Is a Jew?” – What Is at the Heart of the Conversion Crisis?
  • Pledges of Jewish Allegiance – What Conversion has Meant in Jewish History, and What It Might Still Mean Today
  • “The Chosen People” – Harmful Notion or Necessary Concept?
  • Once Upon a People: What Has Happened to the Idea of Jewish Peoplehood?
  • A Nation that Dwells Apart: The International Assault on Israel – Its Causes and How We Must Address It
  • History, Redux? – Is 2015 Going to Turn into 1938 all over Again?

American Judaism

Where Has All the Passion Gone? – Is There a Future for American Judaism? “But My Kids Feel Left Out” – Raising Jewish Children in an American Society Living with Risk: Modern Jews and the Struggle to Believe in God The American Jewish Assault on Jewish Peoplehood – It is Really Happening? Why? ...

  • Where Has All the Passion Gone? – Is There a Future for American Judaism?
  • “But My Kids Feel Left Out” – Raising Jewish Children in an American Society
  • Living with Risk: Modern Jews and the Struggle to Believe in God
  • The American Jewish Assault on Jewish Peoplehood – It is Really Happening? Why?

Other topics specifically tailored for individual institutions or events are always possible.

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Speaker News

On Israel’s 75th anniversary, Daniel Gordis offers a nuanced and thoughtful examination of its past, present, and future in his latest book, ‘Impossible Takes Longer’

With his latest book, Impossible Takes Longer, renowned scholar and commentator DANIEL GORDIS asks: Has Israel lived up to its founders’ vision? Published on the country’s 75th anniversary, Gordis offers a nuanced and thoughtful examination of Israel’s past, present, and future. The two-time National Jewish Book Award-winning author of Israel weaves a story of both unprecedented human triumph and great suffering.

In this new book, as he does in sought-after speaking engagements, Gordis offers new angles of thinking about Israel that bring moderation and clarity to the prevailing discourse. And through weighing Israel’s successes, critiquing its failures, and acknowledging its inherent contradictions, he ultimately suggests that—in ways its founders could not have foreseen—the Jewish state is a success far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Watch Daniel Gordis in conversation at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center >>

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Books by Daniel Gordis
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Biography

 

The author of twelve books, Dr. Daniel Gordis is Senior Vice President and Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College

Gordis’ history of Israel entitled Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn received the 2016 National Jewish Book Award as “Book of the Year.” Ambassador Dennis Ross, reflecting on the book, wrote, “When I am asked ‘Is there one book to read about Israel’ I now have an answer.”

Gordis’ writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the New York TimesThe New Republic, the New York Times MagazineAzure, Commentary and Foreign Affairs, and his books have received numerous awards.  He previously won the National Jewish Book Award, in 2008, for Saving Israel, and two of his other books were Finalists for the National Jewish Book Award.  

Professor Alan Dershowitz has called Gordis “one of Israel’s most thoughtful observers.”  The Forward has called him “one of the most respected Israel analysts around.” In 2014, the Jerusalem Post listed him as one of the world’s 50 most influential Jews, while Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic has written, “If you asked me, ‘of all the people you know, who cares the most about the physical, moral and spiritual health of Israel?’ I would put the commentator and scholar Daniel Gordis at the top of the list.”

Gordis’ newest book, We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel, was published in 2019. Commenting on the book, Ambassador Michael Oren wrote, “Impassioned, brilliant, and riveting, We Stand Divided is the essential book for understanding American Jewish-Israel relations.”

Gordis and his wife live in Jerusalem. They are the parents of three married children, and the grandparents of two.”