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17th-century English theorists who drew on the Talmud as well as the Bible. The story has been told before, by Eric Nelson, Yoram Hazony, and Ofir Haivry among others, but Hammer presents it well. This is good so far as it goes, but the full story of the Jewish contribution to Western flourishing has barely begun to be told. It extends far beyond the English Hebraists—for example, in the emergence of the concept of the Infinite [Atomism?] in the 17th-century scientific revolution, as well as the birth of modern literature in the Spanish Renaissance.


https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/athens-and-jerusalem/

Hammer recounts at length the Jewish contributions to Western civilization, focusing on 17th-century English theorists who drew on the Talmud as well as the Bible. The story has been told before, by Eric Nelson, Yoram Hazony, and Ofir Haivry among others, but Hammer presents it well. This is good so far as it goes, but the full story of the Jewish contribution to Western flourishing has barely begun to be told. It extends far beyond the English Hebraists—for example, in the emergence of the concept of the Infinite in the 17th-century scientific revolution, as well as the birth of modern literature in the Spanish Renaissance.

Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West Hardcover – March 18, 2025

by Josh Hammer (Author)
A next-generation manifesto declaring that the fate of Western civilization depends on the security and thriving of the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel—that the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland demands a realist foreign policy, strong US-Israel relations, and a grand alliance of Jews who stand firm and Christians who recognize the centrality of Judaism to the West

Israel is the West's man on the spot—the tip of the spear in the battle against Islamist terrorism and secularist nihilism alike. But the old-guard voices advocating for the full support of Israel as a nation-state and as an idea are being drowned out from all sides—theistic, secularist, right, left, and everything in between. To combat the uproars of multiculturalism, postmodern relativism, tolerance, and Jew-hating social media, the time is now for voices from a new generation. We must address modern antisemitism and sound a call not just to accept, but to enthusiastically embrace the centrality of Judaism to the very character of Western civilization. We require a grand alliance: namely, Jews who stand firm and Christians who recognize the civilizational foundations they have built on.

In Israel and Civilization, acclaimed journalist, legal expert, and pundit Josh Hammer makes a righteous case that the key to the prosperity of the West is the flourishing of the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel. Hammer's uplifting offense is our best defense against the enemies of the Jewish people's right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. And as Hammer makes clear, manifesting the promise of Israel requires action by the United States and its allies.

There can be no overstating the impact of the trauma of October 7, 2023, on the Jewish people. Yet the anti-Israel reactions the world over have been equally devastating. Rallies of hundreds of thousands explicitly or implicitly promoting Hamas violence; demonstrations of Ivy League professors celebrating the pogrom as awesome and exhilarating; so-called human rights organizations that refuse to unequivocally condemn the use of rape as a weapon of war; and a hydra of multiculturalism, postmodern relativism, and tolerance—it all threatens the physical and metaphysical survival of the West and our essential Jewish heritage.

Preserving the best of what's been thought and said throughout history and ensuring that there will be centuries more requires a West that is proud of its Jewish heritage. In other words, the continued existence of the Jewish people is inextricably tied to the endurance of Western civilization. Israel is the center of the battle, and Israel and Civilization explains why and how the Jewish state must win.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This book makes a clear and compelling case that American national security interests are deeply tied to the strength of Israel and the US-Israel alliance. . . . Israel and Civilization comes at a pivotal moment and is essential reading for anyone seeking to confront these urgent challenges.
–Senator Ted Cruz

“An in-depth and thought-provoking exploration of the enduring struggle to preserve the values that have shaped the modern world. It encapsulates the importance of Israel’s fight for existence as part of a broader battle to preserve the Judeo-Christian values at the heart of America’s founding.”
–Governor Ron DeSantis

“Josh Hammer is a brilliant thinker and an extraordinarily lucid writer. In his new book, he shows just why battles far away in the Middle East go straight to the heart of the battles at the root of Western civilization—and why Israel is the representative of the West in those battles. A must-read.”
–Ben Shapiro

"In his compelling book, Israel and Civilization, Josh Hammer persuasively argues that in order for the West to survive, it must rediscover the biblical heritage that is its very core. This requires a fortified Jewish people and a fortified Jewish state, including the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. Hammer’s argument is both timely and timeless."
–David Friedman

“A Christian who disregards his connection to the land and people of Israel, saws off the branch of the tree on which he sits. Jew or Christian, believer, or unbeliever, the beauty of our Western way of life is inseparably linked to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Josh Hammer makes this case clearly and with a love of God and country that should inspire every defender of America to think twice before falling prey to the rising tides of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.”
–Glenn Beck

“The best ‘back to Judaism’ book I’ve read in many years. With the failure of Enlightenment rationalism as his backdrop, Hammer tells the compelling story of his own return to God and Orthodox Jewish observance. En route, he shows how Torah and mitzvot are the key to a spiritually centered life for every Jew, whether in Israel or the Diaspora. But he also has a message for Christians—whose road to national restoration must bring them to a renewed encounter with the foundational texts of Judaism.”
–Yoram Hazony

“An extraordinary accomplishment from beginning to end. Hammer makes an overwhelming case that Judaism . . . gave birth to Western civilization and the civil society. . . . But this is not what one might consider a religious book per se. Hammer takes on much more. . . .Hammer emphasizes that the U.S.-Israel and Jewish-Christian alliances are imperative to saving the West. . . . It is a superb book. I urge you to read it to the end and then share it.”
–Mark Levin

“The United States has one firm ally in the Middle East: Israel. . . . Josh Hammer expertly explains the historical importance and future implications of this partnership and the impact it will have on future generations.”
–Dana Loesch

“Josh Hammer is one of the most brilliant people in the entire conservative movement.”
–Liz Wheeler

About the Author

Josh Hammer is senior editor-at-large of Newsweek, a syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, and a fellow with both the Edmund Burke Foundation and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute. He also hosts The Josh Hammer Show, a Newsweek podcast and syndicated weekly radio show. A frequent pundit and essayist on political, legal and cultural issues, Josh is a constitutional attorney by training.

Josh has been published by many leading outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, Daily Mail, National Review, The Spectator, Townhall, Fortune, Fox Business, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and the Jewish Journal. His legal scholarship has been published by the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the University of St. Thomas Law Journal. Josh is a college campus speaker through Young America's Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and a law school campus speaker through the Federalist Society.

Prior to Newsweek and The Daily Wire, where he was an editor, Josh practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and clerked for Judge James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Josh has also served as a John Marshall Fellow with the Claremont Institute and as a Fellow with the James Wilson Institute. Josh graduated from Duke University, where he majored in economics, and from the University of Chicago Law School. He lives in Florida but remains an active member of the State Bar of Texas.

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Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer is the senior editor-at-large of Newsweek, where he hosts "The Josh Hammer Show" podcast and syndicated radio show. A syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, Josh also hosts the "America on Trial with Josh Hammer" podcast for The First. A frequent pundit and essayist on political, legal and cultural issues, Josh is also a research fellow with the Edmund Burke Foundation, a fellow with the Palm Beach Freedom Institute and senior counsel for the Article III Project and Internet Accountability Project.

An outspoken conservative, Josh opines on conservative intellectual trends, contemporary domestic and foreign policy debates, constitutional and legal issues, and the intersection of law, politics and culture. He has been published by many leading outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, the New York Sun, the Daily Mail, Newsweek, RealClearPolitics, the Claremont Review of Books, National Affairs, American Affairs, The New Criterion, The National Interest, National Review, City Journal, First Things, Public Discourse, Tablet Magazine, Compact Magazine, Deseret Magazine, The Spectator World, The American Spectator, The American Conservative, The European Conservative, The Federalist, The American Mind, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Jewish Journal. He has had formal legal scholarship published by the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the University of St. Thomas Law Journal.

Josh is a college campus speaker through Intercollegiate Studies Institute and Young America's Foundation, as well as a law school campus speaker through the Federalist Society. Prior to Newsweek and The Daily Wire, where he was an editor, Josh worked at a large law firm and clerked for the Hon. James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Josh has also served as a John Marshall Fellow with the Claremont Institute and a Fellow with the James Wilson Institute.

Josh graduated from Duke University, where he majored in economics, and from the University of Chicago Law School. He lives in Florida, but remains an active member of the State Bar of Texas.

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  • Disguised as a neutral look but actually a one-sided screed.
    Review by Too many manga in the United States on August 8, 2025
    The ebook has a few formatting issues in the early stages, which make it a bit difficult to read. However, once I got past those, I quickly found out this book wasn't geared towards explaining the pros and cons of the ongoing problems that Israel faces. The advertising for the book seemed to point towards this as the reason the book existed.

    However, the prose quickly settled into an attempt to proselytize people (probably mostly secular Jews) into Orthodox Judaism. The author assumed his god was real right from the start, then began Talmud-thumping to strongly encourage conversion to his faith. His apologetics are rather standard and easily refuted, if one wants to bother with such.

    I scanned through a few more chapters, to see if the focus would change to what I thought would be useful to read through, but it never really did get there. Instead, it kept hammering home again and again the same tired, one-sided arguments that I've seen so many times before about the whole situation there. There was nothing included that shed new light on the problems, nor did the tone really show any attempt to be objective.

    There were numerous duplications of information and admonitions, to the point where I realized that reading any further would be a complete waste of my time. Sadly, the ebook can't be returned, so the best I can do is to delete it from my Kindle library, with no refund.

    In summary, don't waste your money or time on this one-sided screed. There must be better books out there that try to more thoroughly inform the reader about the conflict, by authors who make every effort to show the good and bad points about every participating party.

    See full review

  • Sectarianism and Self-Righteousness Undercut a Case for American Investment in Israel
    Review by Jessica Rivo in the United States on July 6, 2025
    Hammer offers a rigid, ideologically narrow case for American support of Israel—one that might have resonated across political and religious lines if he weren’t so dismissive of the vast majority of American Jews. While he sets out to defend Israel with clarity and moral urgency, his tone toward non-Orthodox Judaism is condescending, exclusionary, and alienating.

    Despite his self-proclaimed fluency in Jewish history, Hammer ignores one of its most painful lessons: internal division has often been our undoing (for example, historians and Talmud scholars alike often attribute the fall of the Second Temple to baseless hatred). Hammer's attacks on Reform and Reconstructionist Jews—without any personal, meaningful engagement or acknowledgment of their deeply Zionist commitments—reinforce exactly the kind of sectarianism that weakens Jewish solidarity.

    He singles out prominent Jewish figures like ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt with contempt, while failing to appreciate their role in combating the extremism he claims to oppose. It’s a pattern throughout the book: scorched-earth rhetoric replaces bridge-building, and anyone outside his ideological lane is written off.

    Hammer’s refusal to recognize thriving, non-Orthodox Zionist efforts—like Recharging Reform Judaism, the Pardes Institute’s North American initiatives, or Livnot U’Lehibanot—reveals more about his personal biases than any strategic vision. He seems far more interested in ideological purity than in building a broad-based coalition to support Israel.
    Equally concerning is Hammer’s uncritical embrace of Donald Trump, as he fails to address how Trump’s political rhetoric and permissiveness toward extremism contributed to a surge in American antisemitism long before October 7th. This omission signals either strategic evasion or selective moral concern—both of which diminish the ethical authority Hammer seeks to claim.

    This book might have sparked necessary conversations. However, instead of mobilizing a coalition, Hammer alienates potential allies. America needs persuasive, strategic defenders of Israel—but it also needs humility, pluralism, and the capacity to listen. Those values are glaringly absent here. Hammer’s work would benefit greatly from more empathy, nuance, and recognition of the diverse Jewish and American communities that also fight - just like the Maccabis - for Israel’s security and moral standing.

    See full review

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Customers find the book enlightening, with one noting how it masterfully connects ancient Jewish law to modern times. The writing quality receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as a very good read.

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    5.0 out of 5 stars John Adams and the Jewish Influence!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2025
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    I don't quite know what to say about this book. It was amazing, enlightening, terrifying, confusing plus at least 10 more adjectives. Josh Hammer is an outstanding writer but I often got lost in words, paragraphs and subjects that I couldn't grasp or understand. That said, I still couldn't put it down. You will definitely want to keep your dictionary handy. One of the most intriguing chapters was about the adoration and love that our Founding Fathers had for the Jewish people. Who knew? I have never understood the hatred that the world has towards a people that just want to be left alone to live their lives, worship as they will without fear. I finished reading this just a week after our Iranian bombardment which made the book all that more relevant and hopeful.

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