Breaking the Silence presents

Kingdom of Olives and Ash
Compiled and Edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman

Book reading and discussion with
Geraldine Brooks, Yehuda Shaul, and Rabbi Eric Gurvis

Sponsored by HarperCollins and the New Israel Fund
Hosted by Temple Beth Zion

Tuesday, June 6th 
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Program starts at 7:30 pm

Temple Beth Zion
1566 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446

Purchase Tickets Below »

June 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Israel occupation of the West Bank. Over the past two years, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, two of today's most renowned novelists and essayists, have joined forces with the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence—an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories and saw firsthand the injustice there—and a host of illustrious writers to tell the stories of the people on the ground in the contested territories.

Kingdom of Olives and Ash includes contributions from some of our most esteemed storytellers, including essays from editors Chabon and Waldman, as well as Geraldine Brooks, Colum McCann, Colm Toibin, Dave Eggers, Madeleine Thien, Asaf Gavron, Raja Shiehada. Their writing enables readers to understand the human narratives behind the litany of grim destruction broadcasted nightly on the news. Together they all stand witness to the human cost of the occupation.

— Our Speakers —

Geraldine Brooks is the author of five novels, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning March and the international bestseller People of the Book. She was the Wall Street Journal Mideast correspondent and is the author of a nonfiction work on Muslim women, Nine Parts of Desire, which was translated into more than twenty languages. In 2016 she was named an officer of the Order of Australia.

Yehuda Shaul was born and raised in Jerusalem in an ultra-Orthodox family and graduated from a Yeshiva high school in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. He served in the IDF as a commander and platoon sergeant in the 50th battalion of the Nahal Brigade from 2001 to 2004, in the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Hebron. Yehuda founded Breaking the Silence in 2004 with a group of fellow veterans and he currently serves as the organization’s Co-Director. He is now studying political science at the Open University of Israel.

Rabbi Eric Gurvis has served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Shalom of Newton since July 1999, having previously served congregations in New York City; Jackson, Mississippi; and Teaneck, New Jersey. He is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a graduate of The Mussar Institute's Manchim leadership program. He and his wife Laura have four adult children and happily a new grandson.

— Sponsors —

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis and control its everyday life.

HarperCollins Publishers is the second-largest consumer book publisher in the world.

The New Israel Fund is the leading organization committed to equality and democracy for all Israelis. Widely credited with building Israeli progressive civil society, we have provided millions of dollars to more than 850 organizations since our inception in 1979.

— Additional Co-Sponsors —

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people.

Congregation Dorshei Tzedek is a dynamic and growing Reconstructionist congregation in West Newton, MA dedicated to Jewish learning and ethical Jewish living in the modern world.