To Jerusalem and Back
A Personal Account

You sit at dinner with charming people in a dining room like any other. Yet you know that your hostess has lost a son and that her sister lost children in the 1973 war. A fact of Jewish life left unchanged by the creation of a Jewish State is that, "You cannot take your right to love for granted".

This extraordinary book is the result of Saul Bellow's sojourn in Israel. A personal record of his stay, and a meditation, it crackles with wit and controversy on America's relationship with this embattled country. To Jerusalem and Back is, among other things, a marvelous portrait gallery, including Prime Minister Rabin at lunch; His Beatitude the Armenian Archbishop at a grand dinner; a nine-year-old violinist auditioning for Isaac Stern; an agnostic professor intoning the ceremonious Sabbath prayers; the old barber who garlands his shop with portraits of Hubert Humphrey; and many more. It is also a virtual syllabus for consideration of the many-sided and even bitter policies that surround Israel's life as a nation. Saul Bellow's journey is not merely an ode to a very beautiful and troubled city, but a trip into the heart of one of the most tragic and complex issues of this century.