Profiles People Who Thrived Despite Insurmountable Odds And The Lessons For Us All
(Jerusalem, Israel -- September 1, 2020) -- "ISResilience: What Israelis can Teach The World," a collection of riveting true stories about people who survived against all odds and the lessons for us all, will be available on October 28.
Written by Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs Israel and Dr. Naomi L. Baum, a pioneering psychologist in the field of resilience research and treatment, the book profiles a diverse group of compelling Israeli personalities and traces the characteristic of resilience that unites them all. From well-known leaders making life-and-death decisions to ordinary people who have overcome incredible loss to do inspirational things, meet the Israelis who thrive against all odds and learn how you can too.
Each of the 14 profiles is set against the backdrop of Israel's history - past and present - and social and cultural systems. Dickson and Baum traveled throughout Israel to interview a wide range of people from multiple backgrounds.
Published by Gefen Publishing House, LTD, advance copies will be available on October 15. The book will be released on October 28.
Orders can be placed on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/9657023467/ For more information and to order copies, visit: https://www.isresilience.com/ Six years in the making, Michael Dickson explains that "ISResilience is a study of a nation that has had to collectively and individually hang tough like no other country on earth. Imbued in Israel’s DNA is the understanding that survival isn’t optional – it’s a necessity. Any Israeli could have given testimony for this book. Israelis routinely carry on with their day-to-day lives not just when things are calm and peaceful but when rockets are launched at them, during official conflicts and wars and unofficial waves of gruesome terrorism. And they don’t just survive – they thrive." "ISResilience: What Israelis Can Teach The World" contains absorbing stories of people who:
• toughed it out in a Soviet Gulag to emerge a human rights icon
• overcame disability to pioneer tech helping paraplegics walk again
• fell from the sky, beating death and emerging an Olympic hero
• withstood 90% body burns to lead an iconic victory in battle
• survived the Nazis turning from child orphan refugee to spiritual leader
• broke through the glass ceiling to become a female Colonel
• went from having limbs blown off to winning high office
• overcame death threats to find his voice as an Arab in the Jewish State
• climbed Mount Everest to forgo reaching the peak in order to save a life
• gave up NBA fame to take a tiny country to basketball glory
• got elected to parliament, refusing to have others in her community define what a woman could achieve
• turned unbearable grief into a promise to ease the pain of others
• walked barefoot from Africa to reach the Promised Land
About the Authors
Michael Dickson is Executive Director of StandWithUs in Israel, an international educational nonprofit dedicated to supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism around the world. Michael is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Communication of Bar-Ilan University. In 2016, he was listed as the fourteenth most influential Jew on Twitter. He is the 2019 winner of the Bonei Zion Prize and in 2020, he was listed on the Global Jewish 100. He lives in Israel with his wife and five children.
Naomi L. Baum, PhD, consults and facilitates workshops on resilience building in Israel and worldwide. She created the Building Resilience Intervention (BRI), an evidence-based resilience model that has been applied widely in Israel and abroad. She was Director of the Resilience Unit at Metiv – The Israel Psychotrauma Center and co-directed the International Course in Trauma and Resilience in cooperation with the Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. She is the author of several previous books. She lives in Israel with her husband, and is mother of seven, and grandmother of twenty.
Praise for ISResilience
Inspiring stories that demonstrate…a shining example of resilience for the world.
—Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, international religious leader and author
“This wonderful book profiles inspiring Israelis and their spirit, with a message that will resonate for everyone.”
- Senator Joe Lieberman, former United States Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate
“Michael Dickson, an expert in telling Israel’s story, and Dr. Naomi L Baum have done a great service in sharing the stories and secrets of Israeli resilience with their readers”
-- Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and United Nations
About StandWithUs
StandWithUs (SWU) is an international, non-profit and non-partisan Israel education organization that works to inspire and educate people of all ages about Israel, as well as challenge misinformation and fight against antisemitism.
Through university fellowships, high school internships, middle school curricula, conferences, materials, social media, educational films and missions to Israel, StandWithUs supports people around the world who want to educate their schools and communities about Israel.
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters and programs on 5 continents, including the U.S., Israel, UK, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.
For the last 7 years, SWU has consistently received the highest possible ratings from Charity Navigator (4 stars) and Guidestar (Platinum).
