Peace is pos­si­ble. This is the theme of Chil­dren of Israel, a stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful book of pho­tographs of kids of all kinds in the Promised Land. Cre­at­ed by Alethea Gold, a fash­ion styl­ist and author from Aus­tralia, and Luca Zor­dan, an award-win­ning U.S. photog­rapher, the book con­tin­ues the long and suc­cessful col­lab­o­ra­tive tra­di­tion the pair began with the pub­li­ca­tion of Chil­dren of Chi­na and Chil­dren of Africa.

This is a clas­sic cof­fee-table book, easy on the eyes and filled with sun­shine, but it also con­tains an unusu­al lev­el of pow­er and dynamism, one that has the poten­tial to bring a vibrant, diverse coun­try into your liv­ing room in a way it has prob­a­bly nev­er been there before. Because of the emo­tion­al force of the pho­tographs, read­ing the book cre­ates a vis­cer­al expe­ri­ence that bypass­es the intel­lect and goes straight to the heart. It is vir­tu­al­ly impos­si­ble not to respond to the raw beau­ty of the chil­dren and see the human­i­ty that unites them. 

Chil­dren walk in pairs in Masa­da in these pages; boys become bar mitz­vah at the West­ern Wall in Jerusalem; Bedouin chil­dren in the Negev desert share an iPod. Jew­ish and Arab girls play soc­cer togeth­er, and Jew­ish and Arab boys and girls learn mar­tial arts as a team. The book also fea­tures chil­dren from less well-known Israeli cul­tures, includ­ing Druze and Cir­cass­ian. Through­out, the pho­tos are ten­der and beau­ti­ful. Many are shot against an impos­ing nat­ur­al land­scape; oth­ers are sit­u­at­ed in homes or on kibbutzim. 

While the chil­dren dance, swim, and go to school togeth­er, the read­er is drawn into the dream. The inspi­ra­tional sto­ries that enhance the stun­ning images all speak of peace, some with humor, some with a piquan­cy, oth­ers in a tone laced with poignan­cy. All, how­ev­er, make the read­er feel that uni­ty is pos­si­ble, and that when it comes to the chil­dren, there are no bar­ri­ers that can­not be overcome. 

The authors state that 100% of the prof­its of the book will go to the Nurit Absorp­tion Cen­ter, an Israeli-based orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to assist­ing Ethiopi­an refugee chil­dren, and that the Cen­ter has promised to put 100% of the funds toward aid for schools, sports, and art activ­i­ties for the children.

Relat­ed Content:

• Date­line Israel: New Pho­tog­ra­phy and Video Art by Susan Tumarkin Goodman
• Israel Though My Lens: Six­ty Years as a Pho­to­jour­nal­ist by David Rub­inger with Ruth Corman
• Israel Clas­sics Read­ing List