L ifestyles /C ulture
Continued from Page 21
group Vorherrschaft Division
and expose the identity of
Ukrainian neo-Nazi David
Kolomiiets. Lavin proves adept at trans-
lating the tangled mass of
pseudo-science and jargon that
is white supremacist ideology
into plain, horrifying English.

She provides readers with a
solid history of anti-Semitic
movements in the United
States before addressing their
contemporary forms. She
also skillfully navigates the
interlocking mechanisms of
anti-Semitism and other kinds
of hate, and explains how
white supremacists target Jews
as the nefarious force behind
immigration, racial equality,
women’s rights, globalization,
LGBTQ rights and any other
societal change or structure
they deem threatening.

There is so much material to
work with here, so much hate to
sift through, that some sections
can’t help but feel a bit rushed.

One chapter about communal
defense against white suprem-
acist violence doesn’t cite many
examples of how these strategies
can be used successfully, and
definitions of white suprema-
cist jargon are often repeated
unnecessarily. However, Lavin’s
cinematic prose and extraordi-
narily gutsy research keep the
pages turning easily.

Learning about the vileness
that lurks in the darkest corner
of the internet is necessary,
but it feels like flipping over a
rotten log to find all the pale,
slimy things squirming under-
neath. Lavin’s audience will
probably want to shower after
reading about how a former
U.S. congressional candi-
date juxtaposed the images of
two journalists he assumed
to be Jewish with images of
mutilated deer carcasses, or
how Lavin found an online
discussion about whether she
was too ugly to rape.

Perhaps most tragically, the
hate Lavin researches seeps
into her own psyche.

“I will never forgive them
for making me hate them as
much as I do, for folding a
red loathing into my soul,”
she writes of the neo-Nazis
who have threatened to kill
and torture her friends. While
loathing neo-Nazis is hardly
a controversial or problem-
atic stance, it is hard to escape
the contradiction of someone
denouncing hate while admit-
ting to harboring it herself.

Nevertheless, Lavin’s
exhaustive research and
personal accounts sound an
incredibly effective alarm
about the dangers — both
moral and physical — white
supremacy and anti-Semitism
pose to the fabric of society.

Perhaps the most terrifying
revelation from this book is
the sheer humanity of these
extremists, who are capable
of writing love letters (albeit
twisted ones) and who could
be out living normal lives in
the light of day while plotting
genocide in darkness. l
Courtesy of Hachette Book Group, Inc..

Books spanzer@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0729 Author Relates Lessons Learned During
Multiple Trips to Israel as a Volunteer
B OOKS
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
MARK WERNER DIDN’T
always consider himself to
be a writer. There were a few
things that the Vineland, New
Jersey, native and graduate
of Haverford College and the
University of Pennsylvania Law
School felt comfortable attrib-
uting to himself; sought-after
lawyer, retiree, Raleigh, North
Carolina, resident, passionate
Zionist and devoted Jew, sure.

But writer? No dice.

So now, as Werner, 67,
publishes his third book, a new
memoir detailing his nearly
two decades as a volunteer for
22 NOVEMBER 12, 2020
the Israel Defense Forces, he
may be forced to concede that
he is, in fact, a writer.

Werner the writer will appear
via Zoom at Congregation
Brothers of Israel in Newtown
on Nov. 17 to discuss his
latest memoir, “A Passion for
Israel: Adventures of a Sar-El
Volunteer,” published by Gefen
Publishing House, his second
book on the subject. The book
is blurbed by the likes of
diplomat Dennis Ross, histo-
rian Michael Oren and Rabbi
David Wolpe. Werner will also
make a digital appearance at
Har Zion Temple on Dec. 7.

Sar-El, a nonprofit under
the direction of the Israeli
Logistics Corps, provides
non-Israelis and Israelis living
abroad a chance to contribute
service to the country without
serving in combat. (“Sar-El”
is a transliterated acronym
of sherut l’yisrael, “service to
Israel.”) The organization has
brought more than 150,000
volunteers to Israel since its
1983 founding. For a few weeks
at a time, those volunteers
essentially act as support staff
on military bases around the
country. Werner, the president of
Volunteers for Israel, has volun-
teered with Sar-El for three
weeks at a time for the last 18
years, bringing along family
and friends to volunteer and
live the principles he’d learned
JEWISH EXPONENT
during his youth. The Camp
Galil alum spent his junior
year of high school reading
JTA news pieces aloud between
Israeli songs on WWBZ in
Vineland, and imbibed the
lessons of his father’s time as a
resistance fighter in the forests
of Poland. The twinned forces
of Holocaust remembrance
and ardent Zionism propelled
Werner to Sar-El.

“A Passion for Israel”
consists of journal entries
covering the last 14 volunteer
trips, each of them named after
the base where he was stationed.

The drudgery of the tasks can
be overpowering at points; a
typical passage cheerfully
reports that the volunteer unit
had so impressed a superior
that more difficult work was
provided for them to do, only
to be slowed down because of
the presence of a large snake
under an armored personnel
carrier. But in Werner’s mind, the
repetitious toil is part of what
makes the work powerful. Or,
at least, more meaningful than
writing a check.

“It can be manual labor, it
could be simply base maintenance,
packing medical kits, or whatever
it is. Menial jobs,” he said. “But it’s
still important to me, and it’s still
important to Israel.”
Spliced between Werner’s
daily activities on base are
his interactions with Israelis
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM