Surviving against all odds - 14 Israelis tell their stories in 'ISResilience'

“ISResilience: What Israelis can Teach The World” is a collection of riveting true stories about people who survived against all odds and the lessons they impart to us all.

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, these survivors thrive against all odds and share how the reader 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.

Six years in the making, Dickson explained 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 • survived the Nazis turning from child orphan refugee to spiritual leader • 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

• walked barefoot from Africa to reach the Promised Land

Published by Gefen Publishing House, LTD, advance copies will be available on Oct. 15. The 154-page book will be released on Oct. 28.

Orders can be placed on Amazon. For more information and to order copies, visit: https://www.isresilience.com.