Israel is a Jewish state, of course, and the anti-Semitism one finds there could hardly be aimed at all Jews. It is instead directed towards the very religious. In Real Jews, Noah Efron brings this unfathomable hostility into focus, revealing a country at war with itself, obsessed with and conflicted about what it means to be a Jew.Israel in 2003 is a country in disrepair, facing war, terror, corruption, poverty and decay. But amidst so many problems, the ultra-Orthodox trouble many voters most of all: The fastest growing political party in Israel - Shinu or "Change" - is dedicated to fighting "ultra-Orthodox domination."Efron shows us the whole mad panorama of the conflict: the protests, the editorials, the skirmishes in shopping malls, swimming pools and suburbs. What becomes clear is that the growing fascination with the ugly ultra-orthodox is bleak testimony to the weariness of the Zionist vision and to many Israelis' shattered confidence in the worth of their own ideals and dreams. Now more than ever before, secular Israelis need the ultra-orthodox to serve as representatives of the "Old" Jew, pathetic and debauched, that the rest have superseded. The story of the ultra-Orthodox in Israel is the heartbreaking story of the growing exhaustion of Israel itself. Read Less