{"product_id":"toughest-jew-in-brooklyn","title":"The Toughest Jew in Brooklyn","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the mid-1960s, a skinny teenager in a yarmulka, black suit and tzitzit accepted a dare from a group of Black students: try a karate class at their tough Brownsville dojo. Alex Sternberg, a Hungarian-born yeshiva student and the son of Holocaust survivors, kept coming back. Under the demanding eye of karate pioneer George Cofield, he earned his black belt and went on to become a national and international champion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen, in 1968, he met Rabbi Meir Kahane. Recruited to teach karate to the young Jewish Defense League, Sternberg became one of the leaders of a movement whose slogan, \"Never Again,\" spoke directly to the children of survivors. \u003cem\u003eThe Toughest Jew in Brooklyn\u003c\/em\u003e is his firsthand account of those turbulent years, from 1968 to 1972, told without apology by someone who was in the inner circle of this controversial group.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe memoir follows Sternberg through:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHis family's journey from Communist Hungary through Vienna to New York, and life as a student at Mesivta Torah Vodaath\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe bare-knuckle early days of American karate, and his life as the only Orthodox Jew in an all-Black dojo\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Six-Day War, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the tumult of 1968\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJDL street patrols, Camp Jedel, and confrontations with American Nazis\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe campaign to free Soviet Jewry, his arrests, and the federal case of the \"JDL Thirteen\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoving between the dojo and the streets, Sternberg offers a rare personal view of the complex relationship between the Jewish and African American communities, and of the emergence of Jewish militancy in America. It is a story of discipline, identity and conviction, for martial artists, students of Jewish history, and anyone curious about a volatile chapter in American life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dr. Alex Sternberg","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54337357840694,"sku":"7864-36","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0993\/2092\/2422\/files\/Cover_Latest_-_front.jpg?v=1794138604","url":"https:\/\/www.gefenpublishing.com\/products\/toughest-jew-in-brooklyn","provider":"Gefen Publishing House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}