Israeli Culture Series kicks off with program about a daring Jewish hero

What would inspire an assimilated American Jewish combat pilot to help found an air force for a country that did not yet exist? On Sept. 14, co-authors who were featured in Nancy Spielberg’s 2014 documentary, “Above and Beyond,” will discuss this question through the eyes of Stan Andrews.

In 1948, Andrews left a comfortable postwar life in Los Angeles to travel to the war-torn Middle East, where a four-front Arab invasion threatened to destroy the newly-declared State of Israel. There he joined the Israeli Air Force and became one of its first fighter pilots.

Andrews was an unexpected volunteer in the fight for a Jewish state. He was many things – an artist, writer, assimilated Jew, ladies’ man, pilot and combat veteran of the Pacific war. He had previously been aloof from the struggle for Jewish independence, but found himself so roused by the antisemitism of 1940s America that he decided to go to Israel and risk everything.

Andrews made the most of his time in the new nation, serving in fighter and bomber squadrons and becoming the stuff of legend in the Israeli Air Force.

The Sept. 14 virtual program will feature Jeffrey and Craig Weiss, co-authors of “Fighting Back,” subtitled “Stan Andrews and the Birth of the Israeli Air Force.” Jeff Weiss is a two-time Ironman and ultramarathoner, while Craig Weiss is a venture capitalist and an award-winning entrepreneur. 

The brothers have garnered much praise for “Fighting Back,” including from author Dan Senor, who wrote: “Jeffrey and Craig Weiss have uncovered the story of a Jewish hero in the mold of a Leon Uris character. Readers will enjoy trying to keep up with Stan Andrews – a typical Jewish New Yorker turned daring combat pilot – as he chases history from the air force planes of the United States and the nascent state of Israel.”

Author Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, wrote, “Absorbing and beautifully written, ‘Fighting Back’ tells the thrilling story of an unlikely American Jewish hero. At a time when some American Jews are distancing themselves from the Jewish state, this book is a powerful reminder of the deep roots connecting American Jewry and Israel.”

The free program will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is the opening program of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s Israeli Culture Series, which takes place on the second Wednesday of each month, and it is also the first program hosted by Elihay Skital, Rhode Island’s new shaliach (Israeli emissary).For more information about this program, contact Larry Katz, at 401-421-4111 or lkatz@jewishallianceri.org. To register for the program, go to  jewishallianceri.org/fighting-back/.

LARRY KATZ (lkatz@jewishallianceri.org) is the director of Jewish life and learning at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.