Celebrating Israel Independence Day: A Roundtable

Roundtable on Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut
Most holiday celebrations offer opportunities to reflect on the themes of the day, the passing of time — momentous events and regrets. Observing Yom Ha’atzmaut, or Israel Independence Day, provides the same opportunities. Sh’ma invited Rabbi Jarah Greenfield, editor and publisher Gary Rosenblatt, Professor Shaul Kelner, and communal activist Ariel Beery to speak about how they personally observe the day and how we might re-envision the holiday for contemporary times.

Israel’s War of Liberation, 1944-1948

Yisrael Medad
The founding myth of the Herut movement, which in 1973 evolved into the Likud and with a plurality of Knesset seats in 1977 facilitated Menachem Begin’s ascendancy to the position of Prime Minister of Israel, was that in its pre-state form — as the Irgun underground — it had expelled the British from Mandate Palestine.

History and Mythmaking: A Response

Dan Heller
Historians by and large agree that the Irgun and Lehi’s methods played a decisive role in Britain’s withdrawal from Palestine. Few, however, argue, as Yisrael Medad does, that without armed attacks against the British, the state of Israel would have never come into being.

Exploring the ‘Catastrophe’

Exploring the ‘Catastrophe’: A Letter Exchange between Paul Scham and Gregory Khalil on Nakba: Literally, “Nakba” means “catastrophe.” Nakba typically refers to the historical events surrounding Israel’s independence. Most historians now agree that as much as three-quarters of the indigenous Muslim and Christian Palestinian population in what became Israel lost their homes, more than 400 villages were destroyed, and few Palestinians were ever allowed to return.

A Stranger Seeks Asylum

Jeff Goldman

The United States Immigration and Nationality Act states that foreign nationals physically inside the United States are entitled to receive political asylum if they can establish that they have suffered “past persecution,” or have a “well-founded fear of future persecution, on account of … race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a [...]

Discussion Guide – Israel’s History

1. What roles do historical myths play in building a nation’s narrative?
2. How might we think critically about history while also honoring the stories that have come to define who we are?
3. The year 1948 is a pivotal one in Jewish history. How has your understanding of it deepened over the past years?
4. How might we revitalize the celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut?

What Kind of Jewish State? The Formative Decisions at Israel’s Birth

Dov Waxman

Many states are born in the midst of violence and political turmoil, but the circumstances of Israel’s birth were exceptionally tumultuous. In the space of just three years, from 1947 to 1949, the United Nations voted in favor of partitioning Palestine, a brutal civil war broke out between Jews and Palestinians, hundreds of [...]

The Marshal’s Myth and the Scout’s Observations

Gideon Remez

About ten years ago, I was asked to make a short presentation at our Jerusalem congregation’s Independence Day celebration. Together with my partner in both family and research, Isabella Ginor, I had become immersed in investigating the Soviet involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. We had just arrived at some unconventional conclusions in [...]

Present at the Periphery: A Personal History

Leonard Fein
“Things today aren’t the way they used to be — and they never were.”

I’m no longer sure. I think back — way back, these days — to a more innocent time, a time of ingathering the exiles, making the desert bloom, and draining the swamps. I think of a more or less [...]

Martin Buber’s Bi-Nationalism

Samuel Hayim Brody
You hesitate, you doubt — you know from history that each unchaining is answered by new chaining? You do not understand, then, that history no longer holds. —Martin Buber

In the spring of 1949, Martin Buber walked into a Jerusalem store whose owner had in the past expressed solidarity with Buber’s generally unpopular [...]