This final Sherman lecture tackles the question of continuity versus rupture in the idea of the Jews’ return to the Land of Israel in modern times. On the one hand, they are returning to what is thought of as a native land; yet they are also newcomers, immersed in the culture of lands in which they have lived for generations.
Adapted from the final chapter of Jews and the Military: A History (Princeton University Press, 2013), this lecture discusses the indispensable role of diaspora Jews in financing and fighting on behalf of Israel in the 1948 War.
A preview of a book I am writing on Herzl, the greatest Jewish leader in the modern diaspora, and a man possessed of charismatic appeal that augmented his political genius.
An overview of recent developments in Israeli historiography with a focus on the New History of the 1980s and 1990s, which at the time created considerable controversy for its claims about Israel’s position and actions during the 1948 War.
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