Extreme Haredi Leaders and their Isolation from the Zionist Enterprise: Between Ideology and the Challenges of Reality

High on the ideological and theological agenda of extreme Haredi groups is the delegitimization of the Zionist enterprise, its institutions, and the State of Israel, and the subsequent expectation of their rank-and-file to thoroughly isolate themselves from them. Based on existing scholarship and previously undiscovered primary sources, this article traces the conduct of extremist Haredi leaders vis-à-vis Zionist institutions during the British mandate in Palestine and after the establishment of the State. As we shall see, some extreme Haredi leaders elected to implicitly recognize the Zionist enterprise and its institutions. The specific circumstances surrounding the different cases enable us to understand the general phenomenon and to advance some preliminary observations.

Hasidic Leaders in the Streets of Tel Aviv, 1940-1965

From the late thirties to the mid-sixties of the twentieth century, Tel Aviv was the seat of dozens of Hasidic courts creating Hasidic precincts in the southern and central parts of the city. The article explores the reason for the Hasidic leaders’ choice to settle in the city with their followers and offers a glimpse of their courts. Hasidic communities distributed throughout the city filled the streets of Tel Aviv with a Hasidic atmosphere. Daily life brought different segments of the population into frequent contact, and generated a unique inter-sectoral mosaic, primarily around special calendar occasions. In the early sixties, the Haredi community in Bnei Brak began to expand and establish educational institutions for the Litvishe and Hasidic communities. As a result, Haredi and Hasidic families slowly moved away from Tel Aviv to Bnei Brak. This trend led, inter alia, to the transfer of several Hasidic courts to Bnei Brak and Jerusalem during the sixties and seventies. The article concludes with a discussion of the diverse reasons for the departure of the Hasidic courts from Tel Aviv and addresses the impact of various processes on Haredi society in the course of the second half of the twentieth century.

In the Footsteps of the Absent Father: The Protagonist as a Writing Subject in the Work of Ronit Matalon

The article addresses the literary development of the young female protagonist in Ronit Matalon’s early writing, and the character’s relationship with her absent father. Despite the prevalence of this theme, little research has been dedicated to the father-daughter relationship in Matalon’s work and its influence on the daughter’s decision to become a writer. The article examines this theme in Matalon’s young adult novel, A Story that Begins with a Snake’s Funeral (1989). My main argument here is that the father-daughter relationship in Matalon’s work is central to the construction of the daughter’s ’decision to write‘, and points to the issue of inter-generational accountability, in which the daughter is entitled to an inheritance from her father despite her critical view of him. As I will show in my reading of the novel, the fictional representation of this relationship bears an autobiographical imprint, particularly in light of Matalon’s choice to quote her father, Felix Matalon, and to lend his voice to the father figure in her writing. As part of the exploration of this theme, which consists of both fictional and autobiographical aspects, I suggest that the heroine’s efforts to place her absent father in the context of her life and to cope with his absence through her writing point to Matalon’s own efforts to deal with her father’s legacy by writing about him and giving him a place in the Israeli literary canon, while maintaining a critical attitude towards him.

’The Trump Era is Here, and I Finally Feel at Home‘ – Sayed Kashua in Illinois

In early July 2014, the Israeli-Palestinian author Sayed Kashua declared in his popular Hebrew column in the Ha’aretz newspaper that he is done with Jerusalem, that he has moved to the United States for good and is never coming back. Despite this emotional statement and his decision to give up on Israel, Kashua continued to write his popular weekly column for over three years mostly from his new place of residence in the midwestern city of Champaign, in Illinois, a location vastly different from the Jerusalem he left behind. Using theories of migration and transnational writing to examine Kashua’s non-fictional Hebrew and English works during this period I argue that there is tension between the character Kashua assumes for his Israeli readership and the one he assumes when writing for an American audience. These fictional personae relate differently to the move to the US and the possibility of returning to Israel. Moreover, Kashuua’s Israeli persona continues to write from a minority position whereas his American counterpart, despite concerted efforts, cannot avoid identifying with white privilege. The article then traces the dissolution of Kashua’s dual personae to his decision in November 2017 to stop writing the weekly column.

From National Autonomy to Independent State: The Bund in the Face of the State of Israel, 1948-1989

The title of the article ’From National Autonomy to Independent State‘ refers to the gradual change that occurred in the wake of the Holocaust with respect to the Bund’s refusal to recognize the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people during its first forty years. Yet notwithstanding the historical anti-Zionism ideology of the Bund, the movement never wavered in its identification with the State while remaining critical of Israel’s policy towards the Arab refugee problem created by the War of Independence (1948-1949).

The Creation of the Nahal Settlement Enterprise

During the days of the British Mandate in Palestine, the leadership of the Hebrew Yishuv developed the concept of security settlements, i.e., settlements established on the frontier to provide security along the borders of the future state. The concept was put into practice with the Nahal (acronyms of Pioneer Youth Warrior) Brigade settlement enterprise which set up dozens of settlements from 1951 onwards. The first six settlements were founded by ‘lone’ soldiers: immigrants from Eastern Europe and Islamic countries, and natives who did not have a youth movement or pioneering background. The article offers an account of the creation of the Nahal settlement enterprise which adds to the existing research on the subject in two ways. Firstly, it identifies some of the stages in the historical process that have not as yet been adequately described. Secondly, contrary to existing research which claims that the attempt to integrate lone soldiers within the Nahal settlement enterprise failed and had no long-term effects, we argue that the integration achieved most of its goals.

The Experience of Ethnic Estrangement of Sephardi Students in Israeli Yeshiva High Schools in the 1980s

The article deals with remembered experiences of estrangement and devaluation among Mizrahi graduates of yeshiva high schools in the late 1980s. Most of the literature on the experience of estrangement in educational institutions suggests that it derives from cultural or ethno-religious hierarchies. The singularity of this study is the link it finds between the experience of estrangement and the correlation of religious hierarchies with ethnic hierarchies, which in turn, produce an experience of estrangement. The research indicates a construction of Ashkenazi religiosity as standard and Mizrahi religiosity as faulty and out of place in yeshiva high schools. The religious practices and liturgy of the yeshiva high schools in this study followed a purely Ashkenazi tradition. In addition, in their remarks the educational staff focused attention on the inferiority of Mizrahi religiosity and religious practices, perceived as faulty, or devalued them by giving prominence to inversion rites. Internalization of this tagging caused the students to doubt the appropriateness of their family religious practices. At the same time, they were criticized by their families for adopting Ashkenazi religious practices. All this created an experience of estrangement, both in the yeshiva and at home.

The Sephardic Labor Organization and the Status of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in the Yishuv

The article discusses the Sephardic Labor Organization in Palestine which was active from 1940 through 1946 as the roof organization of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Tel Aviv and the Organization of Sephardi and Oriental Workers in Jerusalem. The aim of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Palestine as a whole and in particular, of the Sephardic Labor Organization in Tel Aviv was to improve the economic conditions of Sephardi and Mizrahi workers and to enhance their social and political status in the Yishuv. These activities reflect the status of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews as a hybrid group on the socioeconomic border between the Jews and Arabs of Mandatory Palestine. The article explores the processes which led to the establishment of Sephardi labor organizations, and which manifest the connection between patterns of employment and standard of living, and between ethnic identity and social status.

‘The Nir Coalition’ in 1959 and the Opposition Struggle against Mapai

The article deals with the opposition’s success in electing a new Speaker of the Knesset who was not member of ruling party – Mapai. The Mapai Speaker of the Knesset, Yosef Sprinzak, had died in January 1959, and the natural candidate to replace him was Moshe Sharett, an honorable member of Mapai. Sharrett however, turned down the nomination, and the party leaders chose a pale political figure, MK Berl Locker, to run in his stead. As a result of this choice, Yochanan Bader of the Heruth Movement proposed a new candidate – MK Nachum Nir who was not a member of the Mapai party but of Ahdut Ha-Avodah. The vote took place in March 1959, and Nir won, marking the first time a non-Mapai figure was elected to a state position, a highly significant event in Israel’s political history.

Homosexuality and the Politics of LGBT Movements in Israel

Two processes have been central to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual) movement in politics since the end of the 1980’s: NGOization, which has led to the practice of assimilation, and homo-nationalism, representing a binary process of normalization and national inclusion. The amalgamation of NGOization and homonationalism have greatly influenced the movements, their agenda, practices, achievements and networks. The article sheds light on the broad neoliberal processes used by the Israeli LGBT movements to achieve power and status. The analysis traces major milestones from the 1980’s to the 21st century. Viewed through a neoliberal perspective, LGBT social movements are revealed to have worked and grown and become more institutionalized and normalized. However, this does not reflect the attainment of more power by the LGBT social movements in Israel; it is indicative rather of their privatization by the state which enables LGBT social movements to fill a niche under the government’s exclusive responsibility. Thus, in the 21st century, the value and valuation of LGBT subjects have been established not so much by the work of their social movements but through their economic and urban power reflective of ’post-homonationalism.