The Quest for Israeli Identity: the Rise and Decline of the Sabra Myth

Abstract

This article analyzes an attempt to construct a new identity for Jews born on the territory of the Mandatory Palestine, the so-called Sabras, between the First and Second World Wars. The characteristic features of this identity included the deliberate brutality, the combination of peasant labor with the skills of armed self-defense, collectivism and a conscious break with the diaspora past. The external attributes of the sabras were the wearing of simple but comfortable clothes of the inhabitants of the kibbutzim and the cultivation of Hebrew. Sabras become a role model for Jewish youth who arrived in Israel and those who were already born here. The attractiveness of the sabra’s image was enhanced through advertising posters, cinematography, and literature. This model of identity is of interest as an attempt to return to the origins of Hebrew history, as well as to raise a generation of “new Jews” devoid of any shortcomings that complicated the life of Jews in exile. The artificiality of this model and its isolation from Israeli realities were among the main reasons that led to the collapse of the myth of the super-sabra. At the same time, this myth laid the foundations for a different perception of the Jews both by themselves and by the world community, contributing to the victory of Israel in the war of independence.