Western Jewry and the Zionist Project, 1914-1933 (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews 123 Jewish history. Subheadings within chapters, some photographs and charts, and the occasional exemplary anecdote would make this a fine textbook once the price was adjusted. As it stands, Goldstein's book is good and useful but is unlikely to fill the need which it could have in a more appropriate edition. Matt Goldish History and Judaic Studies University of Arizona Western Jewry and the Zionist Project, 1914-1933, by Michael Berkowitz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 305 pp. $59.95. Building on his first book, Zionist Culture and West European Jewry Before the First World War (Cambridge, 1993), Michael Berkowitz continues his analysis ofWestern European Zionism to the disastrous year 1933. He concentrates on questions concerning the perception of Western (German, British, and American) Jews toward Zionism, the role ofphilanthropy, and the image that Zionists attempted to portray, and he explores how some Jews could rationalize being Zionists without making Aliyah. He argues that during this critical period Zionism became styled as a rescue mission whose primary goal was fund raising, which created some dissension within the movement, and Berkowitz questions whether the intense desire to raise money was, in the end, propitious (p. 5). In contrast to the plethora of political histories of Zionism, Berkowitz directs his attention to the cultural concerns of the nascent group as well as its efforts to balance its idealism with the practical necessities ofbuilding a viable and vibrant community in an area that was not always hospitable to Jewish immigrants. The author begins his conclusion with two quotations from German Zionists that epitomize the dichotomy of Zionist thought. The first citation from Robert Weltsch, editor of the influential Judische Rundschau, which Berkowitz makes great use of, opines that Zionism is primarily a moral movement whose political power would be shaken ifits moral content were to evaporate. The second excerpt comes from AdolfBoehm, a prominent Zionist publicist, who asserts that what is needed for the advancement of the colonizing of Palestine is money, money, money! (p. 194). Who is right, and how can one movement smooth over such differences? Berkowitz is critical of the Zionists for some of their hyperbole in trying to raise money by invoking analogies to the crusades or frightening donors with dire consequences of the fate of the Yishuv if money was not forthcoming. In many ways they took advantage ofthe growing hostility between Arabs and Jews in order to build their coffers. One Zionist official went so far as to blame the tragic violence in 1929 in 124 SHOFAR Winter 1998 Vol. 16, No.2 Palestine on the failure of Western Jews to contribute to the cause (p. 89). Yet, as Berkowitz adroitly illustrates, the Zionists had many other means of heightening interest, including portraying Eretz Israel as indeed the land of milk and honey. This attempt to paint Palestine as a wondrous paradise full ofpossibilities took the form of either envisioning, like Herlz had done in the 1890s, a land full of European-type cities with all the modem amenities, or an alternative vision of a rural utopia where Jews could eschew the customary "Jewish occupations" ofthe west and actually cultivate the fertile soil and revel in the freedom of agricultural life. The latter, as the author points out, was also a way to counter the growing antisemitic charge that Jews could not work with their hands. Yet, once again, the Zionists were portraying a contradictory picture. Inextricably bound to raising money was the image that Zionists sought to portray, and here Berkowitz initiates some interesting work on gender. His frrst chapter, entitled "Manly Men and the Attempted Appropriation of the War Experience, 1914-1918," analyzes the language ofsettling Palestine, and he shows how some Zionists likened the settlement ofPalestine to various experiences during the war. Zionists in all countries used the conflict to prove that Jews were indeed valiant soldiers and thus could use this experience to call for more young Jews to fight for the right to make Palestine Jewish. Berkowitz also points out how in many ways the war aided the Zionist cause. In addition to the issuance of the Balfour Declaration and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, both ofwhich helped...