Biblical CovenantsCIE+
G-d promises Jews a great nation in return for observance of belief and practice of laws.
Assembled here are key sources that have shaped the modern Middle East, Zionism and Israel. We have included items that give texture, perspective and opinion to historical context. Many of these sources are mentioned in the Era summaries and contain explanatory introductions.
Liturgical References to Zion and JerusalemCIE+
The Hebrew Bible, Prophetic Books, the Talmud, the daily prayer book, and ancient Jewish texts reinforce Judaism’s relationship to G-d and Eretz Yisrael.
“The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl, 1896
Eventual founding leader of the World Zionist Organization Theodor Herzl says a Jewish state is need in response to antisemitism.
Max Nordau Addresses First Zionist Congress, 1897CIE+
Max Nordau’s impassioned speech summarizes the unique Jewish identity of belief, Torah, ritual and community. With those central elements as a people, their state of impoverishment and wretched physical insecurity, he argues, are vital for rebuilding the Jewish national territory.
First Zionist Congress, Hebrew Language Newspaper ReportingCIE+
Three European journalists provide firsthand accounts of the First Zionist Congress and its delegates.
Balfour Declaration, 1917
The British Foreign Ministry promises to work toward a Jewish national home in Palestine with no harm to non-Jewish populations or to Jews living elsewhere who might want to support a Jewish home.
Vladimir Jabotinsky, “The Iron Wall,” 1923CIE+
Ze’ev Jabotinsky argues that peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Palestine is impossible until Zionists demonstrate through strength that they are an irreversible presence in the Land of Israel.
Minutes of Jewish Agency Meeting on Inaugural Maccabiah Games, Jerusalem, 1932CIE+
Zionists decide to hold the first international sports games in Tel Aviv bringing 400 Jewish athletes from 18 countries. The games open on March 28, 1932. Zionists value the games as a “possible awakening of youth in the Diaspora” to Zionism and the positive economic outcome for the Jewish community in Palestine.
The Biltmore Program, 1942CIE+
In New York, urging American (Jewish) support, Ben-Gurion proclaims the eventual establishment of a Jewish state.
“Zionism an Affirmation for Judaism,” 1942
From the end of World War I until the June 1967 war, American Jewish attitudes toward Zionism moved from lukewarm embrace to full-throated support. The debate of American rabbis in the 1940s exemplified by this letter reflects attitudinal differences. The Holocaust, Israeli statehood and Israel’s stunning military success in June 1967 established Israel as a valued element in American Jewish identities.
Jewish Request at End of WWII: Let My People Go (to Palestine)! Moshe Sharett, 1945CIE+
Moshe Sharett urges the British and Americans to open Palestine to unimpeded Jewish immigration from Europe.
Jewish Cultural Life in Palestine, 1944-1945CIE+
Gerda Luft’s, “Cultural Life in Palestine,” is representative of the dozens of excellent analyses of Jewish life and politics in Palestine/Israel and the world located in the annual Palestine Yearbooks, later the Israel Yearbook, published from 1945 forward.
Volume XXIII, Series A (August 1947-June 1952)CIE+
The last of 23 volumes of Chaim Weizmann’s Letters summarized wonderfully by Aaron Klieman, recalls the Israeli first president’s views of those fateful years for Zionism and Israel from 1947-1952. Chaim Weizmann died at his home in Rehovot on 9 November 1952, shortly before his 78th birthday. All of the letters read together, provide ring side seat to Zionism as an idea to the reality of the Jewish state.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 1948
The Declaration recounts the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, the birth of Zionism and U.N. recognition of a Jewish state’s legitimacy. It also promises that the state will be a democracy for all its citizens.
Israel State Archives, “Immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, 1948-1985”CIE+
The Israel State Archives has collected government documents on the history of Israel’s interactions with the Beta Israel through the first operations to facilitate their emigration from Ethiopia in the 1980s.
Proposed Constitution for State of Israel, 1948CIE+
This draft spoke eloquently about protecting individual, religious, and civil rights for all. Instead individual civil rights in Israel were protected by a series of Basic Laws.
Israel’s Law of Return, 1950
Jews worldwide are given the right to come to Israel and become citizens.
American Jewish Relationship With Israel: Speech by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and Response by AJC President Blaustein, 1950CIE+
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and American Jewish Committee President Jacob Blaustein express a compromise in the American Jewish-Israel relationship: American Jews are excited and proud of Israel’s birth as a state but owe Israel no allegiance, and Israel does not speak for anyone but Israeli citizens.
1950-1951 Israel Year Book, “The Zionist Movement”CIE+
Celebrating the creation and survival of the State of Israel, the yearbook provides a thorough history of the Zionist movement from the First Zionist Congress in 1897 to independence in 1948.
1951 U.N. Report, “The Situation of Jews in Moslem Countries”
This report submitted to the United Nations at the end of 1951 notes that “some one million Jews have become the victims of accelerated antiSemitism” since 1948 in the Muslim countries of the Arab League and North Africa, “communities which have existed for thousands of years.” The report analyzes the situation for Jews overall and explains restrictions and oppressive measures country by country.
Menachem Begin on Whether to Accept Reparations from Germany, 1952CIE+
In an impassioned Knesset speech, Menachem Begin staunchly opposes accepting $1.5 billion in German reparations for Jewish deaths during WWII. No price, he believes, can be put on the lives lost.
David Ben-Gurion, “Jewish Survival,” 1953CIE+
Israel’s first prime minister was a prolific writer. In this excerpt of a 50-page document, he notes that the Jewish nation’s DNA included relentless challenges marked by dispersal, ostracism and hatred by many people. Despite these adversities, Israel’s establishment symbolizes a remarkable victory against all odds — a culmination of the Jewish people’s tenacity and unyielding spirit. The state and Zionism were not remotely close to being finished, nor having succeeded in the quest for the Jewish people’s normalization.
David Ben-Gurion’s “Vision and Redemption,” 1958
Ben-Gurion elegantly connects modern Israel from messianic redemption to Zionism, building the country through labor and immigration, with dual needs to remain actively linked to the Jewish diaspora and Jewish values through education.
Prime Minister Begin’s Knesset Address During Sadat’s Visit, November 1977CIE+
Begin welcomes Sadat’s bold initiative, seeking an end to the conflict with other Arab states through negotiated treaties. Begin invites other Arab leaders to negotiate as Sadat was doing.
