Jewish Studies Research Guide

A balanced biography of Golda Meir, who was both adored and abhorred, from award-winning author Deborah E. Lipstadt -- "Comprehensive. . . . Always thoughtful. . . . A nuanced account of a leader whose influence endures in the Middle East."--Kirkus Review --Golda Meir (1898-1978) was the first and only woman to serve as prime minister of Israel. She was born in Kiev into a childhood of poverty, hunger, and antisemitism. When she was five, her father left to find work in America, and a year later the family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a teenager she became devoted to Labor Zionism, giving street-corner speeches, and her family's home became a destination for Zionist emissaries. Her love for Labor Zionism was so fervent that her boyfriend, Morris Meyerson (her future husband), was often in competition with her dedication to the cause-- Zionism prevailed. In 1921, Golda left America for Palestine with Morris and her sister Sheyna. Though the reality of living in Palestine was far from the dream of Zionism, Meir settled on the kibbutz Merhavia and was swiftly appointed to the Histadrut (the General Organization of Hebrew Workers in Palestine). As an ally of the Zionist David Ben-Gurion, Meir played an important role in the Yishuv, the pre-state Jewish community in Palestine; proved an almost singular ability to connect and fundraise with diaspora Jewry, particularly Americans; and served in three pivotal positions following Israel's independence: labor secretary of the newly formed state, foreign minister, and Israel's fourth prime minister." In tracing the life of Golda Meir, acclaimed author Deborah E. Lipstadt explores the history of the Yishuv and Jewish state from the 1920s through the 1973 Yom Kippur War, all while highlighting the contradictions and complexities of a person who was only the third woman to serve as a head of state in the twentieth century.

Why did no other ancient society produce a text remotely like the Bible? That a tiny, out of the way community, could have produced a text so determinative for peoples across the globe seems improbable.For Jacob Wright, the Bible is not only a testimony of survival, but also an unparalleled achievement in human history. Forged during Babylonian exile after the shattering destruction of Jerusalem, it makes not victory but total humiliation the foundation of a new idea of belonging. Lamenting the destruction of their homeland, scribes who composed the Bible turned to the golden ages of the past, reflecting deeply on abject failure. More than just religious scripture, the Bible is a resonant blueprint for the inspiring creation of a nation. As a response to catastrophe, it offers a powerful, message of hope and restoration that is unique in the Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman worlds. Wright's Bible is thus a social, political, and even economic roadmap - one that enabled a small and obscure community located on the periphery of leading civilizations and empires, not just to come back from the brink, but ultimately to shape the world's destiny.

A new history of the American Jewish relationship with Israel focused on its most urgent and sensitive issue: the question of Palestinian rights. American Jews began debating Palestinian rights issues even before Israel's founding in 1948. Geoffrey Levin recovers the voices of American Jews who, in the early decades of Israel's existence, called for an honest reckoning with the moral and political plight of Palestinians. These now forgotten voices, which include an aid-worker-turned-academic with Palestinian Sephardic roots, a former Yiddish journalist, anti-Zionist Reform rabbis, and young left-wing Zionist activists, felt drawn to support Palestinian rights by their understanding of Jewish history, identity, and ethics. They sometimes worked with mainstream American Jewish leaders who feared that ignoring Palestinian rights could foster antisemitism, leading them to press Israeli officials for reform. But Israeli diplomats viewed any American Jewish interest in Palestinian affairs with deep suspicion, provoking a series of quiet confrontations that ultimately kept Palestinian rights off the American Jewish agenda up to the present era. In reconstructing this hidden history, Levin lays the groundwork for more forthright debates over Palestinian rights issues, American Jewish identity, and the U.S.-Israel relationship more broadly.