Zionism, more than any other social and political movement in the modern era, has completely and fundamentally altered the self-image of the Jewish people and its relations with the non- Jewish world. As the dominant expression of Jewish nationalism, Zionism revolutionized the very concept of Jewish peoplehood, taking upon itself the transformation of the Jewish people from a minority into a majority, and from a diaspora community into a territorial one.

Bringing together for the first time the work of the most distinguished historians of Zionism and the Yishuv (pre-state Israeli society), many never before translated into English, this volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the history of Zionism. The contributions are diverse, examining such topics as the ideological development of the Jewish nationalist movement, Zionist trends in the Land of Israel, and relations between Jews, Arabs, and the British in Palestine. Contributors include: Jacob Katz, Shmuel Almog, Yosef Salmon, David Vital, Steven J. Zipperstein, Michael Heymann, Jonathan Frankel, George L. Berlin, Israel Oppenheim, Gershon Shaked, Joseph Heller, Hagit Lavsky, and Bernard Wasserstein.

Israel is a modern state whose institutions were clearly shaped by an ideological movement. The declaration of independence in 1948 was an immediate expression of the fundamental Zionist idea: it gave effect to a plan advocated by organized Zionists since the 1880s for solving the Jewish Problem. Thus, major Israeli political institutions, such as the party structure, embody principles and practices that were followed in the World Zionist Organization.
In this respect, Israel is similar to other new states whose political institutions directly derive from the nationalist movements that won their independence. History and social structure are inseparably joined; the contemporary social problems of the new state are clearly rooted in its history, while the shape of its future is being decided by the very policies through which it is trying to solve these problems. At the same time, there are many unique aspects to the birth of Israel. The problem to be solved by acquiring sovereignty in Israel (and establishing a free Jewish society there) was the problem of a people living in exile. The first stage, therefore, was to return to the people a homeland to which they were intimately attached, not only in their dreams but in the minute details of their ways of life.
This important book studies the birth of the State of Israel and analyzes the elaborately articulated and variegated ideological principles of the Zionist movement that led to that birth. It examines conflicting pre-state ideals and the social structure that emerged in Palestine's Jewish community during the Mandate period. In particular, Zionism and the Creation of a New Society reflects upon Israel's existence as both a state and a social structure--a place conceived before its birth as a means of solving a particular social malady: the modern Jewish Problem. Jehuda Reinharz and the late Ben Halpern carefully trace the development of the Zionist idea from its earliest expressions up to the eve of World War II, setting their study against a broad background of political and social development throughout Europe and the Middle East.

This study considers the question of how specific ideas about Jews are constructed and activated. At which point can a statement be regarded as anti-Semitic? The two authors examine the various verbal manifestations of current anti-Semitism and the mental images on which these are based, applying both a historical perspective and the perspective of linguistic and cognitive science.

Anti-Jewish sentiment and prejudice are not a fringe-group phenomenon. In recent years the inhibition threshold for expressing anti-Semitic content in public has become lower, with Israel often serving as a screen for projecting anti-Jewish sentiment. This anti-Semitism of the mainstream of society was the focus of an interdisciplinary symposium in 2009 at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. The book contains the conference contributions, in which eminent experts on anti-Semitism such as Wolfgang Benz, Jehuda Reinharz and Martin Kloke analyse the phenomenon.

In European and Holocaust historiography, it is generally believed that neither the Zionist movement nor the Yishuv were mindful of the plight of European Jews in the face of the Nazi threat during the 1930s. Drawing on a wide variety of memoirs, letters, and institutional reports by people from all walks of life, this volume sheds new light on a troubled period in Jewish history. Jehuda Reinharz and Yaacov Shavit trace Jewish responses to developments in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as reactions to British policy on the question of a Jewish homeland, to show that Zionists in the Yishuv worked tirelessly on the international stage on behalf of their coreligionists in Europe. Nevertheless, their efforts were all too often shattered by the realities of their powerlessness and lack of resources. Piercing to the heart of conversations about how or whether to save Jews in an increasingly hostile Europe, this volume provides a nuanced assessment of what could and could not be achieved in the years just prior to World War II and Holocaust.

Antisemitism never disappeared in Europe. In fact, there is substantial evidence that it is again on the rise, manifest in violent acts against Jews in some quarters, but more commonly noticeable in everyday discourse in mainstream European society. This innovative empirical study examines written examples of antisemitism in contemporary Germany. It demonstrates that hostility against Jews is not just a right-wing phenomenon or a phenomenon among the uneducated, but is manifest among all social classes, including intellectuals. Drawing on 14,000 letters and e-mails sent between 2002 and 2012 to the Central Council of Jews in Germany and to the Israeli embassy in Berlin, as well as communications sent between 2010 and 2011 to Israeli embassies in in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, this volume shows how language plays a crucial role in activating and re-activating antisemitism. In addition, the authors investigate the role of emotions in antisemitic argumentation patterns and analyze "anti-Israelism" as the dominant form of contemporary hatred of Jews.

"Provides a comprehensive treatment of the history of Zionism, one of the few great success stories in ideological movements, and movements of national liberation in the twentieth century. Few are more qualified to edit a volume on this subject than Anita Shapira and Jehuda Reinharz."
--Chaim Herzog, Former President of Israel

"The most comprehensive collection of articles on the history of Zionism, covering all its aspects, written by the leading experts in the field, a unique, indispensable work for all serious students of the subject."
--Walter Laqueur, author of A History of Zionism

Zionism, more than any other social and political movement in the modern era, has completely and fundamentally altered the self-image of the Jewish people and its relations with the non- Jewish world. As the dominant expression of Jewish nationalism, Zionism revolutionized the very concept of Jewish peoplehood, taking upon itself the transformation of the Jewish people from a minority into a majority, and from a diaspora community into a territorial one.

Bringing together for the first time the work of the most distinguished historians of Zionism and the Yishuv (pre-state Israeli society), many never before translated into English, this volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the history of Zionism. The contributions are diverse, examining such topics as the ideological development of the Jewish nationalist movement, Zionist trends in the Land of Israel, and relations between Jews, Arabs, and the British in Palestine. Contributors include: Jacob Katz, Shmuel Almog, Yosef Salmon, David Vital, Steven J. Zipperstein, Michael Heymann, Jonathan Frankel, George L. Berlin, Israel Oppenheim, Gershon Shaked, Joseph Heller, Hagit Lavsky, and Bernard Wasserstein.

In European and Holocaust historiography, it is generally believed that neither the Zionist movement nor the Yishuv, acting primarily out of self-interest, energetically attempted to help European Jews escape the Nazi threat. Drawing on the memoirs, letters, and institutional reports of Chaim Weizmann, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, David Ben-Gurion, and many others, this volume sheds new light on a troubled period in Jewish history. Reinharz and Shavit trace Jewish responses to developments in Eastern and Central Europe to show that-contrary to recent scholarship and popular belief-Zionists in the Yishuv worked tirelessly on the international stage on behalf of their co-religionists in Europe. Focusing particularly on Poland, while explicating conditions in Germany and Czechoslovakia as well, the authors examine the complicated political issues that arose not just among Jews themselves, but within national governments in Britain, Europe, and America. Piercing to the heart of conversations about how or whether to save Jews in an increasingly hostile Europe, this volume provides a nuanced and thoughtful assessment of what could and could not be achieved in the years just prior to World War II and the Holocaust.

A collection of 22 essays by distinguished scholars on the Jewish response to antisemitism worldwide over the past 200 years.

Seventeen scholars explore the interaction between a Jewish culture with its ancient heritage and an expansive German culture in the process of modernization.

The first volume of Jehuda Reinharz's definitive biography of Chaim Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Zionist Leader, met with widespread acclaim and won five major prizes. President Chaim Herzog of Israel praised it for being "rich in fascinating detail, and never losing sight of the great issues involved." Howard Sachar, writing in The Washington Post Book World, called it "magisterial." And John Gross of The New York Times hailed it as an "admirable new life of Weizmann--easily the most authoritative so far." Now, in Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Statesman, Reinharz provides the long-awaited second volume.
This massively researched, deftly written narrative follows Weizmann's life from the beginning of the First World War through some of his greatest triumphs--the Balfour Declaration, the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the British Mandate for Palestine. Like the first volume, The Making of a Statesman combines intimate detail with incisive analysis. Reinharz untangles the internal politics of the World Zionist Organization as he charts Weizmann's rise to prominence. We see Weizmann struggling with fellow Zionists over his pro-British policies and his increasingly authoritarian leadership. We see him as a persuader and diplomat, a charming figure who could win influence in elite British circles without downplaying his Jewish identity or heritage. Reinharz offers fresh insights into Weizmann's brilliance as a chemist. No other historian has ever explained Weizmann's scientific accomplishments and their ties to his Zionist diplomacy. Reinharz follows the difficult negotiations that produced the triumphant Balfour Declaration. He carries the story through Weizmann's work in Palestine to found a vibrant Jewish community. Weizmann's largely unsuccessful efforts to open a friendly dialogue with the Arabs are also fully explored.
Chaim Weizmann was a towering figure of twentieth-century Zionism and the first president of the State of Israel. In every way, this monumental biography is worthy of this great statesman.

The first volume of Jehuda Reinharz's definitive biography of Chaim Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Zionist Leader, met with widespread acclaim and won five major prizes. President Chaim Herzog of Israel praised it for being "rich in fascinating detail, and never losing sight of the great issues involved." Howard Sachar, writing in The Washington Post Book World, called it "magisterial." And John Gross of The New York Times hailed it as an "admirable new life of Weizmann--easily the most authoritative so far." Now, in Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Statesman, Reinharz provides the long-awaited second volume.
This massively researched, deftly written narrative follows Weizmann's life from the beginning of the First World War through some of his greatest triumphs--the Balfour Declaration, the founding of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the British Mandate for Palestine. Like the first volume, The Making of a Statesman combines intimate detail with incisive analysis. Reinharz untangles the internal politics of the World Zionist Organization as he charts Weizmann's rise to prominence. We see Weizmann struggling with fellow Zionists over his pro-British policies and his increasingly authoritarian leadership. We see him as a persuader and diplomat, a charming figure who could win influence in elite British circles without downplaying his Jewish identity or heritage. Reinharz offers fresh insights into Weizmann's brilliance as a chemist. No other historian has ever explained Weizmann's scientific accomplishments and their ties to his Zionist diplomacy. Reinharz follows the difficult negotiations that produced the triumphant Balfour Declaration. He carries the story through Weizmann's work in Palestine to found a vibrant Jewish community. Weizmann's largely unsuccessful efforts to open a friendly dialogue with the Arabs are also fully explored.
Chaim Weizmann was a towering figure of twentieth-century Zionism and the first president of the State of Israel. In every way, this monumental biography is worthy of this great statesman.

Antisemitism never disappeared in Europe. In fact, there is substantial evidence that it is again on the rise, manifest in violent acts against Jews in some quarters, but more commonly noticeable in everyday discourse in mainstream European society. This innovative empirical study examines written examples of antisemitism in contemporary Germany. It demonstrates that hostility against Jews is not just a right-wing phenomenon or a phenomenon among the uneducated, but is manifest among all social classes, including intellectuals. Drawing on 14,000 letters and e-mails sent between 2002 and 2012 to the Central Council of Jews in Germany and to the Israeli embassy in Berlin, as well as communications sent between 2010 and 2011 to Israeli embassies in in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, this volume shows how language plays a crucial role in activating and re-activating antisemitism. In addition, the authors investigate the role of emotions in antisemitic argumentation patterns and analyze "anti-Israelism" as the dominant form of contemporary hatred of Jews.

This timely anthology, completely revised and updated from the original edition in 1984, provides convenient access to the most significant documents of the Zionist movement since 1882 and of Israel's domestic and foreign policy issues between 1948 and 2006.
Comprised largely of primary sources from Israeli, Arab, and American records, documents encompass not only political and diplomatic history but economic, cultural, legal and social aspects of the region as well. The second edition also addresses areas not covered by the 1984 volume: a new chapter on the pre-state period, additional documents that reflect the Palestinian perspective, and the voices of women. Divided into seven chronological sections, documents are introduced by an overview of the entire era. They are annotated and preceded by explanatory headnotes.