Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 1 The Challenges and Problems of Aliyah and Building the Land in the First Half of the Twentieth Century / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 2 The Experience of Return from Exile to Homeland: the Teachings of A. D. Gordon and the Existential Message of J. H. Brenner / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 3 Marxism between Communism and Pioneering Zionism / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 4 Revival of the Jewish People in Its Land according to Torah: the Messianic Way or the Political Way? / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 5 Judaism as a Romantic National Culture (The Thought of Ze’ev Jabotinsky) / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 6 The Unique Religion and Historical Destiny of the Jewish People, Scientifically Considered (The Thought of Yehezkel Kaufmann) / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 7 Creating a Hebrew Culture from the Sources of Judaism (The Theory Underlying Bialik’s Work) / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 8 The Development of Modern Orthodoxy in Eretz Israel’s Religious Zionism and the “Holy Rebellion” (The Thought of Rabbis Maimon, Amiel, and Landau) / Eliezer Schweid -- Chapter 9 Facing Destruction, with Hope for Rebirth (Messianic Extremism in Secular Zionism and Second Thoughts) / Eliezer Schweid -- Glossary / Eliezer Schweid.

The period of the Yishuv (1900–48) saw a flourishing of creative thinkers who reworked the contours of Jewish and Zionist thought while building the Jewish homeland. Eliezer Schweid, who grew up during the period he describes here, writes profoundly and sympathetically about these thinkers—Gordon, Brenner, Jabotinsky, Bialik, Kaufmann, Kook, Katznelson, and others from a standpoint of intimate first-hand knowledge. The issues they wrestled with are vital for an understanding of Israel’s recent development and remain crucial for envisioning the possibilities of Israel’s future both internally and in relation to its neighbours, the world, and Jewish tradition.

English

Description based on print version record.