The establishment of the State of Israel was one of the greatest feats in modern Jewish history. However, with the establishment of the state, a new nation was born. Because of this, there was a lot of writing that would describe how new Jews, and old Jews Interacted with each other. In addition, many Zionist writings were written at the time, and people were writing abut the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews. Each of these topics has a tremendous effect on our generation, because they fueled movements that tried to change the views of the Jewish people. In the Story Dr. Schmidt, by Moshe Shamir we find many instances when the author talks about old and new Jews, Zionism, and how he fills the gap between Ashkenazi and Mizeachi Jews.
In the Story Dr. Schmidt, we find a lot of symbolism that relates to the new Jew. First of all, the son Shalom represents the new Jew. We see this through Dr. Schmidt’s stories about his son who became a soldier in the Israeli army (Shamir 153). Because of this, we can tell that he is a new Jew. However, there are times when Dr. Schmidt acts as an old Jew. We can see that, because he describes his sons uniform as “his pale forehead hidden under a silly pointed hat”(Shamir 153). Because Dr. Schmidt calls it a silly hat, we can conclude that he doesn’t take the army seriously. In addition, one can also make an assumption, that Dr. Schmidt is not proud of his sons service, but thinks it’s a waste of his time. This shows that Dr. Schmidt is thinking like an old Jew in this situation. In addition, the story talks about how the relationship between the son and his parents is not good. This could be from all the fighting that they had. one reason for the fighting, could be because the new Jew and the old Jews have ...
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...shke Bezprozvani is a poor man, this is also just like the couple in Dr. Schmidt. The Yemenite Jews must find away to find a place in society so they can contribute ands start a better life for themselves.
Israel was a very hard place to live when it first was established. We often found sickness, which caused many families to start over again. Because of this, there were many authors who expressed their feelings during this time. This can be seen this in the story Dr. Schmidt. In this story, it is clear that there are a lot of old and new Jews, topics relating to Zionism, and a gap between Ashkenazi Jews and Yemenite Jews. These topics have helped readers relate to these stories, and motivate them to live a better life. This is why the state of Israel has been so successful in its short life. The drive to succeed has shaped the State of Israel for the better.
The author believes that the struggle of Jews vs anti-Semites is really just another form of the “rich vs poor struggle” which is existent through many societies in our modern era. The anti-Semites will take out their aggression against the Jews because Jews are an easy target. It is easier for an anti-Semite to accept that he works a hard job for little pay just to make a factory boss rich. However, the question is raised of what good would that do? The anti-Semite needs the job, so he can't quit, and causing an uproar towards his boss would only make him even more unhappy so instead, he channels his hatred in manageable ways, such as toward Jews.
Lina Vilkas is a fifteen year old girl who is the protagonist of this story. She was taken, by the NKVD, from her house with her mother and brother to exile. Later in the story she meets Andrius and falls in love with him. She marries him after the war while moving from place to place. Andrius uses his misfortune as a fortune to help others. He takes care of Lina and her family as best he can. Nikolai Kretzsky is a young NKVD officer who helps Lina and her mother even after Lina insulted him. Mr Stalas is a Jew who is deported with the other people. He wanted to die with dignity. He is often referred to as The Bald Man. He confesses that he was liable for the deportation. Janina is a starry-eyed young girl who likes to help others and to talk to her "dead" doll. When few selected people are brought to the North Pole for more suffering, dozens of people die from cholera and pneumonia. Lina however, survives and manages to save Jonas and Janina with the help of Nikolai Kretzsky.
... her goal. Just like most first generation immigrants, the family went through dreadful poverty. Anzia Yezierska did an excellent job in describing what life was like for Sarah’s family, which was a sample of what life was like for immigrants. As an illustration, when Mashah, who was worked went out and bought herself a toothbrush and a small towel for thirty-cents so she can have her own towel. The rest of the family became horrified. It was like, how dare she spend thirty-cents on a toothbrush and towel, when the rest of the family is starving and they needed that money to buy food? The father supposes it is his absolute right to expect that the four daughters either will never leave home thereby supporting him forever or they would leave home and marry somebody rich, who will then support him forever. The women in the Smolinsky family were the breadwinners.
In the novel The Bread Givers, there was a Jewish family, the Smolinsky family, that had immigrated from Russia to America. The family consisted of four daughters, a father, and a mother. The family lived in a poverty-stricken ghetto. The youngest of the daughters was Sara Smolinsky, nicknamed ?Iron Head? for her stubbornness. She was the only daughter that was brave enough to leave home and go out on her own and pursue something she wanted without the permission of her father. The Smolinsky family was very poor, they were to the point of which they could not afford to throw away potato peelings, and to the point of which they had to dig through other people?s thrown out ash in order to gather the coal they needed. They could not afford to buy themselves new clothes or new furniture.
Anti-Semitism is the hatred and discrimination of those with a Jewish heritage. It is generally connected to the Holocaust, but the book by Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale shows the rise of anti-Semitism from a grassroots effect. Smith uses newspapers, court orders, and written accounts to write the history and growth of anti-Semitism in a small German town. The book focuses on how anti-Semitism was spread by fear mongering, the conflict between classes, and also the role of the government.
“It suddenly occurred to me that my grandmother had walked around here and gazed upon this water many times, and the loneliness and agony that Hudis Shilsky felt as a Jew in the lonely southern town-- far from her mother and sisters in New York, unable to speak English, a disabled Polish immigrant whose husband had no love for her and whose dreams of seeing her children grow up in America vanished as her life drained out of her at the age of forty-six--- suddenly rose up in my blood and washed over me in waves.”
I chose to write about Jewish-Americans after my mother, who was raised Christian, chose to identify herself as Jewish. In my reading I examined Jewish culture and how it is in American society. I looked at how Jewish-American culture has become a prominent component of American society. I looked at the historical forces that have shaped Jewish-American experience in the United States. I looked at demographics of where most Jewish-Americans live. I examined how Jewish-Americans have contributed to our culturally pluralistic society in the United States.
Benjamin Harshav’s “Language in Time of Revolution” teaches the reader that social factors, historical factors, willpower, and accidents of history brought back and revived the Hebrew and Yiddish language. This was important because it created the base for a new, secular Jewish society and culture to emerge again with their own language and a new social identity. This new social identity meant that there was a nationalistic movement toward having a common language, literature, and cultural heritage. However, the reason why the Hebrew and Yiddish language lagged in the first place was due to Nazism and Stalinism. These two totalitarian empires wiped out the Yiddish culture since the Jews were not the majority population in places such as Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Since only one language of government and education was imposed on various ethnic groups, it is not a surprise that the Yiddish language became irrelevant. Stalinists argued that Jews can’t be a nation because they do not have a territory and a common language; the Zionists, however, tried to help by enforcing the Hebrew language on immigrants from all countries and languages because they believed in “national power and sovereignty rather than mere cultural autonomy.”
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for a partition resolution that led to the establishment of the nation of Israel in May, 1948. This was great news for Jews in Palestine and the diaspora as it meant the fulfillment of the quest for the rebirth of their nation in their previous homeland after many years of wandering (Pappe, 2006, p. 12). However, their Palestinian Arab counterparts opposed to the establishment from the start felt cheated by the international community and remained categorical that the final answer to the Jewish problem would only be solved in blood and fire (Karsh, 2002, p. 8).
The adaptation of Ethiopian Jews to Israeli society is a unique and complex process due to culture differences, language barriers, technology gaps as well as educational and employment variances. As a result of such differences, Ethiopian Jews and Israeli Jews have had to adjust to a new social dynamic in which multiple cultures should be accepted and promoted. A transition from rural Africa to a modern Westernized society such as Israel is a difficult progression and cannot be overlooked by using the ‘melting pot’ ideology as this will give rise to ethnic repression. All these factors indicate that the divide between the Israeli Jews and Ethiopian Jews is not racism but more a cultural gap between a traditional community and a modern technologically advanced, highly competitive nation.
But, as Sandy Tolan 's book, The Lemon Tree, seeks to explain, through Dalia’s longing for zion and Bashir’s belief in the arab right of return, that the main catalyst of the Arab-Israeli conflict is
...f society. The second point of view held that Jews were inherently bad and can never be salvaged despite any and all efforts made by Christians to assimilate them. These Christians felt that there was absolutely no possibility of Jews having and holding productive positions in society. All the aforementioned occurrences lead to the transformation of traditional Jewish communities, and paved the way for Jewish existence, as it is known today. It is apparent, even through the examination of recent history that there are reoccurring themes in Jewish history. The most profound and obvious theme is the question of whether Jews can be productive members of their country and at the same time remain loyal to their religion. This question was an issue that once again emerged in Nazi Germany, undoubtedly, and unfortunately, it is not the last time that question will be asked.
...thousands of years from times of nomadic tribes to kings that ruled over millions. While the land covered has been vast and the people many, one thing has been a constant in the history of the Jewish people, conflict. The conflict the people of Israel has faced has caused much destruction and horror in the lives of many, however, Israel has turned the history of conflict into a positive light in order to create a nation unified behind it. Israel has created a fast military force that gives thousands jobs both in factories and within the military itself. They have also created an economic system that creates vast productions of quality goods in order to compete with other countries in the Middle East and around the world. Israel has turned the devastation of war and the worries of continual conflict into a constructive action that has kept Israel alive and powerful.
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy”( Gandi)? Gandi, arguably the most influential advocate for world peace, said this quote in response to war-mongering imperial nations in the 20th century. Known for his pacifist ideology during the movement to liberate India, Gandhi exercised civil disobedience rather than entering an armed conflict against the tyrannical British Government. His ultimate conclusion about war was that the horrors of war do not justify any moral corse or ideology. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, both authors subtly battle this idea. In The Things They Carried Tim O'brien remarks on the impact of war on soldiers serving in Vietnam. For Whom the Bell Tolls focuses on an American soldier during the Spanish Civil War. Known as a testing ground for fascist dictators, the Republic of Spain faced a terrifying adversary of fascist rebels supported by Hitler. The main character, Robert Jordan, known as Roberto, fights against the rebels via guerilla warfare. In both novels, The Things They Carried and For Whom The Bell Tolls, the main characters must evaluate whether they are willing to sacrifice their morals and ideology during wartime; ultimately, their end conclusions differ as to whether war is justified.
As we have seen, within Zionism a grand narrative evolved; an interpretation of Jewish history, which presented historical dichotomies between the perceived Golden Age of the Jews in Antiquity and the declining life of the Jews in the Diaspora (Zerubavel 2002: 115). The narrative advocated continuity and identification with Antiquity and contained a strong negation of the Diaspora period. Influenced by Anti-semitic depictions of European Jews, the Jews in the Diaspora was portrayed in the Zionist discourse as old, sickly, uprooted, cowardly, manipulative, helpless and defenseless in face of persecution, and either solely interested in materialistic gains or conversely, excessively immersed in religion and spirituality (Zerubavel 2002: 116). This narrative of decline was to be replaced by a narrative of progression beginning with the Zionist return to the Land of Israel and leading towards national redemption (Zerubavel 2002: 115). The return to Zion was to serve as a revival of the native-Hebrew identity, that had been suppressed during centuries of exile. Through a symbolic return to antiquity, a return to the homeland, revival of Hebrew as a national language, renewal of the ancient Hebrew’s national spirit and culture, the Zionist movement sought to preserve historical continuity and incorporate a broader vision of the future for the Jewish people (Zerubabel 2013: 174). This became increasingly evident in the middle of the mid 20th century with the idealization of the Sabra, the New Jew, which embodied the opposite qualities of the “Old Jew” from the Diaspora; the Sabra was young and robust, daring and resourceful, direct and down-to-earth, honest and loyal, ideologically committed, an ready to defend ...