Ben-Gurion and the bible: The forging of an historical narrative?

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 33, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 645-674

  Shapira, Anita ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 26444458461     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263209708701176     Document Type: Review

References (90)

1. Ben-Gurion, 'Bi-yehudah u-va-galil' (In Judea and the Galilee), Luah Ahiever (New York, 1921).
2. The central political scandal of the 1960's. Ben-Gurion demanded a judicial inquiry committee to look into Lavon's allegations that he had been framed by top people in the Defense Ministry. He rejected the conclusions of a committee of five ministers who backed Lavon's position. Most of the intellectual elite also supported Lavon.
3. Ben-Gurion to Talmon, Jerusalem, 14 March 1961. Archives of the Institute for the Legacy of Ben-Gurion (hereafter Archives BG), files: Matters of Science and State; BG and Persons from the World of Science and the Arts.
4. Ben-Gurion, 'Teshuvah le-divre ha-martzeh' (Response to the Lecturer's Comments), lyunim be-sefer Yehoshua (Studies on the Book of Joshua) (Jerusalem, 1981), pp.55-6.
5. This topic has already been dealt with by other scholars. Some interesting essays that treat it from various perspectives: Eliezer Don Yehiya, 'Mamlakhtiyut ve-yahadut be-haguto u-vemediniyuto shel Ben-Gurion' (Statehood and Judaism in Ben-Gurion's Thought and Politics), Ha-tziyonut 13 (Tel Aviv, 1989), pp.51-88;
6. Yisrael Kolat, 'Tefisato ha-mamlakhtit shel Ben-Gurion' (Ben-Gurion's Political Conception), Sekirah hodshit 1 (1987), pp.32-9;
7. Avraham Tsiviyon, '"Kekhol ha-goyyim" ve 'am segulah'. 'Zikato shel Ben-Gurion la-Tana'kh' ('Like All the Nations' and 'Chosen People'. Ben-Gurion's Relation to the Bible), Shdemot 107 (October 1998), pp.77-88.
8. Shabtai Teveth speculates that the ideological motivation behind his decision to 'drop out' was a 'sense of revulsion for the Talmud as the embodiment of the people's culture in the diaspora, and an attraction to the Bible, which radiated the splendor of the people independent in its own land. As a Zionist, he identified with the Bible' (Shabtai Teveth, Kinat David [The Zeal of David], [Tel Aviv, 1976], p.27). Yet this speculation seems to shift the later programme and proclivities of Ben-Gurion as an adult and even old man to the shoulders of the 14-year-old. In any event, Ben-Gurion himself does not provide any evidence to back his speculation.
9. The second wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine (1904-14).
10. Tabenkin noted in 1937, 'The Bible served as a kind of birth certificate, helping to tear down the barrier between the individual and the land, and nurtured a "sense of homeland".' Yitzhak Tabenkin, 'Ha-mekorot' (The Sources), in Berakha Habas (ed.), Sefer ha-aliyah ha-sheniyah (Book of the Second Aliyah) (Tel aviv, 1947), p.27.
11. Zikhronot Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion's memoirs; hereafter: Memoirs), Vol.1 (Tel Aviv, 1971), pp.89-91, 97.
12. Speaking in 1928 about Jewish settlement along the Mediterranean coast, he recalled Jewish coastal settlements in the period of the First Temple and even more so at the time of the Second Temple, but did not stress the Bible or any historical right. Rather, his emphasis was on the present. Zikhronot Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion's memoirs) Ibid., pp.327ff.
13. Zikhronot Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion's memoirs) Ibid., p.392.
14. Zikhronot Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion's memoirs) Ibid., p.364.
15. Ben-Gurion, Anahnu u-shekhenenu (We and Our Neighbours) (Tel Aviv, 1933);
16. Mi-ma'amad le-am (From Class to People) (Tel Aviv, 1931).
17. Mi-ma'amad le-am (From Class to People) Ibid., p.13.
18. Mi-ma'amad le-am (From Class to People) Ibid., p.306.
19. Mi-ma'amad le-am (From Class to People) Ibid., p.308.
20. When the young Ben-Gurion met Sokolow, editor of Ha-tzfirah, in Warsaw he was astonished that the renowned writer had a poor knowledge of spoken Hebrew and was unable to carry on a proper conversation in it. 'Du-siah al ha-medinah ve-ha-tarbut. David Ben-Gurion im Hayyim Hazaz' (Dialogue on the State and Culture. David Ben-Gurion and Hayyim Hazaz), (October 1962) (pamphlet), p.12.
21. Memoirs, Vol.1, pp.79, 87.
22. 'Mikhtav mi-Segera' (A Letter from Segera), 1 Kislev 5668 (= 1908), Book of the Second Aliyah, ibid., p.348.
23. 'Ha-veidah ha-revi'it shel ahdut ha-avodah' (The Fourth Conference of the Ahdut ha-Avodah Party), Memoirs, Vol.1, p.275.
24. This vitriol is an authentic expression of his sentiments, likewise reflected in his comments on newly wealthy Jews in the NEP era whom he met while on a visit to the Soviet Union in 1923. He describes the women, heavily adorned in gold jewellery, their commercialism, speculation, smuggling and deceit - the hollowness of the lives of Jews whose guiding principle was the fear of pogroms. Memoirs, Ibid., pp.264-9.
25. Berl Katznelson, Ketavim (Writings), Vol.4 (Tel Aviv, 1946), pp.246-7.
26. Memoirs, Vol.6 (Tel Aviv, 1987), pp.269, 271.
27. 'Moetzet ha-miflagah be-Hefa' (Party Council in Haifa), 1 Jan. 1937, Memoirs, Vol.3 (Tel Aviv, 1973), p.59. The reference is to Lord Passfield, author of the White Paper after the 1929 riots.
28. Thus we find a new definition of Zionism. Earlier he had spoken about 'bringing an impoverished people, scattered and weak, from exile to a life of labour in a desolate and forsaken land'. Memoirs, Vol.1, p.378.
29. 'Mikhtav le-merkaz Mapai' (A Letter to the Central Committee of Mapai), 1 July 1937, Memoirs, Vol.3, p.258.
30. Acknowledging the yearning of the generations for Zion as a factor in the movement for national revival, he immediately linked this with 'the directed and fertilizing pressure of suffering in the diaspora' as a necessary condition for concrete realization of Zionism, adding that 'thereis nothing in Zionism except what is achieved in its concrete realization'. Ben-Gurion, 'Yeude ha-tziyonut be-sha'a zo' (Our Current Missions), Ba-ma'arakhah (In the Battle), Vol.1 (Mapai Publishers, 1949), p.14.
31. Berl Katznelson, 'Hurban u-telishut' (Destruction and Rootlessness), Writings, Vol.6 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp.265-7;
32. 'Ba-mivhan', ibid., pp.389-90.
33. The first hints of an attempt to trace certain lines on Jewish history - that is, to sketch a national narrative - appear in a speech Ben-Gurion delivered the end of the summer 1944, about a month after Berl Katznelson's death. Here for the first time various motifs were broached that would later be elaborated in far greater detail, such as the unique historical character of the Jewish people; the tiny land of Israel among the great powers; prophetic values and the goals of the nation; the fortitude of the Jews in the diaspora in preserving their identity over against the engulfing forces of assimilation. 'Tzivuyei ha-mahapekhah ha-yehudit' (Commands of the Jewish Revolution), Ba-maarakha, Vol.3 (Mapai Publishers, 1950), pp.197-202.
34. Yoman Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion Diaries), 26 Nov. 1948, Archives BG; protocols of later meetings are also in the BG Archives.
35. Yoman Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion Diaries), 1948, Ibid.
36. Meeting to clarify questions regarding cultural activity in the IDF, 9 Sept. 1949, Archives BG.
37. Yoman Ben-Gurion (Ben-Gurion Diaries), 1948, Ibid.
38. Ben-Gurion, Yihud ve-yeud (Uniqueness and Mission) (Jerusalem, 1950);
39. Netzah Yisrael (The Eternity of the Jewish People) (Tel Aviv, 1964).
40. Ben-Gurion, Medinat Yisrael ha-mehudeshet (The Renewed Jewish State) (Tel Aviv, 1975).
41. Ben-Gurion, Medinat Yisrael ha-mehudeshet (The Renewed Jewish State) 1975). Ibid.
42. Ben-Gurion, Medinat Yisrael ha-mehudeshet (The Renewed Jewish State) Ibid., pp.9, 12.
43. The essence and character of the spiritual struggle of the Jewish people ... is the refusal to accept foreign laws against their conscience. Even if the foreign judgment is backed up by superior force.'
44. 'Yihudah ve-yeudah shel medinat Yisrael' (The Uniqueness and Mission of the State of Israel), The Renewed Jewish State (Tel Aviv, 1975), pp.3-5.
45. For a detailed discussion see Anita Shapira, Herev ha-yonah (The Sword of the Dove) (Tel Aviv, 1992), pp.37-53.
46. Memoirs, Vol.3, pp.3-4.
47. Yehiel Alfred Gottschalk, Ahad Ha-Am ve-ha-ruah ha-leumi (Ahad Ha-Am and the National Spirit) (Jerusalem, 1992), pp.245-8.
48. Remarks by Ben-Gurion at the meeting of Keren Hayesod, 11 Oct. 1943, Archives BG.
49. Yediot ha-hevrah ha-ivrit le-yediat Ereyz Yisrael ve-atikotehah (Magazine of the Hebrew Society for Knowledge of the Land of Israel and its Antiquities), 15 (1950), p.123.
50. See, for example, 'Atzma'ut tarbutit' (Cultural Independence), 25 May 1952, Hazon va-derekh (Vision and Path), Vol.4 (Tel Aviv, 1957), p.56;
51. 'Kadmut Yisrael be-artzo. Devarim be-hug ha-Tana'kh' (Ancientness of Israel in its Land. Comments in the Bible Study Group), 4 April 1959, Studies on the Bible (Tel Aviv, 1976), pp.51ff. Especially interesting is his observation regarding his interpretation of the Book of Joshua: 'I arrived at this supposition after the establishment of the state and the War of Independence which cast a new light on our distant past, at least for me.'
52. Sixth Conference on the Knowledge of Eretz Yisrael, Sukkot 1951, see Yediot ha-hevrah ha-ivrit (fn. 43).
53. 'Atsmaut tarbutit', p.56;
54. 'Mahapekhat ha-ruah' (The Spiritual Revolution), speech at a gathering of professionals, 15 Jan. 1949, Vision and Path, Vol.1 (Tel Aviv, 1951);
55. see also Ben-Gurion's letter to Yitzhak Schweiger Damiel, Sept. 1953, Studies on the Bible, pp.41-9.
56. 'Am segulah', Vision and Path, Vol.4, p.93.
57. Sixth Conference on the Knowledge of Eretz Yisrael, Yediot ha-hevrah ha-ivrit, p.125.
58. See, for example, the description of his meeting with Yadin, 16 Aug. 1958, where Yadin told him about his excavations in Gezer, Ben-Gurion Diaries, Archive BG.
59. Hayyim M. Gevariahu, 'Zikhronot mi-hug ha-Tana'kh be-veto shel David Ben-Gurion' (Memories from the Bible Study Group in the House of Ben-Gurion), Ben-Gurion ve-ha-Tana'kh (Ben-Gurion and the Bible) (Negev Institute for the Legacy of Ben-Gurion, 1989), p.71;
60. see also 'Avi ha-umah' (Father of the People), Studies on the Bible, p.94-103.
61. Hazut 3 (Tammuz, 1957), pp.7-11.
62. Hazut 3 (1957), pp.7-11. Ibid.
63. Hazut Ibid., p.20. The Karaites (Kara'im) were a movement originating in the 5th century that rejected the Oral Law and focused on the centrality of mikra', the Bible.
64. Hazut Ibid., p.13.
65. Hazut Ibid., p.27.
66. Hazut Ibid., p.29.
67. Ben-Gurion, 'Medinat Yisrael ve-atido shel ha-am' (The State of Israel and the Future of the People), Sefer ha-kinus ha-iyuni ha-olami (Book of the World Scientific Conference) (summer, 1958),
68. Hazut 4 (1958/59), p.143.
69. Hazut Ibid., p.145.
70. Hazut 3, p.17.
71. Hazut Ibid., pp.24-5.
72. Hazut Ibid., p.24.
73. Hazut Ibid., p.25.
74. Hazut Ibid., p.29.
75. Hazut Ibid., p.21. The Amidah or Prayer of the 18 Benedictions (Shmoneh Esreh) is one of the principal components of the daily prayer service and contains benedictions envisioning a Return to Zion.
76. Hazut 4, p.141.
77. Hazut Ibid., p.142.
78. For example, S. Shalom, 'Le-divre rosh ha-memshalah' (On Comments by the Prime Minister), Moznayim 11 (Nov. 1960);
79. Moshe Shamir, "Adoni rosh ha-memshalah" (Mr Prime Minister), Ma'ariv, 30 Sept. 1960.
80. Ben-Gurion, 'Teshuvah le-Moshe Shamir' (Reply to Moshe Shmair), Davor, 12 Oct. 1960.
81. 'Al sifrut ve-hayyim' (Literature and Life) Moznayim 12 (Dec. 1960).
82. Quoted byYisrael Kohen, 'Mahloket nikhbadah' (Weighty Dispute), Sha'ar ha'havhanot (The Gate of Discernment), Vol.2 (Tel Aviv, 1962), p.176.
83. Sha'ar ha'havhanot (The Gate of Discernment), Ibid., pp.172-3.
84. 'Dialogue on the State and Culture' (see fn.17), pp.5-10.
85. Dialogue on the State and Culture Ibid., pp.11-31.
86. Gabriel Moked, Aharon Shabtai and Yosef Mondi, 'Rosh ha-memshalah ve-ha-sofrim' (The Prime Minister and the Writers), Masa (La-merkhav), 28 Oct. 1960.
87. See S. Yizhar, 'He believed that the writers would provide the people with a historical perspective', Iyunim be-tekumat Yisrael (Studies on the Revival of Israel), 3 (Negev Center for the Legacy of Ben-Gurion, 1993), pp.1-9;
88. see also 'Dialogue on the State and Culture', pp.21, 28.
89. 'Canaanism' claimed that the Hebrew nation in Palestine and Israel was the descendant of an ancient Semitic people, without any link to the Jewish people in the Diaspora. It was a concept of identity focused on territory and language without reference to Judaism; such notions were popular among the cultural elite during the 1940s and early 1950s.
90. Nahum Goldman, Hazut, 4, p.154.