8 The last outpost of the British Empire
-
Gavin Schaffer
Abstract
Since the establishment of the state of Israel, some 35,000 British Jews have moved to live there. This chapter tells the story of some of these Jews, focusing on the rise of Zionist youth groups and their promotion of ideological Jewish migration to Israel, known as making aliyah. In particular, the chapter focuses on the socialist Habonim youth movement, which encouraged its members to pursue chalutziut, a pioneering Jewish life among peers on an Israeli kibbutz. Several Israeli kibbutzim were bolstered by such efforts, and a few, notably Kfar Hanassi in the Galilee, came into being as a result of British Jewish migration. This chapter unpacks the concept of aliyah, looking at how the idea was employed in post-war Jewish Britain. It explores the ideologies of Jewish youth who saw their future in Israel and not Britain, asking how such thinking emerged and what it might tell us about contemporary Jewish identities and British multiculturalism. Finally, the chapter analyses the many ways in which those who made aliyah took their British culture with them, questioning what this reveals in terms of migrant identities, and what this Britishness meant for new communities built in Israel.
Abstract
Since the establishment of the state of Israel, some 35,000 British Jews have moved to live there. This chapter tells the story of some of these Jews, focusing on the rise of Zionist youth groups and their promotion of ideological Jewish migration to Israel, known as making aliyah. In particular, the chapter focuses on the socialist Habonim youth movement, which encouraged its members to pursue chalutziut, a pioneering Jewish life among peers on an Israeli kibbutz. Several Israeli kibbutzim were bolstered by such efforts, and a few, notably Kfar Hanassi in the Galilee, came into being as a result of British Jewish migration. This chapter unpacks the concept of aliyah, looking at how the idea was employed in post-war Jewish Britain. It explores the ideologies of Jewish youth who saw their future in Israel and not Britain, asking how such thinking emerged and what it might tell us about contemporary Jewish identities and British multiculturalism. Finally, the chapter analyses the many ways in which those who made aliyah took their British culture with them, questioning what this reveals in terms of migrant identities, and what this Britishness meant for new communities built in Israel.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The last Jew of Merthyr and other bubbe meises 20
- 2 Meshuga frum? Devotion and division in religious practice 39
- 3 ‘We speak for them’ 72
- 4 ‘These wicked sons’ 90
- 5 Oi vay – I’m Jewish and gay 109
- 6 The (un)forgivable sin 130
- 7 The nice Jewish boy (who believes in Jesus) 150
- 8 The last outpost of the British Empire 174
- Conclusion 193
- Acknowledgements 197
- Figures 199
- Abbreviations 200
- Notes 201
- Select bibliography 245
- Index 253
- Plates 261
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The last Jew of Merthyr and other bubbe meises 20
- 2 Meshuga frum? Devotion and division in religious practice 39
- 3 ‘We speak for them’ 72
- 4 ‘These wicked sons’ 90
- 5 Oi vay – I’m Jewish and gay 109
- 6 The (un)forgivable sin 130
- 7 The nice Jewish boy (who believes in Jesus) 150
- 8 The last outpost of the British Empire 174
- Conclusion 193
- Acknowledgements 197
- Figures 199
- Abbreviations 200
- Notes 201
- Select bibliography 245
- Index 253
- Plates 261
