Gender and ethnicity in the Zionist nation-building project

According to Nira Yuval-Davis some of the most important ways in which women are involved in national projects concern their capacity as biological and cultural reproducers of the nation and guardians of its boundaries. In this article I argue that Jewish women in Mandate Palestine not only guarded and reproduced national boundaries, but also redefined them. Middle-class women's organizations acted as agents of 'nationalization' and westernization among Mizrahi (lit. Oriental) Jewish communities, who were largely excluded from the imagined community of the nation by Ashkenazi Zionists. I explain the conjunction of gender and ethnicity in the Zionist nation-building project through the life and letters of journalist and social activist Hannah Helena Thon. Two main factors serve as an explanation: the countries from which the leaders of the organizations emerged and their traditions of social work; and the position of middle-class women in the Jewish social field. Keywords: Nation buildingZionismgenderethnicitywomen's organizationsMizrahi Jews Acknowledgements Part of the research for this paper was conducted during a post-doctoral fellowship at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I wish to thank Yaffa Berlovitz, Tammy Razi, Rhona Seidelman, Smadar Sharon, Margalit Shilo and the anonymous readers of Ethnic and Racial Studies for their helpful comments on different versions of the paper. All translations from Hebrew and German are mine. Notes 1. I use the anachronistic term 'Mizrahi', literally 'Eastern', for the sake of simplicity. Today this term has positive connotations, in contrast to the contemporary 'edot ha-mizrah', lit. 'the Oriental communities', which today carries derogatory connotations. 2. For the history of Hadassah and the HMO, see Miller (1968 Miller , Donald H. 1968 'A history of Hadassah 1912–1935' , PhD dissertation, New York University [Google Scholar]) and Simmons (2006 Simmons, Erica B. 2006. Hadassah and the Zionist Project, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. [Google Scholar]). 3. Y. Gur-Arieh, 'Le-ma'an keren ha-yeled' (For the Child Fund), Ha'aretz, 3 December 1930; Y. Yeshurun, 'Keren ha-yeled ve-ha-yeled-ha-keren' (The Child Fund and the child as fund), Davar, 3 December 1930. 4. Hadassah Kalvari (1891–1945) had emigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1910. Before managing the Shani workshop she ran a lacework workshop for orthodox and Mizrahi girls in Safed, under the sponsorship of the German 'Jewish Women's League for Cultural Work in Palestine' (Ben-Reuven 2008 Ben-Reuven , Sarah 2008 Hadassah ve-Chut ha-Shani: Toldot Chayeiha ve-Po'ala shel Hadassah Perlmann-Kalvari-Rosenblitt, 1891–1945 (Hadassah and the Scarlet Thread: The Life and Activity of Hadassah Prelmann-Kalvari-Rosenblitt, 1891–1945) , Jerusalem : Ariel [Google Scholar]). 5. 'Social settlements (neighborhood centers) and their importance for Eretz Yisrael (1939)', Central Zionist Archive (hereafter CZA) A148/70. 6. Thon (1937 Thon Hannah Helena 1937 'Avoda Sozialit be-Tachanot Shchunatiot' (Social work in neighbourhood settlements) , Yediot Al Ha-Avoda Ha-Sozialit Be-Eretz Israel (News on Social Work in the Land of Israel) , vol. 2 , nos 9–10 , 173 6 [Google Scholar]); Social welfare office, protocol of the Sunday meeting, 6 November 1938, Thon's lecture, CZA A148/45/1 (in Hebrew); 'Social settlements (neighborhood centers) and their importance for Eretz Yisrael (1939)', CZA A148/70. 7. Thon (n.d.), 'Die Lage der orientalische Juden in Jerusalem und Vorschläge zu ihrer Hebung' (The situation of Oriental Jews in Jerusalem and suggestions for its lifting), CZA A148/56. 8. 'Social settlements (neighborhood centers) and their importance for Eretz Yisrael (1939)', CZA A148/70. 9. See also Razi (2009 Razi , Tammy 2009 Forsaken Children: The Backyard of Mandate Tel-Aviv , Tel Aviv : Am Oved (in Hebrew) [Google Scholar], pp. 282–3). 10. Most biographical information on Thon is taken from Berlovitz (2006 Berlovitz , Yaffah 2006 'Hannah Thon' Jewish Women's Archive , http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/thon-hannah-helena (accessed 19 July 2009) [Google Scholar]) and from a short autobiography from 1953 found at the Central Zionist Archive: CZA A148/41. I am grateful to Berlovitz for having shared her materials with me. 11. Bertha Pappenheim (1859–1936) was an Austrian Jewish social activist, social worker and author. In 1904 she founded the German Jewish feminist movement, which she led for twenty years. One of her most important initiatives was the home for young women and children in Neu-Isenburg, where unwed mothers, prostitutes and other girls at risk could find a refuge. On Pappenheim's life and work, see Loentz (2007 Loentz, Elizabeth. 2007. Let Me Continue to Speak the Truth: Bertha Pappenheim as Author and Activist, Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 12. The Palestine Land Development Company was a Zionist company which purchased lands from Palestinians and settled them with Jews. 13. Thon (n.d., probably second half of the 1940s), 'Bidudo shel ha-na'ar mi-edot ha-mizrach' (The seclusion of Mizrahi youngsters), Amudim, CZA A148/53. 14. Thon (n.d., probably second half of the 1940s), 'Bidudo shel ha-na'ar mi-edot ha-mizrach' (The seclusion of Mizrahi youngsters), Amudim, CZA A148/53. 15. Thon (n.d., probably second half of the 1940s), 'Bidudo shel ha-na'ar mi-edot ha-mizrach' (The seclusion of Mizrahi youngsters), Amudim, CZA A148/53. 16. For example, in one of her articles she writes that Orientals had 'instability of character' and that Mizrahi Jews seek to increase their fortune rather than to fulfil their spiritual needs. Thon (n.d.), 'The Oriental communities in the Yishuv', Dvar Ha-Po'elet, CZA A148/53. 17. Thon (n.d.), 'Die Lage der orientalische Juden,' CZA A148/56. 18. Thon (1946), 'Yeladim lelo chinuch' (Children without education), Dvar ha-Po'elet, 26 June, CZA A148/53; Thon (1939), 'Shfachot ktanot' (Little maid servants), Ha'aretz, 8 January, CZA A148/59. 19. Thon (1930), 'Orientalische Kinder', Dawar: deutsche Aufgabe, 3 December, CZA A148/53. 20. Thon (n.d.), 'Die Lage der orientalische Juden', CZA A148/56. 21. Thon often deplored the 'indifference' of Palestine's Jewish women towards domestic labour, which resulted in 'uninhabitable dwellings, bad and unclean meals, uncultivated children, externally and internally' (Cohn 1920b Cohn , Helene Hannah 1920b 'Die Frau in der zionistischen Bewegung' (Women in the Zionist movement) Der Jude , vol. 5 , no. 8 , 533 7 [Google Scholar], p. 536). 22. Thon (n.d.), no title, CZA A148/46 (in German). 23. There she established and chaired the department of social work. 24. The colonial nature of the Zionist project is a subject for debate among scholars. Due to space limitations this debate cannot be addressed here. For works which object to the perception of Zionism as a form of colonialism, see Bareli (2001 Bareli, Avi. 2001. 'Forgetting Europe: perspectives on the debate about Zionism and colonialism'. Journal of Israeli History, 20(2): 99–120. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and Golan (2001 Golan , Arnon 2001 'European imperialism and the development of modern Palestine: was Zionism a form of colonialism?' , Space and Polity , vol. 5 , no. 2 , 127 43 [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). For works which support it, see Kimmerling (1983 Kimmerling, Baruch. 1983. Zionism and Territory: The Socio-Territorial Dimensions of Zionist Politics, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. [Google Scholar]) and Shafir and Peled (2002 Shafir, Gershon and Peled, Yoav. 2002. Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar

Ethnic group · Judaism · Mandate · Modernization theory · Political science · Sociology · Westernization · Zionism · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society

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