First Contact

This is an interesting, thoroughly researched, and well-written account of attempts by American Jews to introduce American ideas of democracy and know-how to the Yishuv (pre-Israel community in Eretz Israel). It will be of interest primarily to those already familiar with the history of the mandate period who wish to learn more about Americans who headed major projects in the Yishuv. The book is a series of six essays describing the experience of American Jews who came to the Yishuv to assist in building a Jewish homeland. Matthew Silver concludes that, while a common sense of Jewish identity bound the Americans with the pioneers of the Yishuv, the two different subcultures sometimes clashed, leaving the Americans feeling marginalized and often depressed. The first episode was the most discouraging. The Jewish Legion's Thirty-ninth Battal-ion—which recruited young American Jews (many of them recent arrivals to the United States from Eastern Europe) to fight alongside Gen. Edmund Allenby against Turkish forces in World War I—was decimated by malaria and ended in mutiny against British officers at the end of the war. The second episode was more encouraging. The American Zionist Medical Unit (azmu), originally established by Hadassah, contributed a considerable amount of medical support to the growing Yishuv community. While it did excellent work, its attempt to ensure efficient medical programs in a limited number of locations rather than superficial programs in many locations generated many complaints

Ancient history · Anti-Zionism · Genealogy · Homeland · Jewish history · Jewish studies · Judaism · Mandate · Mandatory Palestine · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Zionism · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts