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The Jewish past and the 'birth' of the Israeli nation state: the case of Ben-Gurion's Independence Day speeches.
- Source :
-
Middle Eastern Studies . Mar2021, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p310-326. 17p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The article focuses on David Ben-Gurion's past image using a series of programmatic and widely distributed speeches he made during Israel's first Independence Days (1948-1958). The article argues that while the founding of the state was defined as a turning point it was certainly not portrayed as a 'beginning', and that both the ancient sovereign and the exilic Jewish experience had a central place in Ben-Gurion's relevant past. At the centre of discussion stand five main characteristics of the speeches: the continuation between the state and the Jewish ancient past; the central place of a secularized messianism as a bridge between the exilic past and the sovereign present; the attempt to portray a widely accepted shared past using consensus-based terminology; the simplification of the Zionist rebellion against the exile; and the fundamental differentiation between the Jewish symbolic past and the realistic Israeli present. These five elements are analysed against the background of other texts by Ben-Gurion and his image in the research. Finally, this case study is placed within a wider context which demonstrates the Israeli quest for a Jewish framework of meaning that would authenticate the new national myths and charge them with meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *INDEPENDENCE Day (Israel)
*ZIONISM
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00263206
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 148382572
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2020.1862801