“We are all ready to fall”: creation of the norm of acceptance and restrained mourning in Davar during the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939)

ABSTRACT

The period of the Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936–1939) marked a turning point in the Yishuv’s attitude toward the fatalities of its struggle with the Palestinians. This article examines this change as reflected in the newspapers of the Yishuv. If in the 1920s casualties were viewed as a disappointment of the dream of a safe haven, during the Arab Revolt the emphasis was placed on the notion that a reality of fatalities was a fate with which it was necessary to completely come to terms. The press coverage ceased emphasizing the atrocities and instead highlighted the honor and respect paid to the dead. The result was a new culture of mass funerals, which became one of the most prominent Zionist displays of the period. The rituals that emerged around violent death during this period emerged as a major attribute of Israeli bereavement.

KEYWORDS:

• Zionism
• Great Arab Revolt
• bereavement
• mourning
• Davar
• press

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Morris, Righteous Victims, 121–160; Sakanini, Kaze ani; and Eyal, “The Arab Revolt.”

2. Between 1931 and 1939, the percentage of Arabs in the country’s population decreased from 82% to 70%. McCarthy, The Population of Palestine.

3. Morris, Righteous Victims, 159. On the brutal suppression of the revolt by the Mandate authorities, see: Hughes, Britain’s Pacification of Palestine.

4. Chazan, Metinut, 232.

5. Seltenreich, “Itzuv tarbut meguyeset,” 226.

6. Plamper, The History of Emotions, 40–47.

7. Neumann, Land and Desire.

8. Pick, Faces of degeneration; Bell, The Cult; and Weindling, Health, Race, and German.

9. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 10.

10. Saposnik, “Exorcising the Angel.”

11. Neumann, Land and Desire, 57.

12. Neumann, Li-hiyot ba-olam, 142–144.

13. Cohen, Hisardut, 222–240.

14. Neumann, Land and Desire, 95. On pioneers who committed suicide, who were also perceived as fatalities of the Zionist effort, see Alroey, “Halutzim ovdey derekh.”

15. Frankel, “The Yizkor book.”

16. Redler-Feldman, “Shlosha she-metu ke-ehad,” 4.

17. Y. Zerubavel, “Yizkor: Shivrey ra’ayonot” [Yizkor: Fragments of Ideas]. He-Ahdut, January 2, 1912.

18. On the deep influence of the mythos of Tel Hai and Trumpeldor on the Yishuv, see Zerubavel and Goldstein, Tel Hai. It should be noted that in the 1920s, Tel Hai was an exception in that it became a mythos of bravery. As we will see below, during the other disturbances of the same decade, the engagement with bravery was minor in comparison to the general feeling of tragedy caused by the death of Jews.

19. Hayes, Radio Nation, XIII.

20. Almog, Preda mi-Srolik, 47.

21. Mann, Ha-manhig ve-ha-tikshoret, 29.

22. Almog, Preda mi-Srolik, 50.

23. Mann, Ha-manhig ve-ha-tikshoret, 67.

24. Canaan, Milhamta shel ha-itonut, 22. Naor, “Ha-Boker iton ha-merkaz,” 52.

25. Almog, Preda mi-Srolik, 50. Shapira, Berl, 242–269.

26. Helman, Or va-yam, 11.

27. Ibid., 11–12, 175–177.

28. Cohen, Year Zero, 256–257.

29. Shavit, “Ha-rahashta Kvar.”

30. Seltenreich, “Itzuv tarbut meguyeset,” 220.

31. “Ha-ke-Kishinev ya‘ase et Jerusalem?” [Will Jerusalem become like Kishinev?], Kuntres, August 4, 1920.

32. “Hagana atzmit” [Self Defense], Kuntres, May 11, 1921.

33. J. Heftman, “Yom ha-maharat” [Tomorrow]. Haaretz, May 4, 1921. It is interesting to note that Heftman himself, who found it so important to distinguish the Jewish Yishuv from the Diaspora, immigrated to Palestine only one year earlier.

34. Schwadron, Yesodey ha-idiologya, 50.

35. “Eduyot al ahzariyutam shel rotzhey Hebron” [Testimonies to the Cruelty of the Murderers of Hebron], Doar Ha-yom, September 6, 1929; “Ehad mi-giborey ha-Haganah” [One of the Haganah Heroes], Doar Ha-Yom, September 8, 1929: photo of the body of Gudel Yudelevitch, who was murdered in Jerusalem; and “Tshuvat Dr. Gray ve-Prof. Getzowa le-hodaat ha-rofiim ha-Britim” [Dr. Gray and Prof. Getzowa’s Reply to the Announcement of the British Physicians]. Doar Ha-Yom, September 28, 1929: debate regarding the decomposition of the bodies and discussion of organ parts.

36. Alroey has noted that the Yishuv’s first association when it encountered an organized attack was the pogroms, as reflected in the abovementioned sources. However, the Yishuv quickly regained composure and made a distinction in the spirit of Bialik’s poem “In the City of Slaughter:” the fatalities of the pogroms had been murdered for no reason, with no purpose to their lives or deaths; the fatalities in Eretz Israel, on the other hand, had given their lives for the revival of the Jewish People in its own land, and therefore their deaths were completely different. (see Alroey, “Ha-gibor ha-Ivri”). We see below that in the 1930s, the message was completely internalized, and comparisons with the Diaspora almost never appeared.

37. It should be noted that these extreme reactions stemmed from the shock of the period of the Revolt. After the previous waves of disturbances, life quickly returned to normal, and comparisons of life in the Yishuv to life in the Diaspora, or statements that the dream of “safe refuge” was gone, were not part of the everyday atmosphere. Still, these statements expressed authentic emotions at the time that they were written, around the time of the disturbances.

38. “Mahalakh ha-meura’ot” [Account of the Disturbances], Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, May 6, 1921.

39. Y. Laufbahn, “Bi-yamei metzuka” [In Times of Hardship], Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, May 13, 1921.

40. Azaryahu, Makom le-zikaron, 8–17, 19.

41. Dinur, Sefer toldot ha-hagana, II, 1, 317.

42. The intended meaning here is that they were buried beside one another. They were not buried in a common grave.

43. “Ha-hitnaplut al Tel Aviv” [The Attack on Tel Aviv], Doar Ha-Yom, September 2, 1929.

44. “Tel Aviv” [Tel Aviv], Haaretz, September 1, 1929.

45. Haaretz, May 27, 1921.

46. “Od kever ahim be-beit ha-kvarot be-Tel Aviv” [Another Mass Grave in Tel Aviv], Davar, April 20, 1936, 7.

47. M.D. [B. Katznelson]. “Davar Ha-Yom,” Davar, July 12, 1936, 1.

48. Seltenreich, “Itzuv tarbut meguyeset,” 222.

49. M. Tzioni, “Halaley Kiryat Haroshet” [The Casualties of Kiryat Haroshet], Davar, October 3, 1938.

50. M.D. [B. Katznelson], “Davar Ha-yom,” Davar, August 11, 1936.

51. R. Yitzhak, “Lo nazuz” [We Will Not Budge], November 15, 1937, 4.

52. “Tukam Giv’at Ha-hamisha!” [Giv`at Ha-hamisha Shall Be Established!], Davar, November 11, 1937.

53. Mosse describes how post-World War I Europe experienced the trivialization of the war by turning mementos of the war into everyday objects. This process caused the public to perceive the war as part of everyday life (Mosse, Fallen Soldiers, 126–156). Here too, we see that an attempt was made to imbue the public with a similar feeling.

54. See the Fifth Congress of Mapai (May 8, 1938) in Chazan, Metinut, 282. It should be noted that in May 1938, the number of casualties stood at 166, but that by the end of the Revolt Shertok’s prophecy was fulfilled and the number of casualties exceeded 500.

55. Lebel, “The Creation,” 442.

56. Leah, “Lo la-shav” [Not in Vain]. Davar, July 29, 1938.

57. For example:“Levayata shel Miriam Lifschitz” [Funeral of Miriam Lifschitz], Davar, September 5, 1938.

58. Mosse, “National Cemeteries.”

59. “Haifa melea merirut melavah et halaleiha” [An Embittered Haifa Buries its Fatalities], Davar, August 17, 1936.

60. “Yoash Zoller ve-Yitzhak Kalichevsky huvuu le-kvurot be-Yokneam” [Yoash Zoller and Yitzhak Kalichevsky Buried in Yokneam], Davar, August 4, 1936.

61. “Yeshutfu ha-yehudim bi-shmirat bithonam!” [The Jews Shall Be Made Party to Guarding their Security!], Davar, January 7, 1938.

62. Davar, July 18, 1938. The British manner of commemoration of the soldiers of World War I influenced the shaping of commemoration in many countries around the world. It was also the prominent source of the mourning practices in the Yishuv and in the State of Israel (Rozen, “Pragim Porhim bein ha-kvarim,” 135).

63. An honor guard’s presentation of their weapons at funerals and their salute with them after burial; standing for a moment of silence; the blasting of a trumpet; the placing of wreaths by senior leaders; the wrapping of fatalities in a flag; the establishment of military cemeteries; and the erection of uniform gravestones with an identical form of writing were all things that appeared at British memorial ceremonies for fatalities of World War I (Gibson and Ward, Courage Remembered).

64. “Halvayat shiv’at ha-kdoshim” [Funeral of the Seven Martyrs], Haaretz, September 12, 1938; “Shivat ha-korbanot she-naflu be-mishmeret ha-or” [The Seven Victims Killed Safeguarding the Light], Ha-Boker, September 12, 1938.

65. “Levayato shel Yitzhak Glazer” [Funeral of Yitzhak Glazer], Davar, July 2, 1936.

66. “Od kever ahim be-beit ha-kvarot be-Tel Aviv” [Another Mass Grave in the Tel Aviv Cemetery], Davar, April 20, 1936.

67. “Halaley ha-sfina Rahaf huvuu le-Haifa” [The Victims of the Rahaf Were Brought to Haifa], Davar, January 3, 1939; and “Levayat korbanot Rahaf” [Funeral of the Rahaf Fatalities], Davar, April 4, 1939.

68. “Levayat ha-em u-shney yeladea” [Funeral of the Mother and Her Two Kids], Davar, March 1, 1938.

69. “Levayat ha-shlosha be-Ein Vered” [Funeral of the Three at Ein Vered], Davar, July 6, 1938.

70. Rozin, “Infiltration and the Making.”

71. For example, a memorial book was published in 1921 in memory of the members of the Zhitomir Jewish community who were murdered in pogroms in 1919. Its cover bore weeping images and the biblical verse “for these things I weep.” Yizkor dem ondeynken Zshitomirer kdoyshim, New York, 1921.

72. “Hamishim elef mi-yehudei Yerushalayim livu et ha-halalim she-naflu lifnai bnei avla” [50,000 of Jerusalem’s Jews Lay to Rest the Fatalities Who Fell to the Miscreants], Davar, October 11, 1937.

73. “Tukam Giv’at Ha-Hamisha” [The Hill of the Five Shall be Established], Davar, November 11, 1937.

74. “Anshey ha-avoda ve-ha-hagana nifradim mi-Alexander Zaïd” [Labor and Defense Leaders Part with Alexander Zaïd], Davar, July 12, 1938.

75. David, “Al Haim Zippori ve-al Mishmar Ha-Yarden” [On Haim Zippori and Mishmar Ha-Yarden] Davar, August 2, 1938.

76. “Ha-levaya be-Ramat Ha-Kovesh” [The Funeral at Ramat Ha-kovesh], Davar, August 7, 1938.

77. Shapira, “Al ha-shtika.”

78. Winter, “Thinking about Silence,” 55.

79. “Ha-retzah ha-mahrid shel hamesh ha-yehudim be-Kiryat Anavim” [The Shocking Murder of Five Jews in Kiryat Anavim], Kol Israel, November 11, 1937.

80. “Halvayat Shaul Levy be-Yerusalayim” [Funeral of Sha’ul Levy in Jerusalem], Davar, January 16, 1938.

81. “Levayat Moshe ve-Haim Tzaban” [Funeral of Moshe and Haim Tzaban], Davar, July 6, 1938.

82. “Hamishim elef mi-yehudei Yerushalayim.”

83. The incident is explained in detail on p. 11.

84. A.M. Koller, “Be-Ramat Ha-kovesh ba-yom ha-mar” [At Ramat Ha-kovesh on the Bitter Day], Davar, August 9, 1938.

85. For example, “Levayatam shel halaley Tiberias” [Funeral of the Casualties of Tiberias] Davar, October 4, 1938.

86. Seltenreich, “Itzuv tarbut meguyeset,” 221–222.

87. The Revisionists were influenced by the moods that prevailed within the paramilitary organizations in Europe. They adopted the typical romanticism of the nationalist movements in general and the Polish nationalist movement in particular. Their youth movement, Betar, highlighted military elements, tended toward the veneration of nationalist heroes, and believed that national liberation was achievable only by force. Ben-Eliezer, Derekh ha-kavenet, 16–17.

88. Ben-Eliezer, Derekh ha-kavenet, 36. On the disagreement over the policy of havlaga and the changes to it over the years, see Ben-Eliezer, Derekh ha-kavenet, 35–45; Chazan, Metinut, 232–290; and Shavit, Havlaga o-tguva, 27–28.

89. “Shivaat ha-yamim” [Seven Days] Ha-Yarden, August 14, 1936.

90. “Mi-shabat le-shabat” [From Saturday to Saturday], Ha-Yarden, November 12, 1937.

91. Dothan, Adumim, 233–242.

92. “Havanat ha-motza ha-yehidi!” [Understanding the Only Way Out], Kol Ha-Am, September 1, 1938.

93. Ibid.

94. R. Katz, “Shuva Israel” [The Return of Israel], Ha-Tzofeh, September 2, 1938.

95. Elyada, “Modernizatzia, hilun, ve-leumiut.”

96. Swidler, “Culture in Action.”

97. Even-Zohar, “Mi mefahed.”

98. Hall, “Signification, Representation, Ideology.”

99. Lebel, “The Creation,” 442–449.

100. Rozin, “Infiltration and the Making,” 449.

101. Shapira, Land and Power.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Devorah Giladi

Devorah Giladi is Junior Visiting Scholars in Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a postdoctoral fellow in The Program for Hermeneutics & Cultural Studies at Bar Ilan University. Her article, “Cursing the Souls of Hebron’: Coverage and Commemoration of the Events of 1929 as a Mirror of Criticism of the Old Yishuv”, recently published in Cathedra.

Yossi Goldstein

Yossi Goldstein is a lecturer at Ariel University.