6 - Ideology and Politics at the Establishment of the State of Israel, 1948–1950

Summary

IN THE MONTHS AND YEARS after May 1948 the American Jewish community underwent a process of re-evaluating its relationship with the Jewish community in what was now the State of Israel. In the American Jewish arena in general, and the American Zionist arena in particular, the establishment of the state raised various issues regarding the relationship between the two Jewish communities. Some were practical, such as the division of roles between the Jewish Agency and the government of Israel. Others were more theoretical. For instance, there was concern about dual loyalty; there was the fundamental question of the role of the Zionist movement, now that its primary goal had been achieved; there were debates about who was a Zionist. Other dilemmas arose as time passed.

AMERICAN ZIONISTS AND THE JEWISH STATE

Hadassah began addressing the issues related to the existence of a Jewish state even before it was founded. In January and May 1948 two manifestos were published: on the relationship between Hadassah and the state-in-the-making, and on Hadassah's future role as a Zionist organization. The first statement was published in the January 1948 issue of the Hadassah Newsletter, in response to the UN resolution of 29 November 1947 to end the British Mandate and divide Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Entitled ‘Relations with the Yishuv’, it emphasized that the political loyalty of American Jews, as American citizens, lay exclusively with the United States, and argued that Hadassah's Zionist activity contributed to America by helping to realize American ideals outside the country as well as within it. The authors expressed the belief that the Jewish state would contribute to ‘the ideals of justice, equality, security and peace … embody the best ideals of the Jewish and human traditions and … have a significant and worthy contribution to make to the progress of civilization West and East’. In the spirit of Brandeis's synthesis, the leaders expressed their hope that the Jewish state would be a spiritual centre for the Jewish people and a source of inspiration for Jewish life in America, and that the American Jewish woman, with her dual American and Jewish heritage, would support the young state both financially and spiritually.