A critical look at the history and culture of women of the Yishuv and a call for a new national discourse

This book deals with the experience and action of Jewish women in the new Jewish settlement in Palestine (the Yishuv) during the period of Zionist immigration to Palestine, from the last two decades of the nineteenth century until 1948. The wide range of topics concern the experience of East European immigrant women as well as that of traditional Yemenite women, the creative and radical action of the socialist pioneers of the labor movement as well as the liberal feminism of the middle-class women. Though based on scholarly research, this book brings forth women's voices through their private and public writing.

The first and only complete exploration of the role of American women in the creation and support of the State of Israel from pre-State years through the struggles of Israel's first decades.

This publication is significant within the field of Jewish studies and beyond; the essays include comparative material and have the potential to reach scholarly audiences in many related fields but are written to be accessible to all, with the introductions in every chapter aimed at orienting the enthusiast from outside academia to each time and place.

A groundbreaking history of how Jewish women maintained their identity and influenced social activism as they wrote themselves into American history. What does it mean to be a Jewish woman in America? In a gripping historical narrative, Pamela S. Nadell weaves together the stories of a diverse group of extraordinary people—from the colonial-era matriarch Grace Nathan and her great-granddaughter, poet Emma Lazarus, to labor organizer Bessie Hillman and the great justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to scores of other activists, workers, wives, and mothers who helped carve out a Jewish American identity. The twin threads binding these women together, she argues, are a strong sense of self and a resolute commitment to making the world a better place. Nadell recounts how Jewish women have been at the forefront of causes for centuries, fighting for suffrage, trade unions, civil rights, and feminism, and hoisting banners for Jewish rights around the world. Informed by shared values of America’s founding and Jewish identity, these women’s lives have left deep footprints in the history of the nation they call home.

Explores Jewish emigration from Palestine and Israel during the critical period between 1945 and the late 1950s by weaving together the perspectives of governments, aid organizations, Jewish communities and the personal stories of individual migrants.

"The Plough Woman reveals a fascinating chapter in the history of pioneer Palestine. First published in 1932 ... this ... edition throws light on the complex arena of Palestine and Zionism as well as the intersection between the early Jewish nationalist movement and radical feminists at the turn of the 19th and 20h centuries. The voices, prose, memoirs, and literature of young Zionist women who emigrated to Palestine in these decades offer an intimate look at life on a veritable frontier. Memoirists discuss tensions in communal living, unsentimentally disclosing the hardships of working and raising families in underserved and isolated agricultural colonies. But as their narratives indicate, these pioneer women were keenly motivated by the vision of a creating a future Jewish homeland, an egalitarian society that would foster and celebrate individual growth, sustain family life, and provide a secure future for all"--From publisher's description (a later edition).