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Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism — History
Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism

75 years after its founding, the establishment of the State of Israel remains one of the most remarkable achievements of the modern era. Never before had a people dispersed throughout the world, deprived of sovereignty for millennia, at times targeted and slaughtered, returned to its ancient homeland to build a thriving country. Who were the great leaders and thinkers that helped craft a modern Jewish nationalism? What moved them to build a new Jewish state for a people so long deprived of self-determination? How did the political situation of the Jewish people—in Russia, Europe, and the Middle East—change and evolve, and how did the Zionist founders and the new Israeli patriots interact with world leaders and confront their enemies, both on the battlefield and in the political arena?

In this limited-series podcast, released in time for Israel’s 75th birthday, historian Dr. Daniel Polisar weaves together the political, cultural, and religious history of the Zionist movement, illuminating the spirit of modern Jewish nationalism and the unfolding (and miraculous) meaning of modern Israel.

Latest Episodes:

#13: Israel’s Economy and Society Transformed, 1979 to 2021 Apr 26, 2023

In the final episode of this podcast, Dr. Polisar revisits one of the two central questions that were posed in the opening episode: How did the Jewish people succeed in creating a country that, against all odds, developed an internal character marked by all of the following?

A) Kibbutz Galuyot, the ingathering of the exiles on an unimaginable scale;
B) a vital role as a national state acting to advance the interests of the Jewish people;
C) a robust and stable democracy;
D) an economic powerhouse that is widely seen as the “Start-Up Nation.”

Covering the period from 1979 to the present, this episode examines the key decisions and watershed moments that led Israel to be miraculously successful in each of these areas.

Supplemental Materials:

"Israel’s Russian Wave, Thirty Years Later" by Matti Friedman.

#12: Seeking Peace Through Deterrence, Defense, and Diplomacy, 1979-2021 Apr 26, 2023

Since the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement of 1979, there have been two geostrategic earthquakes with long-term significance for the Middle East: the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Against the background of these developments, Israel has sought to attain security and peace through consistent efforts in four areas: acting decisively to prevent those countries committed to its destruction from developing weapons of mass destruction; seeking an accommodation with the Palestinian national movement on the basis of partitioning the area included in Mandatory Palestine; pursuing peace agreements with the four states on its borders; and working to bring about normalization and peaceful relations with all the countries in the Middle East. In this episode, Dr. Polisar analyzes the strategic reality in which Israel has functioned during the last four decades and its successes and failures in each of these four areas.

#11: Sadat, Begin, and the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Agreement, 1970-1982 Apr 26, 2023

When Anwar Sadat succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as president of Egypt in 1970, few observers expected him to take bold initiatives. Yet in 1973 he launched the Yom Kippur War and in its initial days, together with Syria, dealt Israel substantial losses before the IDF recovered and won an extraordinary victory. Israel’s initial failures in that war undercut the long-dominant Labor Party and helped Likud’s Menachem Begin get elected prime minister in 1977, marking the first transition of power in the Jewish State. Months after Begin came to power, he hosted Sadat in Jerusalem for a dramatic visit that resulted a year later in the Camp David Accords, Israel’s first peace agreement with an Arab state. This episode covers these dramatic events and considers their implications for Israel in the subsequent four decades.

#10: Transforming Israel and the Middle East, 1967-1970 Apr 26, 2023

The Six-Day War brought about enormous changes not only for Israel, but for the Middle East as a whole. The bulk of this episode is devoted to examining the most important transformations that occurred in the years immediately following the war—within Israel, in the Jewish State’s relations with its Arab neighbors, and in its growing ties with the United States. Dr. Polisar also discusses a little-known conflict, the War of Attrition from 1969-1970, whose strategic impact was enormous. Finally, he considers how Israel’s decisive role in a clash between Syria and Jordan in September 1970 gave birth to the U.S.-Israel alliance.

#9: Making the Jewish State Secure, 1948 to 1967 Apr 26, 2023

In parallel with its efforts to deal with a host of domestic challenges, Israel was compelled from 1948 through 1967 to act decisively to defend itself against its Arab neighbors and lay the basis for longer-term security. This episode opens with the strategic changes that drove the Arab countries, led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, to escalate their conflict with the Jewish state between 1948 and 1956. Dr. Polisar then examines the Sinai War of October 1956, in which Israel joined with France and Britain in defeating Egypt, and its surprising diplomatic consequences. The final section focuses on the causes and course of Israel’s spectacular victory in the Six-Day War of June 1967, in which it captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, and Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem from Jordan.

Supplemental Materials:

"Ike vs. Obama in the Middle East" by Michael Doran.

#8: The Miraculous State Takes Shape, 1948 to 1953 Apr 26, 2023

Even after its against-all-odds victory in the War of Independence, the State of Israel’s future was far from assured. It faced the challenge of absorbing massive waves of largely impoverished immigrants, establishing itself as the national state of the Jewish people, dealing with the difficulties caused by Palestinian Arab refugees who fled Israel during the War of Independence, and creating the institutions and traditions needed for effective democratic governance. Dr. Polisar in this episode describes how Israel—led by David Ben-Gurion—overcame these challenges in its initial half-decade and laid the foundations for a thriving society and state.

#7: Israel’s War of Independence, 1947-1949 Apr 26, 2023

Shortly after the General Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to establish Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, Chaim Weizmann declared that states are not given to peoples on a silver platter—and that the Jews would have to fight to establish theirs. Indeed, the Yishuv, backed by the Zionist movement, fought a War of Independence beginning the day after the UN decision, when the Arabs of Palestine responded with anger and violence. The war did not end until early 1949.

In this episode, Dr. Polisar breaks down the two phases of the conflict—the “civil war” pitting the Arabs of Palestine against the Yishuv from November 1947 to May 1948; and the war against the five Arab countries that invaded Palestine in May 1948 with the aim of preventing the birth of the Jewish state. In addition to examining the causes and consequences of Israel’s victory, Dr. Polisar also covers the Isrel's Declaration of Independence, read aloud by David Ben-Gurion on May 14, 1948 just hours before the British Mandate formally ended.

Supplemental Materials:

A series of essays by Martin Kramer on Israel's Declaration of Independence.
"Podcast: Neil Rogachevsky and Dov Zigler on the Political Philosophy of Israel's Declaration of Independence."
The full text of Israel's Declaration of Independence in English.

#6: The Securing of International Support for a Jewish State, 1939-1947 Apr 26, 2023

World War Two, fought from 1939 to 1945, brought about a changed geopolitical reality in the world as a whole and in Palestine, which radically changed the interests of the British, the Zionist movement and the Yishuv, and the Arabs of Palestine. As a result of these factors, coupled with decisions made by the leadership of each of these three actors, the British decided to hand over the Palestine Mandate to the newly formed United Nations.

Despite the forces working within the UN to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, three sets of decision-makers—Stalin in the Soviet Union, the members of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, and President Harry Truman of the United States—came out in favor of partitioning Palestine and creating a Jewish state in just over half its territory, and they paved the way for the UN Partition Resolution of November 1947. In this episode, Dr. Polisar analyzes the changes brought about by World War Two and the decisions made by the key actors within Palestine and outside of it that, collectively, made it possible for the UN to carry out a policy that revived the prospects for establishing a Jewish state only eight years after the British had seemed to dash those hopes permanently.

Supplemental Materials:

"Who Saved Israel in 1947?" by Martin Kramer.

#5: The Arabs Attack, the British Retreat, and the Jews Keep Building, 1918-1939 Apr 26, 2023

In response to growing Jewish immigration, land purchases, and economic expansion, the Arabs of Palestine engaged in mounting violence in 1920-21, 1929, and 1936-1939. In each case, Great Britain responded by retreating from its promise to facilitate a Jewish national home. In the first two cases, Zionist counter-pressure, led by Chaim Weizmann, succeeded in getting Britain to return to its commitments, but in 1939 Britain, seeking to appease the Arabs on the eve of World War Two, issued a White Paper effectively reneging on the Balfour Declaration. The Yishuv, the Jewish community of Palestine, buttressed by waves of immigration driven by escalating anti-Semitism in Europe, used these two decades of British rule to establish the foundations of a Jewish state. This episode describes the escalating Arab violence, the evolution of British appeasement, and the efforts of the Jews to reverse the British retreat and to build economic, social, and political institutions that could serve as the nucleus for their state.

Supplemental Materials:

"The Mufti of Jerusalem's Legacy" by Sean Durns.
"From Africa to China, How Israel Helps Quench the Developing World's Thirst" by Seth Siegel.

#4: The Jewish Homeland in the Making, 1904-1918 Apr 26, 2023

Following Herzl’s untimely death in 1904, efforts to settle the Land of Israel were accelerated, led by young idealists who played key roles in laying the foundations for a state that could serve as a light unto the nations. In parallel, Herzl’s disciples and opponents alike, led by Chaim Weizmann, continued his path of diplomacy, culminating in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which Great Britain pledged that after conquering Palestine it would endeavor to facilitate in it the creation of a Jewish national home. This episode analyzes how these parallel tracks led in a decade and a half to the creation of a Jewish community in Israel that could serve as the nucleus for a future state.

Supplemental Materials:

"The Self-Actualizing Zionism of A.D. Gordon" by Hillel Halkin.
"The Forgotten Truth about the Balfour Declaration" by Martin Kramer.

#3: Theodor Herzl and Launching the Zionist Movement, 1895-1904 Apr 26, 2023

Though crucial elements of a nationalist revival were in place before Theodor Herzl decided in 1895 to devote his life to creating a Jewish state, there is little doubt that without this singular figure such a state would not have been established. In this episode, Dr. Polisar focuses on how Herzl founded the Zionist movement; he served simultaneously as the man of ideas who developed the vision and plans for a Jewish state, as the institution-builder who created an international movement capable of acting effectively during and after his lifetime, and as the chief diplomat who paved the way for the decision of the world’s leading powers, a decade and a half after his death, to establish a Jewish home in Palestine.

Supplemental Materials:

"The Mystery of Theodor Herzl" by Rick Richman.
"Theodor Herzl: The Birth of Political Zionism"—an online course taught by Daniel Polisar.

#2: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Nationalism, 1807-1895 Apr 26, 2023

Not long after the Napoleon-inspired Sanhedrin had declared the end of Jewish nationalism, small but growing numbers of Jews around the world embarked on three separate efforts that laid the foundation for creating a modern state in the ancient homeland: reviving Hebrew as a language for addressing contemporary issues and for daily living; developing the case for the idea of re-establishing a Jewish state in the land of Israel; and bringing about the settling of the land by Jewish pioneers. This episode describes these activities and the figures who led them from the early 19th century until the middle of its final decade.

Supplemental Materials:

"How America's Idealism Drained Its Jews of Their Resilience" by Daniel Gordis.
"How a Founding Socialist Inspired Karl Marx, and Then Went on to Herald the State of Israel" by Asael Abelman.

#1: The Impossible Dream of Founding a Jewish State in Modern Times Apr 26, 2023

In 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte brought about the convening of a Sanhedrin—the supreme decision-making body of the Jewish people—which declared that the Jews possessed a shared religion but were no longer a nation with political aspirations. Coming after nearly two millennia of Exile, this proclamation seemed to signal the end of the age-old dream of re-establishing a Jewish state. Yet a century and a half later Israel was established as the national state of the Jewish people and today it is a robust democracy, an economic success story, a regional powerhouse, and a leading actor on the world stage. In the first episode, Dr. Polisar lays out the main puzzle this podcast will address: How did the Jews overcome seemingly impossible odds to establish a state whose accomplishments are routinely described as miraculous by even the most secular of people?

Supplemental Materials:

"What 'Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa' Teaches About Our Own Plague-Stricken Time" by Martin Kramer.

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