Israel EldadReseñas

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A series of "newspapers" presenting stories and headlines on the bible stories and historical events in the period from Abraham to Ezra.

The First Tithe is a true memoir by Israel Eldad, born Israel Scheib, who was one of the three leaders of the Lohamei Herut Israel in the book referred to as the Lehi organization (its English translation: Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) was founded by Avraham Stern in 1940. Lehi is a far right group in its ideology that did much for the independence of Israel. For the first time this memoir is in English translated from the original Hebrew by Zev Golan. As you read this book you can tell that he is writing from his heart and with passion.

Though this English version of Israel Eldad's memoir gives us his narrative of his time in the underground starting with his escape from the Nazi's grasp where he makes it on forged papers to what will become Israel, to being arrested by the British and imprisoned as he taught class, his subsequent escape and the interesting remembrance of his time actively evading capture as he worked in the underground. Israel Eldad also lead the Irgun, one of the most radical Zionist groups during the Israeli war for independence. Those readers not familiar with this period of Israel’s history may find the book a little hard to read at first. But I encourage the reader to complete the memoir.

The author tells his story as he recalls it including the political maneuvering, infighting, and compromise among the various figures and movements in Israel's resistance and of his hatred of the British Occupiers, Goy. When the Jews were fighting the British and Arabs for their freedom and a homeland, the true fighter that brought independence for Israel had to fight some of their own people. Including the collaborators with the British, the Hagana and its offshoot the Palmach which were under the direction of Weizman. Part of this group was active in hunting members of the underground was Ben Gurion.

What I find most astounding is that when Israel gained its independence in 1948, that the underground who gained this independence with their blood handed over political power and governance to the very group who was trying to stop this independence and aid the British. In 1948 Ben Gurion became the first prime minister of Israel and Weizman became its president.

At times some readers will have a hard time distinguishing if the author is a freedom fighter or terrorist; this will depend on your own origins and political points of view. Regardless on where you stand you will read the moral issues that were involved in making the decessions that were made. But there is no questioning his resolve and passion for an independent Israel. This book will give you great insight into the thoughts of one of the leaders of the most radical underground group for freedom. You may not agree with all of Israel Eldad's politics or methods, but his goal was a free and indepedent Kingdom of Israel that would include Jerusalem.

I would like to also note that parts of the original book were not translated and kept in the book as they translator thought that without knowledge of the Hebrew language, Talmudic and Midrashic sources the reader would not understand those sections. I think this was a mistake to leave those sections out as it would add a deeper understanding of the author and his basis for the decisions he made . This is part of the reason I have noted rated this memoir 5 stars.But I appreciated the addition of Zev Golan's notes for many have forgotten this history.½

This is the memoir of Israel Eldad life fighting for Israel's independence in the Lehi. . He was one of the leaders of Lehi, and lead the Irgun, one of the most radical Zionist groups during the Israeli war for independence. Those readers not familiar with this period of Israel’s history may find the book a little hard to read at first.

The author tells his story as he recalls it including the political maneuvering, infighting, and compromise among the various figures and movements in Israel's resistance and of his hatred of the “British Occupiers.” At times it is hard to tell if the author is a freedom fighter or terrorist. But there is no questioning his resolve and passion for an independent Israel. This book will give you great insight into the thoughts of one of the leaders of the most radical underground group for freedom.

As President Obama pointed out during the campaign, America has always had a special relationship with Israel. However, as his gaffe about Jerusalem showed, Americans are nevertheless very ignorant about the country.

The First Tithe is a book which will help dispel some of that ignorance. The author, Israel Eldad, is not of course representative of all Israelis. He was one of the leaders of Lehi, and lead the Irgun, one of the most radical Zionist groups during the Israeli war for independence. His outlook, therefore, is an interesting one. He justifies what most of us would consider terrorism in a very intellectual way that puts it at the service of the political cause of Israeli independence. It was a great service of the Jabotinsky Institute to bring it to the English-speaking world.

Of course, what this edition lacks is a grave oversight -- an impartial critical introduction and notes. A critical apparatus, putting the man in the context of his time and thought and assessing his legacy, would have made the book much more of a contribution.

What a great book on a topic that is virtually unknown to the western world. "The First Tithe" is the story of the Israeli Declaration of Independence that was made on the of 14 May 1948, the day the British Mandate expired. "The fire will brand our faces, Our eyes like the sun of Givon, The shadow of our flag like the wings of eagles, Will strike fear in the Arabs of Zion". What followed next was the an invasion of the new state by troops from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known in Israel as the War of Independence.

Through underground resistance, revolutionary activities, and even assassination, came the fruition of the modern state of Israel, called by Eldad "the Kingdom of Israel". A remarkable story told by a escapee of the Nazi's, Mr. Israel Eldad; who led the "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel". Translated by Zev Golan, this is a must read for anyone interested in Israel and the Middle East.

At once depressing and uplifting - and really tragic all around - The First Tithe is a personal account of the Jewish Underground's role in the formation of Israel.

Like most Revolutionaries (and he is a Capital - R Revolutionary. In some circles, he could easily be seen as a terrorist), Eldad is left somewhat bitter as his ideologically pure revolution is replaced with a poor and bitter compromise. For the personal aspect alone, it is worth reading and would be well paired with William T. Vollman's "Rising Up and Rising Down" (the abridged version!)

If you are searching for a balanced history of the foundation of Israel, this book is not for you. Israel Eldad was an ardent Zionist of the classical variety and it shows in his work. It is also not a history. Instead, The Jewish Revolution : Jewish Statehood is Eldad putting forward his own case for the existence of Zionism and the reasons Israel belongs to the Jews. He is not politically correct, even for the late 60s, when this book was originally published. Eldad does not believe that the Palestinians are an actual nation; he thinks that all Jews should give up everything and move to Israel permanently; and he believes that the State of Israel should stretch from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. All beliefs of Zionism that have long since passed out of popular or realistic politics. This is not to say that it is a bad book--it is in fact an excellent example of the Zionist mindset. Eldad is a master at word choice and stirring up the readers emotions. He almost makes you forget that there are very good reasons for the current status quo in Israeli/Palestinian relations. His use of anecdotes and history helps him make his points quite elegantly.

The Gefen edition is further enhanced by the editorial work (an introduction, footnotes, and an afterward) of Eldad's son, Arieh, who serves in the Knesset and appears to hold the same Zionist beliefs of his father. These serve to put his father's words into a modern context. His constant refrain that extremist Islam is the next Soviet Union is interesting, but not quite convincing. There is also a very useful map of the Middle East North Africa region with each country's population shown, printed onto the book's endpapers. Overall, The Jewish Revolution : Jewish Statehood is an interesting book, which provides an uncommon and masterful view of one of Israel's major political philosophies, classical Zionism. Whether or not one agrees with Eldad's conclusions or thinks that they are realistic, one cannot ignore the influence these ideas have had in determining the political situation in the Middle East even to this day. This alone makes it worth reading.

Anyway familiar with historical books/studies will automatically notice that this book is missing a bibliography and does not cite any sources. If you are familiar with European and Middle Eastern history, especially the role that Jews have played in both, then much of what is written here will not be a surprise for you. The context given to all of the above is, on the other hand, interesting, from time to time. It would be even more interesting if the author could cite sources!

I can't say I agree for 100% with all the arguments but much here makes sense. The sad fact, in the end, is that the world cannot and will not function as this book/author would like. A lot of what is advocated comes from hindsight, but humanity does not work that way. At other times the author wishes that double standards would not exist against Israel, so do I, but that is, again, not the world we live in. In the end this book is filled with a good amount of truth and honesty as well as emotion. At the same time, there is also too much idealism and not enough realistic thinking and acceptance. If the majority of the world was familiar with its own history then many of the mistakes made today would never have occurred, but that type of idealistic dream is just that. We should not concentrated on what could have been but rather try to understand our present reality, including how and why it came about, and what we can do to change it in the future, for the better.

I found the book to contain some interesting stories and ideas. However, the author failed to document his assertions which I found to be very distracting. He made numerous assertions about what is and what would have been had some certain event happened or not happened without a shred of evidence.

If you can overlook the author's overly high opinion of himself you may find enough of interest to hold your attention. That didn't happen with me.

This book was difficult for me to get through. I have only a very basic, mass media fed, knowledge of the Middle East in general and Israel in particular. I went into this book with a desire to learn more, in particular from the Israeli perspective. The book lacks any character development, glossary, index or maps, the inclusion of which would have made understanding Mr. Eldads’ work much easier, in particular for the layperson. The endnotes do help to some extent and I commend Mr. Golan, the books translator, for his efforts there. Nevertheless, I had difficulty following the flow of events.

I have no knowledge of the Hebrew language. Therefore, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation Mr. Golan presents here. However, the prose flowed easily and was a pleasure to read.

I do have friends and family that are knowledgeable of the topics Israel Eldad presents in his work The First Tithe. I would recommend his book to them. However, for a person like myself, coming from a position of little knowledge of the events, it is a very difficult read and I could not recommend The First Tithe to that person. An unsatisfied hunger for knowledge of the very topics this book wishes to cover remains with me.