Modern Israel

Catalog description

This course will explore the roots of Zionism in religious tradition and the strings of modern nationalism which gave it a political form. Emphasis will be placed on Theodore Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, Zev Zabotinsky and Ben Gurion, the early Zionist congress, the rise of the State of Israel, the kibbutz, the cultural developments with emphasis on great writers, the role or religion in the state, Arab-Jewish confrontation and other contemporary problems.