The+First+Israelis+Period+4

1949: The First Israelis Tom Segev A Class Discussion: 11-3-08
**What was the purpose of the sentimental images and stories that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel?**

the point of them was to tie peoples emotions to israel so they felt more connected and were more open to moving to israel. with these images and stories a new idea of the jew was created, it was no longer the poor, weak, homeless moving jew. now it is the strong jew who makes a living for himself and he is works and fights for his country.~//geblar//

The purpose of the sentimental images and stories that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel was to teach the values and ideals behind creating the state of Israel. For example, the images and stories was essential of Israel because we were able to teach newer generations of why we were connected to the land of Israel because of the Biblical Background related to the State of Israel. (Josh Tessler)

One of the purposes of the sentimental images and stories that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel, was to good moral values to the next generation of the people of Israel (Ari Bard).

"The story of Israelis is a tale of great hope and faith, that things can only get better". Additionally, "everyone was aware of being a part of history in the making; everyone wanted to carve out a small place for himself in the anals of that history." Basically, everyone wanted to be apart of history in the making, and wanted to shape the State of Israel. Therefore, sentimental images and stories surfaced to create a state of hope and faith. (Zach Roth)

**On page //xii//, Segev states that “The ideology of Israel’s social and political establishment contained an extraordinary hybrid of Eastern European rabbinic traditions combined with the Marxist message of the enthusiastic, conspiratorial Russian revolutionism.” Given this statement, how important do you think Zionism was to the actual creation of the State of Israel?** Zionism was very important to the creation of israel because without zionism people would not be as motivated to go to israel from the land that they are living in now~//geblar//

According to that statement Zionism was NOT that important to the creation of the state of Israel as this statement gives more credit to Rabbinic traditions and Marxist ideology. (Jake Klein)

I think Zionism was very important to the actual creation of the state of Israel, because Rabbinic tradtions and a Marxist message were combined to create a social and political ideology for Israel. This means that religious Zionism and political Zionism both affected the creation of the State of Israe. (Zach Roth) I believe that Zionism was very essential to the creation of the State of Israel because the mesh between the Marxist ideals and the Zionistic ideals really paved the way for Israel in the future regarding the political structure and their religious issues in Israel. (Josh Tessler)

**In the excerpt of Ben Gurion’s diary on page //xiii//, what does he target as the main problems of the new state? Which do you think is the most important to solve first?** the main problems with the new state is that they might be taking too much land from the arabs and some israeli's see that the arabs and palestinians are getting angry at the fact that their land is being stolen by foreingers.~//geblar//

David Ben Gurion shows in his excerpt of his diary that the main problems of the new state are how should we establish the Industrial Structure for the land of Israel. Because Ben Gurion and the State of Israel need to awnser questions regarding Industrial Structure in Israel such as what types of industry should be developed. The most important question to solve first in my opinion is how much money will be needed to start the Industrial Sturcture because we need to know how much money we should be spending before we establish Industrial industries in the State of Israel. (Josh Tessler)

The problems are as follows: 1) There is not enough time in the day 2) There are too many people to be able to organize everything 3) Laws need to be formulated. I think the most important problem which needs to be solved first is that there are too many people to be able to organize everything. There needs to be a hierarchy to be able to delegate work to everyone. (Zach Roth)

**What is the core of the discussion David Ben Gurion has with Martin Buber on pages //xvii// and //xviii//? Whose position do you agree with and why?** i agree that there are alot of homeless people wandering around israel and this is bad for the economy beucase the people that live there are going to need homes eventually but some of the people moving there cannot afford it. some people blindly move to israel just beucase its the promise land and they figure that if they move there then god will lift them up into the sky and grant them food and water. it doesnt work like that.~//geblar//

The core of the discussion between David Ben Gurion and Marion Buber is a question stating: Do we as the State of Israel still have a purpose of being a State? I, personally agree with David Ben Gurion because we had already started this project in Israel and if we quit now, we'll look dumb because we had started something without finishing which shows that we have no commitment to the State. (Josh Tessler)

  The core of the discussion is a question: Does the State of Israel still have a purpose? Buber thinks working the land is ridiculous, Ben Gurion believes that you have to work the land to create a State of Israel. I agree with Ben Gurion because I think creating the State of Israel is a slow process, but will eventually work out. (Zach Roth)

**Why was David Ben Gurion not concerned about citing borders in Israel’s Declaration of Independence? Do you agree or disagree with his perspective? Why?** I think it is important to document the borders becuase that tells the citizens where they can and where they cant live in israel. this stops people from living outside of the borders and further invading the land that doenst belong to them.~//geblar//

David Ben Gurion wasn't concerned about citing the borders in Israel's Declaration of Independence because the War of Israel Independence was still occuring and Ben Gurion wanted to wait until the end of the war to maybe observe if Israel had occupied any pieces of land. And he also felt that over a period of time the borders would change, so he didn't want to cite them in Israel's Declaration of Independence. And I think that Israel should wait until they know what the borders will finally be settled as. Although, that most likely won't occur in the near future in the modern era because Syria and Israel are still have fights on who owns the Golan Heights. (Josh Tessler)

**Having read this piece about the first six months of Israel’s existence, what do you think were the most defining events, moments, or activities in creating the State of Israel?**

the most important thing that happened in israel durign the first 6 months was the first war that they had after they established their independence. this victory made the isreali's think that becuase they won the battle gives them a right to live there.~//geblar// I think the creation of laws, a government, and the war were the most defining moments in creating the State of Israel. These events shaped the core of the State of Israel. (Zach Roth)

I think that the most important event that had happened in Israel during the creation of state when they were trying to set up their own Economic Structure while dealing with building certain industries in Israel. (Josh Tessler)