Берл: биография

by Anita Shapira, Анита Шапира

The biography of Berl Katznelson encompasses the story of a leader and a movement. Berl was present at the birth of the Israeli labour movement, played a major role in the shaping of its ideology and organisational structure and imprinted its collective entity with the mark of his outstanding personality. Born in Russia in 1887, Berl Katznelson emigrated to Palestine in 1909 and died in Tel Aviv in 1944. A major figure in the socialist Zionist movement, Berl's influence on the politics of Palestine and his influence on the future of his chosen land cannot be underestimated. 100,000 people attended his funeral. Anita Shapira's best-selling biography, now translated and adapted from the Hebrew edition, brings to life the history of a man, and a movement.

Genres: Biography

First published December 20, 1984

About the author

Anita Shapira (Hebrew: אניטה שפירא‎‎, born 1940) is an Israeli historian. She is the founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, Emerita Professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University and former head of the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism at Tel Aviv University. She received the Israel Prize for History in 2008.

אניטה שפירא (נולדה ב-1940) היא פרופסור אמריטה להיסטוריה של עם ישראל באוניברסיטת תל אביב, עמדה בראש המכון לחקר הציונות וישראל שם וכלת פרס ישראל לשנת תשס"ח 2008 בחקר ההיסטוריה של עם ישראל.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding biography of a fascinating character who distanced himself from political appointments and positions yet was deeply influential in the attempt to build a Hebrew workers society. Shapira clearly identifies with her subject but if full of impressive analysis that shows keen awareness of Berl's weaknesses, not only his strengths. she spends considerable time examing the arguments within the ?Labour movement, particularly its agricultural base that sadly exhausted considerable time and energy on what today seems like hair-splitting ideological differences, as well as human squabbles, the latter acknowledged by the author. A great read, even if today it might smack of a certain degree of nostalgia.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A life worth telling. I could only wish for him to have wrote his story on his own words, reason why I couldn't give the book a higher calification; Powerful thinker, extremely political by nature, and innovative in his perception on socialism. He was the true epitope for influence.

Even thought the writer focus a lot of her analyzes on parties and ideologies, I feel like there's more on his asceticism, ethical nationalism, and permeable "Schillerism" that could have been deepened…To me, he seemed like if Tolstoi and Dostoevsky had a son.

I was deeply grateful for his life and contribution to culture. He was the architect and the molder of Israeli's sociaty. And for all that, he deserve a seat along side many great intellectuals. He genuinelly embodied Davar

תודה רבה, Berl🩵