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The Hill of Life: The Story of Joseph Trumpeldor
This is a story of Joseph Trumpeldor a man who loved peace but who spent much of his life in war, a man who wanted nothing more than to live and work at Kibbntz Tel Chai but who died in its defense. Joseph Trumpeldor was a complex man. He was a dentist and a lawyer. But life forced upon him the primary role of soldier. Trumpeldor, along with all the Jews of Imperial Russia, grew up in an atmosphere of anti-Semitism. Legal prohibitions prevented him from taking up university studies and he turned instead to the profession of dentistry until he was conscripted in 1902.
203 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1968
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November 6, 2025
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Ok, so this is a Zionist hagiography. It is an interesting story of an interesting man who lived in interesting times. One might parallel Joseph Trumpeldor to a cat with 9 lives. He was lucky to be alive in the first place after his father being pressed into military service for 25 years in Tsarist Russia; then he, Joseph himself, was eventually pressed into service during the Russo-Japanese War; he fought on the front lines in Port Arthur; he lost an arm in battle; he went back to the front lines of his own free will; he was the first Jew in Russia to earn a Warrant Officer commission; he organized and led many Zionist committees and councils; he organized and led early Zionist kibbutzniks; he met with seminal Revolutionaries; he was imprisoned by the Turks in WWI; he helped found the Jewish Legion of the British Army during WWI; he was very much devoted and dedicated to the socialist-Zionist ideal that eventually formed into the socialist-Zionist State of Israel; and he died defending those ideals. For whatever one’s politics, there is no denying that this was a man who believed in his principles and lived his philosophy. What is always striking to me, when reading and learning about the early Zionist movement and the eventual founding of the State of Israel, is the somewhat ironic, somewhat unlikely, yet obvious and documented partnerships between radically revolutionary, socialist Jews from Eastern Europe and socially conservative, hyper-capitalist industrial and commercial Jewish interests in Western Europe and North America. Essentially, as I see it, the Capitalists funded the Communists who continuously organized, rebelled, reacted, and acted on their socialist principles, leading the founding of the State of Israel as a radical, socialist-Zionist experiment. It is, doubtless, quite a fascinating history.
Ok, so this is a Zionist hagiography. It is an interesting story of an interesting man who lived in interesting times. One might parallel Joseph Trumpeldor to a cat with 9 lives. He was lucky to be alive in the first place after his father being pressed into military service for 25 years in Tsarist Russia; then he, Joseph himself, was eventually pressed into service during the Russo-Japanese War; he fought on the front lines in Port Arthur; he lost an arm in battle; he went back to the front lines of his own free will; he was the first Jew in Russia to earn a Warrant Officer commission; he organized and led many Zionist committees and councils; he organized and led early Zionist kibbutzniks; he met with seminal Revolutionaries; he was imprisoned by the Turks in WWI; he helped found the Jewish Legion of the British Army during WWI; he was very much devoted and dedicated to the socialist-Zionist ideal that eventually formed into the socialist-Zionist State of Israel; and he died defending those ideals. For whatever one’s politics, there is no denying that this was a man who believed in his principles and lived his philosophy. What is always striking to me, when reading and learning about the early Zionist movement and the eventual founding of the State of Israel, is the somewhat ironic, somewhat unlikely, yet obvious and documented partnerships between radically revolutionary, socialist Jews from Eastern Europe and socially conservative, hyper-capitalist industrial and commercial Jewish interests in Western Europe and North America. Essentially, as I see it, the Capitalists funded the Communists who continuously organized, rebelled, reacted, and acted on their socialist principles, leading the founding of the State of Israel as a radical, socialist-Zionist experiment. It is, doubtless, quite a fascinating history.
Displaying 1 of 1 review