Letters To My Israeli Sons: The Story of Jewish Survival

by Lynne Reid Banks

This is a book abo_ut a search—thesearch of an idea for its rightful home. Writing for her three teenage sons,Lynne Reid Banks traces the history of a fundamental idea—that of Jewishness- which has outlived all the world's attempts to deprive it of its roots in nationhood. With sympathy and insight, she tells the story of the survival of a people who retained their identity for thousands of years while scattered throughout the world.Lynne Reid Banks argues that with- out a territory there can be no nationhood, and that without nationhood persecuted people can find no selfrespect and no true dignity. In this book she follows the wanderings of the Jews from their earliest dispersions in Biblical times through recurrent oppression and isolation to the founding of the ]ewish state in 1948. She examines the origins of Zionism and the gathering movement of return to Israel, and tells the story of the first set- tlements and their heroic struggles for survival. Finally she gives an account of the tragic and epic events of her own lifetime—the “deadly thirties,” the British Mandate, the Second World War, and the first Israeli-Arab war fol- lowing the declaration of Israeli independence. . I Lynne Reid Banks is not a ]ew bybirth, but her commitment began in the post-war years, long before her marriage to an Israeli. In her foreword to this passionate and deeply felt history of the Jewish people, she tells her “I d0n’t want to write propaganda. And yet I want you to understand. So this must be a very personal book, even though I shall try my best all through it not to let my love for my subjectdistort my view or my writing. Be- cause, even more important to me than you three coming to love Israel as I do, is that you shall not love it blindly, but as wisely, as bravely and as perceptively as possible.”

276 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 1979

About the author

Lynne Reid Banks is a British author of books for children and adults. She has written forty books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 10 million copies and been made into a film.
Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II but returned after the war was over. She attended St Teresa's School in Surrey. Prior to becoming a writer Banks was an actress, and also worked as a television journalist in Britain, one of the first women to do so. Her first novel, The L-Shaped Room, was published in 1960.
In 1962 Banks emigrated to Israel, where she taught for eight years on an Israeli kibbutz Yasur. In 1965 she married Chaim Stephenson, with whom she had three sons. Although the family returned to England in 1971 and Banks now lives in Dorset, the influence of her time in Israel can be seen in some of her books which are set partially or mainly on kibbutzim.