Free Jerusalem: Heroes, Heroines and Rogues Who Created the State of Israel
By Zev Golan
Devora Publishing, 2003 ISBN: 1-930143-54-0
Hard Cover: $21.95

The Story of Israel's First Soldiers Comes to Life

By Shawn D. Phillips

With the election of Menachem Begin as Israel’s Prime Minister some twenty five years ago and the subsequent election of Yitzhak Shamir, American Jews were exposed to the stories of Israel’s militant undergrounds on an entirely new level. However, if one wanted to read more about these groups and their deeds, good literature on the subject was hard to find. More often than not, the only material available was limited to poorly translated memoirs.

Zev Golan, one of the world’s foremost experts on Israel's pre-state underground Jewish militias, has changed this situation. Golan’s book, Free Jerusalem, is the history of the early days of the Irgun (or Etzel), the LEHI (or Stern Group), the Haganah and lesser known groups such as Abba Achimier’s Brit HaBirionim and Rabbi Moshe Zvi Segal's Brit HaShmonaim. Free Jerusalem is a valuable and welcome addition to the tragically small number of English language books available on the history and ideas of these brave men who fought to create a modern Jewish State.

Golan has chosen the focus of his work carefully, rather than write about the more famous episodes in the history of the Jewish undergrounds, he has detailed the early days of the struggle against the British Mandatory authorities and the Arab rioters. Included are the strong roles of Betar and Abba Achimier’s Brit HaBirionim in the launch of the first acts of opposition to British policies.

Although an American, Golan demonstrates complete mastery over his subject matter. Early in his professional career, Golan was the assistant curator at the Hall of Heroism Museum, the former Jerusalem Central Prison where many Irgunists and LEHI fighters were imprisoned by the British during their revolt. Since then, Golan has spent years interviewing the soldiers of the Irgun and LEHI and translating their memoirs and writings.

Of special interest in Free Jerusalem is the inclusion of an excerpt of Golan's translation of the memoirs of Dr. Israel Eldad, First Tithe. Eldad, who died in 1996, was the chief propagandist and ideologist of the LEHI and a figure largely unknown to American Jews. Eldad's son, Dr. Arieh Eldad, a former Brigadier General and chief medical officer of the Israel Defense Forces, was elected to Knesset with the Moledet Party of the National Union bloc in the February 2003 elections.

In addition to Israel Eldad and Achimier, Golan also introduces his readers to the poet Uri Zvi Greenberg. Greenberg had a profound influence on the commanders and fighters of the Irgun and LEHI and was later a winner of the Israel Prize.

Golan's style is for the most part casual and the stories he tells are compelling, many never available before to English speaking audiences. By and large, Golan glosses over the more well known events in the history the Irgun and the LEHI. Events such as the Acre prison jail break, the King David Hotel bombing and the assassinations of Lord Moyne and Count Folke Bernadotte have been written about before and are not central to Golan’s narrative. Instead, Free Jerusalem gives the background of the organizations and the soldiers who formed the leadership and rank and file of the groups.

Golan examines the motivations and ideas of the fighters as well as the circumstances that led to the formation of their organizations from a fresh perspective. Readers are exposed to the underlying reasons for fighting as understood by the men themselves. At times, though, Golan seems more comfortable depicting the individual exploits of his subjects and exploring their character than engaging in lengthy explanations of the Irgun and LEHI's revolutionary Zionist ideologies.

Free Jerusalem begins with an account of the attempts by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Joseph Trumpeldor and others to defend Jewish lives and property during the anti-Jewish Arab riots of the 1920s. The stories of the origins of the Hagannah, Irgun and LEHI are told in an original and exciting manner. As Golan has said "A teacher can be for or against what happened, but to make history boring - that is unforgivable." At times Golan's penchant for connecting the Land of Israel in the 1920s and 1930s to America's Wild West seems strained. Golan's comparisons of Trumpeldor to Davy Crockett and Tel Chai to the Alamo and his use of imagery taken from Westerns are all awkward and can be distracting.

Golan chooses to end his narrative with the period surrounding the assassination of Avraham "Yair" Stern by the British mandatory police in 1942. Many other accounts of the Jewish underground revolt against the British begin with Stern's murder; Golan’s perspective is unique and aids in making Free Jerusalem interesting and original.

The many illustrations, which include photographs, reproductions of wanted posters and newspaper articles, enhance the book. There are many important improvements over the first edition of the book (published in 1998 by Sdan Press with the subtitle “The true story of the Jewish Zealots who fought the British Empire and Arab gangs in the wild frontier days of Israel”), which was not easily available in the United States. Free Jerusalem should be read eagerly by anyone with an interest in the Jabotinsky movement, the history of the Irgun and LEHI or the history of the Yishuv (pre-state Israel). More importantly, this book is a must for anyone seeking a better understanding of the Israeli-Arab conflict. The subjects of Golan's book 75 and 80 years ago faced the same issues facing Jews in Israel today.

In the face of Arab terrorism, the choice the soldiers of the Irgun and LEHI was to fight and to defend Jewish lives, property and interests by any means necessary. Whatever your point of view, the lessons that can be learned from Free Jerusalem are valuable and especially applicable to today's Middle East. Published by a new small press, Devora Publishing, Free Jerusalem, is available through most major internet book retailers. With hope, the book will find the audience it so richly deserves.

Shawn D. Phillips is the Senior Book Review Editor of www.JewishBooksUSA.com, the new Jewish literature supersite; he is also the founder and publisher of www.SaveIsrael.com.