Warsaw-Based “Erec Israel”: An Image of Palestine and Its Inhabitants in a Zionist Periodical from the Beginning of the Interwar Period
Journal cover Porównania, volume 38, no. 2, year 2025
PDF (Język Polski)

Keywords

Zionism
Hebrew Press
Aliyah
Mandatory Palestine
Orientalism

How to Cite

Ratajczyk, M. (2025). Warsaw-Based “Erec Israel”: An Image of Palestine and Its Inhabitants in a Zionist Periodical from the Beginning of the Interwar Period. Porównania, 38(2), 221–239. https://doi.org/10.14746/por.2025.2.11

Abstract

“Erec Israel” was a Hebrew monthly published in Warsaw in 1919 by Organizacja Syjonistyczna w Polsce (The Zionist Organization of Poland). The aim of the article is to trace and understand the portrayal of Palestine as a place to which the target reader would emigrate in the future. An additional goal was to determine who this potential reader was. Much attention was paid to various Zionist narratives present in the periodical, such as the belief that Jewish migration was for the benefit of the local population. Furthermore, the Orientalizing of Palestinian Arabs was tackled. The information obtained from the study was contextualized through, for example, a reading of Altneuland by Theodor Herzl and The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain. The author concluded that the “Erec Israel” focused on the economic image of Palestine and that the target readership was a representative of the middle class.

https://doi.org/10.14746/por.2025.2.11
PDF (Język Polski)

References

[b.a.] (1919a), Le-Chol agudatenu, „Erec Israel”, nr 2, s. 13.

[b.a.] (1919b), Jehudej Tejman be-E[rec] I[srael], „Erec Israel”, nr 1, s. 10.

[b.a.] (1919c), Mesilat barzel be-midbar Sinaj, „Erec Israel”, nr 2, s. 2–3.

Achad ha-Am (1891), Emet me-Erec Israel, „Ha-Melic”, nr 125, s. 1–2.

Böhm Adolf (1919), Ha-Ikarim ha-jesodijim szel ha-Keren ha-Le’umit, „Erec Israel”, nr 1, s. 3–4.

Gothelf Jehuda (1973), Itonut jehudit sze-hajta, Dfus Orli, Tel Awiw.

Herzl Teodor (1929), U wrót nowego życia… (Altneuland). Powieść-utopja, przeł. Henryk Adler, M.J. Freid i S-ka, Warszawa.

Herzl Theodor (2006), Państwo żydowskie, przeł. Jacek Surzyn, Austeria, Kraków.

Honig N.[achum] (1919), Ha-Hagera ha-jehudit we-arcot ha-mizrach, „Erec Israel”, nr 3, s. 7.

Jewish Historical Press (dostęp 2025), https://tinyurl.com/mtsjz8cn [dostęp: 22.06.2025].

Lewentin J.[echiel] J.[osef] (1919a), Ha-Chakla’ut we-jiszuwenu be-E[rec] I[srael], [cz. 1], „Erec Israel”, nr 1, s. 6–7.

Lewentin J.[echiel] J.[osef] (1919b), Ha-Chakla’ut we-jiszuwenu be-E[rec] I[srael], [cz. 2], „Erec Israel”, nr 3, s. 9–10.

Lichtheim R.[ichard] (1919a), Binjan arcenu, [cz. 1], „Erec Israel”, nr 2, s. 2–4.

Lichtheim R.[ichard] (1919b), Binjan arcenu [cz. 2], „Erec Israel”, nr 3, s. 10–12.

Nissenbaum J.[icchak] (1919), Min ha-dibur el ha-maase, „Erec Israel”, nr 3, s. 6–7.

Ruppin A.[rthur] (1919), Ha-Keren ha-le’umit be-atid ha-karow, „Erec Israel”, nr 1, s. 4–5.

Smilanski Moshe (1963), Bnej Araw. Sipurim, Dwir, Tel Awiw. Dostępny on-line: https://benyehuda.org/author/727 [dostęp: 22.06.2025].

Twain Mark (1992), Prostaczkowie za granicą, przeł. Andrzej Keyha, Akapit, Katowice.

Zgromadzenie Założycielskie Stowarzyszenia Inżynierów Hebrajskich w Ziemi Izraela (1919), Michtaw galuj la-mehandesim ha-iwrim, „Erec Israel”, nr 3, s. 16.

Aleksiun Natalia (dostęp 2025), Organizacja Syjonistyczna w Polsce, „Delet”, https://tinyurl.com/57a6a58z [dostęp: 22.06.2025].

Al-Marashi Ibrahim, Goldschmidt Arthur (2025), A Concise History of the Middle East, Routledge, New York–London. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003053446

Bamber David, Farsat Saleh, Panditharathna Roshan (2023), The Iraqi Oil Industry. History and Overview, „European Journal of Political Science Studies”, nr 1, s. 39–50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46827/ejpss.v6i1.1424

Bein Alexander (2007), Ruppin, Arthur, w: Encyclopaedia Judaica, t. 17, red. Fred Skolnik, Keter Publishing House, Michigan, s. 529–553.

Brinkmann Tobias (2024), Between Borders. The Great Jewish Migration from Eastern Europe, Oxford University Press, New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197655658.001.0001

Cotterell Paul (1984), The Railways of Palestine and Israel, Tourret Publishing, Abingdon.

Dowty Alan (2000), Much Ado about Little. Ahad Ha’am’s „Truth from Eretz Yisrael,” Zionism, and the Arabs, „Israel Studies”, nr 2, s. 154–181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/is.2000.0027

Dowty Alan (2001), „A Question That Outweighs All Others.” Yitzhak Epstein and Zionist Recognition of the Arab Issue, „Israel Studies”, nr 1, s. 34–54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/ISR.2001.6.1.34

Kark Ruth, Glass Joseph B. (2003), Eretz Israel/Palestine, 1800–1948, w: The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times, red. Reeva Spector Simon, Michael Menachem Laskier, Sara Reguer, Columbia University Press, New York, s. 335–346.

Kouts Gideon (2006), The Hebrew and Jewish Press in Europe. Select Problems in its History, Suger Press, Paris.

Mendelsohn Ezra (1981), Zionism in Poland. The Formative Years, 1915–1926, Yale University Press, New York–London.

Morris Benny (2001), Righteous Victims. A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict. 1881–2001, Vintage Books, New York.

Peleg Yaron (2005), Orientalism and the Hebrew Imagination, Cornell University Press, New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501729355

Polonsky Antony (2012), The Jews in Poland and Russia, t. 3: 1914 to 2008, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford–Portland, Oregon. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvv4180c

Ratajczyk Maciej (2024), Czasopismo „Mecuda” jako ideologiczna twierdza Betaru, „Zeszyty Prasoznawcze”, nr 2, s. 151–169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.24.019.19802

Ratajczyk Maciej (2025), Wokół latynizacji hebrajskiego na łamach „Mecudy” – język narodowy między Orientem a Okcydentem, „Studia Judaica”, nr 2.

Raz-Krakotzkin Amnon (2017), Orientalism, Jewish Studies and Israeli Society. A Few Comments, „Philological Encounters”, nr 2, s. 237–269. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/24519197-12340034

Shapira Anita (2018), Historia Izraela, przeł. Anna Dorota Kamińska, Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog, Warszawa.

Shohat Ella (1999), The Invention of the Mizrahim, „Journal of Palestine Studies”, nr 1, s. 5–20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2676427

Stawiski Jacek (2023), Z wizytą w Erec Israel. Korespondencje czterech dziennikarzy z Polski z podróży do Palestyny wiosną 1925 roku, „Studia Judaica”, nr 1, s. 179–210. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.23.008.18225