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ABSTRACT
The pilgrimage to Tel Hai, which was made by Zionist youth movements during the Mandate period, forged a dynamic and vibrant arena, fostering the encounter of youths with a national sacred site. This annual rite instantiates the two main approaches in the study of pilgrimage. The journey to Tel Hai and the participation in the commemoration ceremonies increased intra-movement fraternity and cohesion. Concomitantly, the sojourn in the holy site, at a holy time, intensified the competition between Left and Right over ownership of the Tel Hai myth and exacerbated the inter-movement rivalry to the extent that British police forces were called up to the scene.
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Notes
1. Zerubavel, Recovered Roots, 125–8.
2. Moshe Smilansky, “Makom kadosh” [A Holy Place], Haaretz, March 14, 1920.
3. Brog, “Ha-aliya la-regel ve-sefer ha-mevakrim shel Tel Hai,” 133–57.
4. Gothóni, “Pilgrimage: Transformation Journey,” 101–16.
5. Turner, Dramas, Fields and Metaphors, 166–230; and Kertzer, Ritual, politics, and power, 46, 64.
6. Eade and Sallnow, “Introduction,” 15–18.
7. Goldstein and Shavit. “Yosef Trumpledor ke-dmut mofet,” 9–21; Zerubavel, “The Politics of Interpretation,” 133–60; and Libman and Don-Yihya, Civil Religion in Israel, 45–7.
8. Turner, Dramas, Fields and Metaphors, 218.
9. Cohen, Beiti ben ne’arim, 86.
10. Uri, “Ha-aliya le Tel Hai” [The Ascent to Tel Hai], Ba-Ma’ale, March 1937.
11. No author, “Be-Tel Hai be-yom Tel Hai” [In Tel Hai on Tel Hai Day], Davar, March 1, 1942; “Ha-olim le-Tel Hai” [The Pilgrims to Tel Hai], Davar, March 5, 1944; “Mi-hayey ha-No’ar Ha-Oved: ha-aliya le-Tel Hai” [From the Life of the Working Youth: The Ascent to Tel Hai], Davar, March 9, 1946.
12. Baruch, “Ha-aliya le-Tel Hai” [The Ascent to Tel Hai], Ozenu, Ferbaury 23, 1934.
13. No author, “Le-Tel Hai ha-nivnet” [To the emerging Tel Hai], Davar, April 17, 1935.
14. Cohen, Hesed ne’urim, 139.
15. “Le-Tel Hai ha-nivnet.”
16. See note 11 above.
17. Katriel, Communal webs, 51–70.
18. Cohen, Hesed ne’urim, 139.
19. Nahum Ish Gam-Zu, “Tel Hai,” Davar, March 28, 1929.
20. Admati, Be-ma’ale ne’urim, 194.
21. See note 15 above.
22. No author, “Le-Tel Hai be-yud alef be-Adar” [To Tel Hai on Adar 11], Ozenu, February 23, 1934.
23. Cohen, Hesed ne’urim, 137.
24. See note 98 above.
25. See note 12 above.
26. Turner, “Pilgrimage: An Overview,” 328–9.
27. No author, “Mi yivne ha-galil” [Who will Build the Galilee], Davar, April 10, 1929.
28. No author, “Tnu’at Jabotinsky al kivro shel Trumpledpr” [Jabotinsky’s Movement On Trumpledors’ Grave], Ha-Mashkif, March 5, 1942.
29. See note 16 above.
30. See note 15 above.
31. See note 16 above.
32. No author, “Ha-no’ar al kvarot ha-shomrim be-Tel Hai” [The Youth upon the Guards’ Graves in Tel Hai], Davar, May 2, 1945; no author, “Ha-aliya le-Tel Hai be-yamim ele” [The Ascent to Tel Hai nowadays], Davar, March 18, 1942.
33. See note 15 above.
34. No author, “Aliya le-kivro shel osef Trumpledor” [Visiting Yosef Trumpledors’ Grave], Doar Ha-Yom, February 27, 1928.
35. No author, “Ha-aliya le-kever Trumpledor” [The Ascent to Trumpeldors’ Grave], Doar Ha-Yom, March 5, 1928.
36. Az Mavet, “Mi-ba’ad la masveh” [Through The Guise], Doar Ha-Yom, March 9, 1928.
37. No author, “Kolo shel ha-halutz” [The Voice of the Pioneer], Davar, February 2, 1928.
38. Ibid.
39. The Diary of Ben Gurion, The Ben Gurion Archives, January 4, 1929.
40. No author, “Aliya le-kivro shel Yosef Trumpledor” [Visiting Yosef Trumpledors’ Grave], Doar Ha-Yom, January 21, 1929.
41. No author, “Brit Trumpledor ve ha-aliya le-Tel Hai” [The Trumpledor Alliance and the Ascent to Tel Hai], Doar Ha-Yom, February 28, 1929.
42. No author, “Tel Aviv ve-Yaffo: Ha-aliya le-Tel Hai” [Tel Aviv and Yaffo: the ascent to Tel Hai], Doar Ha-Yom, March 22, 1929.
43. No author, “Yoman: Ha-aliya le-Tel Hai” [A Diary of the Ascent to Tel Hai], Doar Ha-Yom, March 22, 1929.
44. Berl Katznelson, “Meginei Tel Hai be-hayehem u-ve-motam [Defenders of Tel Hai in Their Lives and Deaths], Davar, March 22, 1929.
45. No author, “Da’at ha-kahal: Ha-degel ha-Adom – lama?” [The Public Opinion: The Red Flad – Why?], Doar Ha-Yom, April 4, 1929.
46. No author, “Ha-azkara al kivrot giborei Tel-Hai” [The Remembrance on the Graves of the Tel Hai Heroes], Davar, March 24, 1928.
47. No author, “Neumo shel Dr. Froilech al kivro shel Yosef Trumpledor” [Dr. Froilech’s speech on Yosef Trumpeldor’s Grave], Hazit Ha-Am, March 29, 1932.
48. Alexandr Aker, “Kinus olei Beitar ba-Galil be-yud alef be-adar” [Gathering of the Beitar Pilgrims in the Galilee on the Adar 11], Hazit Ha-Am, March 29, 1932.
49. Shapira, “The debate in Mapai on the use of violence,” 99–124.
50. The Trumpeldor Alliance in the Land of Israel, The Commission, Command n. 6, March 16, 1933, Jabotinsky Institute in Israel, B 8 C-1/4.
51. Shindler, The Rise of the Israeli Right, 88–109.
52. Abba Ahimeir, “Yoman ha-am: Le-Tel Hai!” [The Peoples’ Diary: To Tel Hai], Hazit Ha-Am, March 3, 1933.
53. Abba Ahimeir, “Al kivrot halalei Tel Hai” [On the Graves of the Tel Hai Fallen], Hazit Ha-Am, March 16, 1933.
54. No author, “Al ma’ase ha-degel be-Tel Hai” [About the Flag in Tel Hai], Davar, April 20, 1933. No Author, “Beitar ola le-Tel Hai” [Beitar Ascends to Tel Hai], Hazit Ha-Am, March 17, 1933.
55. A. Levtov, “Ele keneged ele” [These against each other], Hazit Ha-Am, March 24, 1933.
56. B.B., “Ha-smartut ha-ze “ [This Worthless Rag], Doar Ha-Yom, March 28, 1933.
57. Meir Dizengoff to the National Committee, Central Zionist Archives, J1/February 6, 2916, 1934.
58. Summary of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Israel State Archives (ISA), P – 2 / February 1, 1954, 1934.
59. Letter from Yitzhak Ben-Zvi to Edwin Samuel, February 13, 1934, ISA, M 7 / 2681. Letter from Edwin Samuel to Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, February 16, 1934, Ibid.
60. Ibid.
61. Divisional Police Headquarters-Safed, Inspector of Police to District Superintendent of Police – Northern District – Haifa, February 27, 1934, ISA, M 7 / 2681.
62. No author, “Beitar be-Tel Hai” [Beitar in Tel Hai], Davar, February 25, 1934.
63. No author, “Beitar be-Tel Hai: Mikhtav asirei Zion la-Beitarim olei ha-regel” [Beitar in Tel Hai: A Letter from the Prisoners of Zion to Betar pilgrims], Hazit Ha-Am, February 27, 1934
64. No author, “Beitar be-Tel Hai” [Beitar in Tel Hai], Davar, February 25, 1934.
65. Divisional Police Headquarters-Safad Inspector of Police to District Superintendent of Police – Northern District- Haifa, February 27, 1934, ISA, M 7 / 2681.
66. Minutes from the Executive Committee of the Histadrut from February 20, 1930, The Ben Gurion Archives.
67. Shoham, “A Huge National Assemblage,” 1–20.
68. Minutes from the Mapai Leadership Assembly of February 27, 1934, The Ben Gurion Archives.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid. According to Jewish tradition, a pilgrimage to Mount Meron is annually made on the eve of the Lag Ba-Omer religious commemoration.
72. Chazan, “Force, Commemoration, and Morality,” 95–96.
73. See note 15 above.
74. Ben Yeruham, Sefer Beitar, Vol. II, 333–4.
75. Goldstein, “The Roots of the Gallows Myth,” 127–148.
76. In late 1919 and early 1920, prior to Tel Hai battle, it was Jabotinsky who called for the evacuation of Upper Galilee settlements, and the evacuation of settlers and settlements situated in the danger zone. The leaders of the Labor Party demanded to hold on to the place and refrain from any withdrawal.
77. Eldad, Ma’aser rishon, 229.
78. Yair, “Ha-khazit,” 414–5.
79. Pokrzywiński, “Tel Hai ve-Trumpledor,” 392–411; and Elyada, “Trumpeldor mul Sara Aharonson,” 318–49.
80. See note 6 above.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Amir Goldstein
Amir Goldstein is a historian and associate professor at Tel-Hai College. His books and articles focus on the ideology and activities of Zeev Jabotinsky and Menahem Begin and the breakthrough of the Zionist right, moving from the margins of Israeli politics to the center. His recent publications include ‘From Reconciliation to Confrontation: Menachem Begin and the Kibbutz Movement 1968 – 1981ʹ (Middle Eastern Studies, 2021), “The roots of the gallows myth in the Revisionist movement during the 1930s” (The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 2020), “Menachem begin and the question of the settlements: 1967–1977” (British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2020) and “The End of Evolutionary Zionism – Jabotinsky and the Ukrainian Pogroms” (Modern Judaism - A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experience).