![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Among those who died in the battle at Tel Hai were two young women, Dvora Drachler and Sarah Chizik. Although they were the first women to be killed in a Yishuv battle, and were treated with honor immediately after their death, their commemoration as female warriors were never established, and their public memory was faded. This article explores the way in which Drachler and Chizik, negotiated gender norms by their life choices, including their staying in Tel Hai. It argues that each of them obeyed and rebelled against these norms in different ways. The article also claims that their gender identity affected their fate as subjects during the battle as well as their position in historical memory.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. See for example, the testimony of Dr. Gary in Rivlin, Moreshet Tel Hai. See also: Brog, “Ashmat Tel Hai.”
2. Sinai, Ha-shomrot shelo shamru; Efron, “Ahayot, lohamot ve-imahot”; Melman, “The Legend of Sarah”; Baumel-Schwartz, “Female Icons of the Zionist Movement.”
3. Melman, “From the Periphery to the Center of History”; Melman, “The Legend of Sarah”; Bernstein, “The Study of Women in Israeli Historiography.”
4. Chazan. Mahapekhat ha-anevot, 73.
5. Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”; Bernstein, “The Study of Women,” 14–15.
6. Melman, “La-hafokh et ha-milhama le-historya,” 20–21.
7. Sasson-Levi, Zehuyot be-madim, 13–25, 32–39.
8. Sinai, “le-shmira u-le-hagana”; Chazan, Mahapekhat ha-anevot, 74.
9. Shilo, Etgar ha-migdar, 274–275.
10. Ben Yocheved (who was actually Pinchas Shneorson, a member of Ha-Shomer), “Dvora Drachler,” Kovetz Ha-Shomer, 390; Dvora Drachler file, Beit Ha-Shomer Archives, no page number or date.
11. Sinai, Miriam Baratz: Diokana; Shilo, Etgar ha-migdar; Margalit-Stern, Ge’ula be-kvalim; Yizraeli and Bernstein, “Nashim ovdot ba-aliya ha-shniya.”
12. Carmel-Hakim, Shalhevet yeruka.
13. Habas, Sefer ha-aliya ha-shniya, 562, 660–664.
14. Yanait, “Be-yamei milhemet ha-olam ha-rishona,” 161.
15. According to the testimony of E. Krol (from Kfar Giladi), Ha-Shomer Files, 112 – IV alef 1, Protocol of Ha-Shomer, Conference at Yavniel, Labor Movement Archives.
16. “El havrei Ha-Shomer [To the members of Ha-Shomer]” September 25, 1918, Ha-Shomer Files, IV–112-9, Labor Movement Archives. The organization had about 100 members of whom 23 were women.
17. Slutzky et al., Sefer toldot Ha-Hagana, Volume A, Book 1, 376–378.
18. Ben Yocheved, Dvora Drachler, 389.
19. Ben Reuven and Ben Reuven, Nashim ivriot be-Damesek1917–1918, 64–66.
20. Personal file of Yitzhak Ben Yaacov, no page number, no date, Degania A Archives.
21. Personal file of Dvora Drachler, Tel- Hai Courtyard Archives, 5-Gimel,(5 ג’), no page number, no date. On Shmulik Hafter see: Gera, Anshei “Ha-Shomer,” LXIV.
22. Habas, Sefer Ha-Aliya, 562, 660–663.
23. Etsion, Be-ze’atam be-damam, 251–252.
24. Karmi, Mehanekh ve-darco, 183.
25. Personal file of Sarah Chizik, Tel-Hai Courtyard Archives, het/5 ((ח5no page number, no date.
26. Sarah Chizik, “Arur ha-yom she-bo nivre’a ha-isha [Cursed be the day that I was created a woman],” Haaretz Book section, May 7, 2008. https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/1.13228732011 (accessed August 8 2021).
27. Etsion, Be-ze’atam, 264.
28. Sarah Chizik (Collected from the book of her memories and letters), “Ekron, February 1919,” Ha-Tzfira, June 4, 1920, 2; Chizik, “Menahamia,” June 1, 1919.
29. Shilo, “The First World War.”
30. Rogel, Parashat Tel Hai, 217, 9; Tziporah Zaid, “Dvora Drachler,” Davar, March 22, 1929, 3.
31. The women and children were evacuated as early as December 18, 1919 to Tel Adash. See: Rogel, Parashat Tel Hai, 139, 143.
32. Ben Yocheved, Dvora Drachler, 390.
33. Rogel, Parashat Tel Hai, 143.
34. Mordechai Kushnir, “Ha-havera be-haganat Tel Hai” [The Women defending Tel Hai], Davar, March 11, 1937.
35. “Yom Tel Hai” [Tel Hai Day], March 3, 1947, personal file of Manya Schochat, Kibbutz Kfar Giladi Archives, no page number.
36. Chizik, “Yaffo, February 17, 1920,” Ha-Tzfirah, June 8, 1920, 2.
37. Etsion, Be-ze’atam, 280–294.
38. Chizik, “Kfar Giladi, 1.3.1920,” Ha-Tzsfira, June 8, 1920, 2.
39. Ibid.
40. Rogel, Parashat Tel Hai, 272–73.
41. Hannah Epstein Chircasky, personal file, Tel Hai Courtyard Archives, Adar, 111,920, no page number.
42. See the testimony of Kanievsky in Rivlin, Moreshet Tel Hai, 119–120.
43. Hillel Landsman, testimony file, Tel Hai Courtyard Archives, no date, page numbers.
44. Sasson-Levy, Zehuyot be-madim, 161–163.
45. See Landsman, testimony, Tel Hai Courtyard Archives.
46. Ben Yocheved, Dvora Drachler, 390.
47. Rogel, Parashat Tel Hai, 280.
48. Chizik, “Arur ha-yom.”
49. Etsion, Be-ze’atam, 341–416; Chizik has been memorialized together with her brother Efraim in a monument “Work and Defense” in memory of those who fell in the riots of 1929 and those who were killed at Tel Hai.
50. Kantor, Be-atsmam hem kotvim la-hem shir, 35.
51. “Al kvareinu ha-hadashim [About our New Graves],” Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, March 12, 1920, 3.
52. Y. L-n, ”Yom Tel Hai” [Tel Hai Day] Ha-Po’el Ha-Tza’ir, March 28, 1921, 3.
53. E. Smoli, “Ha-aharon” [The Last One], Davar, March 18, 1932, 9.
54. D., “Hazkara be-Tel Hai” [The Memorial Ceremony at Tel Hai], Contras, no. 73, March 25, 1921.
55. Tidhar, “Yaacov Ya’ari-Polskin.”
56. Ya’ari-Polskin, Holmim ve-halomot.
57. Ibid., 160.
58. Ibid., 166.
59. National Library in Jerusalem, Abraham Schwadron Collection, Portraits, Series 4 and 18, File 26 and 65.
60. S.B. Maxcimon (Shalom Bar Maksimovsky), “Mi-hodesh le-hodesh” [From Month to Month], Miklat 4 (Tamuz-Elul 1920), 118.
61. Gidon Efrat, Al ha-aretz, Vol. II, 960–961.
62. See a photograph of the statue in page 15.
63. Baumel-Schwartz, “We Were There Too,” 323.
64. Guilat, “Motherhood and Nation,” 291–292.
65. M. Zagorodsky, “Mishkenu” [Our Farm], Ha-Olam, September 5, 1924, 9.
66. Doar Ha-Yom was a Hebrew daily newspaper established by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his son Itamar in Palestina in 1919 and was published until 1936.
67. “Metula,taylanim ve-tayarim” [Metula, Pilgrims and Tourists], Doar Ha-Yom, April 15, 1928, 4.
68. Uri Horvitz, Personal interview, March 6, 2004, Kfar Giladi.
69. Ha-Yarden was a revisionist Hebrew newspaper, published in Palestine, 1934–1941.
70. “Ke-mizra ha-itonut” [Selection from the Press], Ha-Yarden, October 31, 1935, 4.
71. The visitor’s book of Tel Hai, May 21, 1927. See also: September 28 and 29, October 12, 1927, 1927. Thanks to Muli Brog who called our attention to these quotes.
72. Ha-Mashkif was a revisionist Hebrew daily newspaper, published in Palestine, 1938–1948.
73. “Be-mispraim al ha-itonut” [Cuttings from the Press], Ha-Mashkif, March 13, 1945, 3.
74. Shapira, Brener: Sipur hayav.
75. Etsion, Be-ze’atam, 256–257.
76. “Aliya Le Tel Hai” [Pilgrimage to Tel Hai], Haaretz, April 7, 1929.
77. Ha-Iyuni, “Adar be-Tel Hai (mikhtav me-Metula)” [Adar 11 in Tel Hai, a Letter from Metula], Doar Ha-Yom, March 31, 1929, 3.
78. Ibid.
79. Tzipora Zaid, “Dvora Drachler,” Davar, March 22, 1929, 6.
80. Zaid, “Dvora Drachler.”
81. Sher was a member of Kevutzat Kinneret, he came to help to the settlement in the Galilee and was killed on February 6 1920.
82. Chana Epstein-Cherkasky,” Ba-ma’arakha” [Struggle], Davar, March 22, 1929, 8.
83. Hess, Hek ha-em shel zikhronot, 24–44.
84. On collective memorialization, see, for example: Zerubavel, “Numerical Commemoration and the Challenges of Collective Remembrance in Israel.”
85. Chazan, Mahapekhat, 73–74.
86. Goldstein, “The Zionist Pilgrimage to Tel Hai.”
87. Shalev-Califa, “Tavnit nof moledeta,”158–159, 171–172.
88. Shamir, Hantzaha ve-zikaron, 22–24.
89. Chazan, Mahapekhat, 119, 124.
90. Kushnir, “The group,” 18. Mordechai Kushnir (1894–1961) was a writer and researcher of the Second Aliyah. He hebraized his name to Mordechai Snir. See: “Mordechai Snir,” Davar December 8, 1961, 13.
91. This struggle led to the integration of women, both married and single, in guarding and defending the settlements. Chazan, Mahapekhat, 108–143, 88.
92. Granit-Hacohen, Isha ivria el ha-degel, 311–312.
93. Melman, “The Legend of Sarah.”
94. Zerubavel, “Numerical Commemoration”.
95. Chazan, Mahapekhat, 257.
96. Baumel-Schwartz, Perfect Heroes, 182–216.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tamar Hager
Prof. Tamar Hager is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and Gender Studies at Tel Hai College, Israel. The history of motherhood, critical feminist methodology, art sociology, and fictional and academic writing are core issues of her academic research, writing, teaching and social activism. She published a book of short stories A Perfectly Ordinary Life (in Hebrew) in 2000 and in 2012, Malice Aforethought (in Hebrew), microhistories of two English depraved mothers who killed their babies in 1870s. She is the co-editor of Bad Mothers: Regulations, Representations and Resistance published in 2017 and the co-writer of Compliance and Resistance Within the Neoliberal Academia: Biographical Stories, Collective Voices published in 2021 by Palgrave. Currently she is researching the lives of two female sitters of the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Smadar Sinai
Dr. Smadar Sinai is a researcher at Yad- Tabenkin Institute - the Research Foundation of the Kibbutz and Labor Movement. Her core academic work focuses on gender analysis of the pioneer Aliyot. In 2002 she published the biography of Miriam Baratz, one of the two women who were part of the first Kvutza, Deganya: Miriam Baratz - Portrait of a Pioneer, and in 2013 she published Women and Gender in Ha-Shomer and in Kfar Giladi −1939-1907.