Glossary. Hebrew Terms of Modern Palestine Used in English [Cover title].

New York, N.Y. Labor Zionist Organization of America – Poale Zion, 1947. 11 leaves mimeographed rectos, housed in a vinyl folder. Pp. 9. Good plus: side staples present but most leaves detached; heavy center crease and 2” tear to fore-edge, not affecting any text; moderately chipped and toned.

This is a rare glossary of Hebrew terms issued in June of 1947 by the United States branch of a Zionist socialist group, intended (per its foreword) to “remove the air of strangeness around Hebrew words encountered by the new reader of Zionist literature.”

The Labor Zionist Organization of America – Poale Zion (LZOA) aimed to promote a Jewish homeland in Palestine and support the Jewish working class in both countries through mutual aid societies, labor organizing and political action. It was founded as a national group in 1905 in Baltimore, though the first American branch of Poale Zion (“Workers of Zion”) was in existence in New York City as early as 1903. LZOA merged with various groups over the years, including the League for Labor Palestine in 1946, and urged American support for the Haganah (the core of what became the Israel Defense Forces) as well as Histadrut, Israel's labor federation.

This “pamphlet” was issued less than a year before the establishment of the State of Israel. First Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had been a Labor Zionist leader since 1905. The book conveyed that, with “the increasing penetration of Hebrew terms into everyday English, as evidenced even in our daily newspapers,” it was necessary to offer both a “literal translation” and a brief explanation of the words that formed “a cross-section of the spirit and essence of Zionism. Work, cooperation, comradeship, new political and social forms, and, as in the case of our place-names, poetry and beauty – these stand out as the themes of Zionism.”

An incredible resource on the Hebrew language issued by the Zionist labor movement. Not recorded in OCLC and not located anywhere online. New York's Center for Jewish History holds a collection of LZOA records, but appears to lack this item. Good +. Item #3423

Price: $550.00