“Why do Jews Need a Land?” (Oil voss darfen Yidden a land) is the name of a book containing articles by Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) concerning Zionism, “Lovers of Zion” (Hibat Zion) and Eretz Israel. A reception held in honor of the publication of the 408-page book attracted hundreds of Yiddish writers, Zionist leaders headed by Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executive chairman Leon Dulzin, and many Sholem Aleichem readers.
The book, edited and prepared by Abraham Liss, the director of Sholem Aleichem House here, contains, in addition to the articles on Eretz Israel and Zionism, his letters on these subjects that were recently found. Dulzin said that had this book been issued in the beginning of the century, it is very possible that many Jews would have escaped the Holocaust.
Critic Getzl Kresel said that Sholem Aleichem actually saved Yiddish literature from an anti-Zionist attitude. Even Isaac Leib Peretz (1852-1915) and Mendele Mocher Sephorim (1836-1917) were in those early stages of the Zionist movement not very fond of the spirit of Zionism. The book was published in honor of 30 years of the State of Israel. Sholem Aleichem’s granddaughter, Tamar Kahana, thanked the audience and the publishers on behalf of the family.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
