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Rethinking the Controversial Figure Who Helped Establish the State of Israel

Known for right-wing politics, Vladimir Jabotinsky left an equally critical literary legacy. Hillel Halkin looks at it all.

by
Jewish Lives (Sponsored)
July 07, 2014
Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky wearing the uniforms of the Jewish Legion of the British army, with his two sisters Bela and Nina.(Israel free image collection project)
Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky wearing the uniforms of the Jewish Legion of the British army, with his two sisters Bela and Nina.(Israel free image collection project)

This is a sponsored podcast on behalf of Yale University Press and their Jewish Lives series.

Students of Jewish history—and the history of Mandate Palestine—are familiar with the name Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Born in Odessa, Jabotinsky was a journalist and an ardent Zionist committed to the establishment of the state of Israel. He was also a talented novelist, poet and screenwriter. In Jabotinsky: A Life, writer Hillel Halkin examines the full extent of Jabotinsky’s influence. He joins Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry to discuss the liberal Jewish European milieu in which Jabotinsky grew up, his literary talents and polarizing political style, and who Jabotinksy’s successor would be in Israel’s current political climate.