This original and thought-provoking study introduces a fresh consideration of Zionism by exploring Hebrew culture’s ambivalent attitude toward modern sports. Drawing on extensive archival sources and contemporary literary theories, it reflects upon the reasons behind this surprising Zionist anxiety toward sports during the interwar heyday of “muscular Judaism,” revealing an uncommon society in which athletes failed to achieve a position of national pride and distinction. Addressing themes such as the body, language, space, immigration, internationalism, amateurism, gender, and militarization, Embodying the Revolution offers an innovative reading of Jewish life in Mandate Palestine, tracing the marginalization of sports to the meaning and experience of the Zionist Revolution. Idels' compelling interpretation of the appeal of sports, selfhood, and the compromises inherent in radical desires and actions, narrated from the margins of the interwar global rise of sports, challenges contemporary notions that dismiss ideology as an elitist myth.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 Teaching Nordau to Play Soccer: Gymnastics and Sports Before and After World War
2 Competing in Hebrew: Revolutionary Language and the Sporting Presence
3 “Keep Away from the Prima Donnas”: Hebrew Purpose and the Athletic Body
4 “The Whole World Will Know Our Answer”: Sports, Internationalism, and the Jewish Return to History
5 “We Have to Learn to Sacrifice Everything”: Militarism and the Zionist Desire for a Useful Experience
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index