The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family

A great part of the novel’s context revolves around the creation of the Jewish state of Israel, Zionism, and the differences between Israeli Jews and the rest of the Jewish diaspora. As the narrator Ruben states at the beginning of Chapter 4. the state of Israel is 10 years old at the time of the novel (i.e., 1959-1960). This is significant because the creation of Israel witnessed the culmination of a centuries-long Jewish dream of repossessing the old lands of Judea, which they believed were promised to them by their God. This dream came to be known as Zionism, but how exactly to create a Jewish state, where it should be, how it should be governed, etc., differed among many groups. There was not one unified idea of Zionism.

In the novel, Ben-Zion Netanyahu is a member of the New Zionist Organization (NZO), founded by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who broke away from the World Zionist Organization because he believed the Jewish people needed to use military tactics to bring about Zion. Jabotinsky and his followers attacked British forces (who controlled the area of Palestine following the Ottoman defeat after WW1) to convince the British to create a Jewish state. Following Jabotinsky’s death, Ben-Zion took over the leadership of the NZO. Though ideas behind Zionism differed among many groups, they all had things in common. One aspect was the call for the Jewish diaspora to congregate in the land held to traditionally belong to the Jewish people. In the early 20th century, this meant the lands of British Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan. Before and following the creation of Israel, many among the diaspora heeded the call and moved there, including many Americans. However, the call to join with other Jews in Israel was and still is a debated topic among Jewish people the world over. Every Jewish person, regardless of nationality, has the unrestricted right to move to Israel and become a citizen. Naturally, like the US, there are many cultural differences within the Jewish population. The novel illustrates some of the differences between Jewish people from, in the case of Ben-Zion, Poland and Israel and Jewish people in the US. Furthermore, it addresses the difficulties of being Jewish and assimilating fully into American culture and whether assimilation is even possible or desirable.