Between Zionism and Judaism: The Radical Circle in Brith Shalom 1925-1933

A discussion of the aspirations and cultural sources of the men from Central Europe who met in Palestine in the first half of the 20th century as members of the Brith Shalom Society. The work uses these sources to examine the relationship between a moderate ideology which this circle preached and the political reality of a pre-independent Palestine and the new state of Israel. This dichotomy is important because the group was considered by many to represent a spiritual and humanistic trend in Zionism. It also included well-known personalities like Samuel Hugu Bergmann, Gershom Scholem, Erenst Simon and Hans Kohn, and economists like Martin Buber and Judah L. Magnes, none of whom was a politician in the ordinary sense.