תמונה

About the book: Birthrate Politica in Zion: Judaism, Nationalism and Modernity under the British Mandate, Indiana University Press, 2017

Despite both national and traditional imperatives to have many children, the birthrate of the Jewish community in British Mandate Palestine (the Yishuv) declined steadily from 1920 to 1948, due to widespread abortions, an issue which became a matter of great public concern and struggle. During these years, the Yishuv grappled with conflicting value systems and goals:  it aspired to establish a Jewish majority in Palestine, a goal which would be served by having large families, but on the other hand, it envisaged itself as a modern society in which small families were increasingly common. The Yishuv was caught in contradictions between political and social objectives, religion, culture, and individual needs. The book takes a deep and detailed look at these diverse and decisive issues, including births and abortions during this period, the discourse about birthrate, and practical attempts to implement policies to counter the low birthrate. Themes that emerge include the effect of the Holocaust, economics, ethnicity, efforts by public figures to increase the birthrate, and the understanding that women in society were viewed as entirely responsible for procreation. Providing a deep examination of the day-to-day lives of Jewish families in British Mandate Palestine, this book shows how political objectives are not only achieved by political agreements, public debates, and battlefields, but also by the activities of ordinary men and women.