Dr. Alice Rothchild

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Israel’s Origin Story

Dr. Alice Rothchild talks about Israel’s origin story and Zionism’s uneasy relationship with antisemitism (Mondoweiss, Nov. 19, 2019)  on Tidings on WPKN radio. (Broadcast on WPKN on December 11, 2019 and produced by Tony Ernst.)

This month, Hazel’s guest on Tidings is Boston-based Dr. Alice Rothchild, physician, filmaker, author of Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience, director of the documentary Voices Across the Divide and a Jewish Voice for Peace activist. On Tidings however, she talks about her recent article in Mondoweiss (November, 2019): “Zionism’s uneasy relationship with antisemitism”, in which she uncovers Israel’s origin story threading through the writings of the country’s founding fathers—Theodore Herzl, Chaim Weizman, Ben Gurion and Vladimir Jabotinsky—in the 1920s and 1930s and leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. 

Dr. Rothchild reveals the shocking and deeply puzzling antisemitism embedded in the belief that only in Palestine could the negative characteristics of the weak and pitiful Diaspora shtetl Jew in the Diaspora be transmuted and reborn as the proud Hebrew warrior-farmer later known as the sabra.  This is “messy and uncomfortable” history, but one that exposes the foundations of Zionism and its relationship to real antisemitism, writes Dr. Rothchild in the hope that understanding its origin story will lead Israel to shed its current patterns of joining forces with authoritarian and racist governments.

  • Dr. Alice Rothchild

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About Hazel

Born to German Jewish refugee physicians in Lahore (now Pakistan, then British India) Hazel has lived, studied and worked in many places–India, England, Australia, Israel and the United States. She makes her home in the woods of the eastern end of Long Island, New York where she produces the art of leafages, the radio sounds of Tidings and writes about growing up Jewish in Lahore. Read more about Hazel…

About Leafages

"Credo" statement

Leafages by Hazel Kahan are made from real leaves, vines and tendrils interwoven with calligraphy, decorative pen and ink flourishes and imaginary Latin botanical names. Leafages contain a philosophical or inspirational thought, quotation or verse from sages, poets or religious texts. Some leafages are specially created for an individual, a couple or a family with words or leaves reflecting their personal narrative. They are available on the Leafages shop on Etsy although the supply is low right now, all my energies having been absorbed by the book I’ve been writing. Do come back soon when the shop will be full of new leafage abundance or contact me.

Hazel Kahan