University of Calgary welcomes Israel Scholar Ofer Idels

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – There has not been much happy news emanating from University campuses so far as Israel is concerned, especially since the lethal attacks on Israelis perpetrated by Hamas and other Muslim terrorist groups on October 7, 2023. But there is something to celebrate with the recent arrival at the University of Calgary of Dr. Ofer Idels, a historian who specializes in the history of Zionism, with particular focus on the Yishuv—the Hebrew Settlement in Palestine preceding Israeli independence in 1948.

Idels succeeds Dr. Angy Cohen as the second scholar to be named a Postdoctoral Associate in the Dr. Jenny and Hy Belzberg Israeli Scholar Program.

The passion Idels exudes for walking alongside Yishuv members in the nascent State of Israel during the early 20^th Century and letting their lived experiences “breathe” will, no doubt, spark interest in the academic community and among community members seeking a deeper understanding of Israel past and present.

“What does it mean for people who came mostly from Eastern Europe, who decide to go along on this ride, very uncertain at the time, and move to Palestine and live in what we can call a Zionist society, a Zionist culture?,” asks Idels, who explores the “selfhood, senses and emotions” of members of the Yishuv by “lingering in the moment.”

Idels says that his approach “challenges current trends in academia,” where it is more common to deconstruct history.

Having earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees including his Ph. D. at the University of Tel Aviv, Idels served as Humboldt Fellow in the History Department at the University of Munich.

“I am very much looking forward to the next chapter,” Idels said.

Those living today in an end of history era, says Idels, “have difficulties imagining, believing and understanding” the experiences of those who lived in the Yishuv.

“They were building something new. They didn’t want to be the old, ghetto Jews. They didn’t want to be weak. They wanted something else,” Idels said.“How were they able to create a language? When they talk about it, they talk a lot about…the experience of hearing Hebrew, speaking Hebrew, feeling Hebrew, which…at the time was pretty much a new language.”

“We are now using the word revived,” said Idels, but added that Modern Hebrew was, actually in the very process of being created.

Zionists left their countries and moved to a new place where they did not know what would happen. They didn’t yet speak the language, but they made the bold decision to educate their children in this new language, says Idels, even though they had no certainty that they would achieve statehood or that their budding language would be spoken years hence.

The words and texts of Yishuv members are often treated as “schmaltzy or exaggerated,” says Idels. As a result they are easily overlooked or dismissed by many, he says.

But Idels says that much can be learned from the accounts of grassroots Israelis, “not just from the top down,” though he acknowledges that the distance between the citizens of the Yishuv and the historian can never really be fully bridged.

Ironically, Idels says his work may be more accepted in the general community than in academia, especially in the current political climate.

“In…some circles of academia, it is pretty much blasphemy right now, because it gives breath to Zionism, to Jewish identity. It takes it seriously.”

By doing so, says Idels, one can reflect upon one’s own humanity, society and culture.

Cambridge University Press published his first book, Zionism: Emotions, Language and Experience, in 2024. This fall his second book, Embodying the Revolution: The New Jew and the Globalization of Modern Sports in Interwar Palestine (Rutgers University Press) will be published. In it, Idels further develops his dissertation about sports and the Yishuv in the interwar period.

“When we think about Zionism, we keep thinking about the new Jew, all the clichés: strong, healthy, masculine,” says Idels, referencing “muscular Judaism,” a vision popularized by Max Nordau, co-founder, together with Theodor Herzl, of the World Zionist Union.

“Jewish sport was much more advanced and successful and part of Jewish life in Europe and America than it was in the Yishuv,” Idels said. “There is a developing sporting culture in the Yishuv, which happens almost simultaneously in the rest of the world during the interwar period between 1918 and 1949.”

“So it’s developing, you see the process going on, but the athlete is not becoming a “leading figure” of the Yishuv culture, said Idels, adding that athletes were in the margins, something he believes largely remains the case in Israel today where athletes are not widely perceived within their own country as achieving international levels.

Intuitively Israelis think first of soldiers and Mossad agents as notable figures, Idels added, which is reflected, for example, in Israeli cinema which more often depicts military victories than athletic ones.

“In the 20s and 30s, there was a lot of rejection and discussions in the Yishuv about what we should do with sports,” said Idels. “Is it going to be part of our national ethos? Is it going to be in the front, or is it going to be something on the side?”

“[Athletes and coaches] want to be part of this Zionist creation of new selfhood and experience, but they are also not sure if sports are the right way to do it, or at least how sports can contribute, so they are conflicted as well,” explains Idels. “Everybody is taking this seriously, embodying the revolution, creating a new experience of selfhood.”

Idels offers the example of a delegation of female Jewish athletes from Palestine who competed in the Women’s World Games in London in 1934. There were not many female athletes in the Yishuv, and the women were recruited from the PE class in Tel Aviv, Idels said.

“They know that they’re not going to win anything, they’re only going to lose. They don’t care at all…. The important stuff for them is that the national flag is going to be raised and we’re going to be there with the other nations,” said Idels.

Six months earlier, a male team had competed in the Asian Games in India, Idels said.

“The men are actually a little bit better, and they’re winning a few medals, but they don’t care about the winning…They care about the flag. It’s about how sports contributed to this new Zionist experience and this new Hebrew experience, this new Hebrew selfhood,” said Idels.

“There are Zionist sources that say the athlete isn’t supposed to be selfish, he isn’t supposed to win all the time, the athlete is supposed to be nice and kind,” Idels said, adding with a chuckle that it is therefore not hard to understand why Israel fell short in competition.

Idels plans to concentrate on two projects during his time in Calgary, beginning with Hebrew opera, which had its day in the Yishuv during the interwar years.

“We want [opera] because it’s important to us, kind of culturally prestigious, but the way we understand it and what’s important to us is different,” Idels said, adding that today opera scarcely registers in mainstream Israeli culture.

Nevertheless, Idels plans to “linger in the moment” with members of the Yishuv, mining source material including the words of critics and the diaries of opera-goers to explore what it meant to them to hear opera in Tel Aviv.

Notably the librettos of classical operas were translated into Hebrew, said Idels, adding that it was very much part of the culture to prove that anything could be accomplished in the language.

“For them, the project is very much about the Hebrew. They don’t care about the music almost enough, but they have long, long conversations about the Hebrew, about how it was pronounced, about the quality of the translation,” Idels said.

Another project Idels plans to tackle is the impact of the 1990s on Israeli culture in general, with a particular focus on “the end of history and its implications in relation to the language, the body and the space.”

[Note: The end of history paradigm has deeper historical roots but was popularized by American Political Scientist Francis Fukuyama with the publication of his book The End of History and the Last Man in 1992.]

“One way to see the 1990s and what exactly happened there through this end of history paradigm is that…there is no need for ideologies anymore. Every ideology is something that belongs only to the past. In a global sense…the communist is the most obvious one,” explained Idels, who adds that in Israel, the focus is “Zionism and everything it represented.”

“Of course people in Israel are still Zionist…. Perhaps just a small group see themselves as post-Zionist, but both the left and right of Israel, I mean the mainstream, are…rejecting the legacy of Labour Zionism and Mapai, Ben Gurion,” said Idels.

“Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister, who was the figure of the Sabra, the Palmach warrior, was assassinated,” said Idels, adding that the November 4, 1995 murder was symbolic of this change.

“The past, the Palmach, is leaving us and we are getting something else,” Idels said, describing current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “a much more globalized character than Rabin,” who is more “individual in the experience” with an “affection for luxuries, wellbeing and materialism.”

Idels says it is interesting how the Israeli left reacted to the Rabin assassination. The labour Zionists of yore would have reacted by taking action, explains Idels, “by changing the reality.”

“But the reaction was very much also copied, very much in the spirit of mourning they see in other places…sitting with all the candles, like when a famous celebrity dies,” said Idels, likening the response of Israel’s left to the public outpourings following the deaths of John Lennon and Princess Diana.

Idels points to the excitement when foreign politicians and other world figures traveled to Israel for Rabin’s funeral. The sentiment was more akin to what Netanyahu represents than the Labour Zionists of yesteryear, Idels observes.

“The 90s is significant.  Something happened there,” said Idels who is seeking to understand the shift and its continuing implications in collaboration with fellow academic Roni Cohen. They previously co-published the article “Nonsense: Israeli Humor, Globalization, and Vegetables during the Early Nineties.”

“I think it’s a good time for this project because in many ways there is a good reason to think that this period of end of history is coming to an end, not only in Israel, but in the world,” Idels said.

“What was new in the 1990s is now history, Idels adds. “We are not in the 90s anymore and, in many ways, socially, culturally, politically, this has become very much evident. We are still finding it difficult to adjust to the new culture.

This is a global phenomenon, says Idels, adding that “…for obvious reasons Israel is at the forefront of many of those conversations.”

In addition to his research and writing, Idels will be teaching during his sojourn in Calgary.

Though the details have not yet been confirmed, he expects to teach a Modern History of Israel class in the fall. He is also working on ideas for community engagement and hopes to collaborate with local Jewish organizations in creating programs of interest to the community.

This is not only good news for Calgary. Idels says he would be happy to also speak in Edmonton as opportunities arise.

“I’m here to make the most of this experience,” says Idels, who adds that his wife, Sandra, is looking forward to sharing her expertise in the community too. A social worker and psychotherapist, she has, among other professional highlights, worked with IDF soldiers in Israel.

Idels’ long term goal is to earn a tenured position in Canada, the US or back home in Israel. For now, academics and community members have a wonderful opportunity to benefit from the expertise of a scholar who is bringing something unique and fascinating to the field of Israel studies.

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.