Fighter and Prophet

Fighter and Prophet is the second volume in the definitive two-volume biography of Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky by Joseph B. Schechtman. This volume picks up the story of his life in 1923, at the crossroads of his political career. In his own words, he was a man "for whom there is no place and no refuge among his own brethren . . .doomed to peregrinate in a spiritual Diaspora." Deeply hurt and disillusioned at what he considered a defection of the World Zionist Organization from its true purpose, he resigned in protest and sought to devote himself to cultural work and journalism. His retirement proved to be short-lived, however. With a prophetic vision of the future, Jabotinsky called for the "evacuation" of East European Jewry, and launched a program of illegal immigration in defiance of the prohibitive British immigration rules. He also decried the official Zionist policy of havlagah (self-restraint) in the face of Arab terror and aided the creation of the Jrgun Zvai Leumi (Jewish Military Organization), an underground brigade. His tactics and philosophy earned him the devotion of the lrgun commandoes, who came to consider him their spiritual leader. This story of Jabotinsky's life and struggle is a story of soaring hopes and shattering disappointments, of brilliant achievement and devastating failure--the story of a man's spiritual and creative growth, and of the incredible effort he invested in reviving Herzlian Zionism as he forged a strong and dynamic Zionist-Revisionist organization of his own.