Neḳudah ʻivrit be-Vet Sheʼan
Subtitle: ḳehilah Yehudit be-ʻir ʻArvit be-shilhe ha-teḳufah ha-ʻot'manit uvi-teḳufat ha-Mandaṭ = A Jewish community in an Arab town : Beit She'an, 1890-1936
By: Reʼuven Gafni
Series: Meḥḳar ṿe-ʻiyun; Meḥḳar ṿe-ʻiyun
Publisher: Hotsaʼat sefarim ʻa. sh. Y. L. Magnes, ha-Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Yerushalayim
Language: heb
Number of pages: 275
ISBN-13: 9789657763360
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: History; Jews; Jewish-Arab relations; Ethnic relations
Other titles: Jewish community in an Arab town :
Description: This book is the first attempt to review the history and the fall of the Jewish community that existed in Beit She'an from the late 19th century until the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in 1936. The story of the community, which has been almost completely forgotten by the public and academic consciousness, is based on an initial study of several public and local archives, as well as a thorough study of dozens of primary and secondary sources of various types: press clippings, academic and autobiographical sources, oral interviews and others.  Beside presenting the history of the community itself, which includes the unique challenges it experienced during its fifty years of existence and the organizational and ideological processes which characterized it, the study is also a base for a better assessment and understanding of the several small Jewish communities that existed during this period in a number of Arab cities and towns: Be'er Sheva, Ramle, Nazareth, Samakh, Jericho and others. This is accomplished by comparing the events in Beit She'an to those which took place in other communities, while trying to identify the factors that led to the collapse of these communities during the Mandate period, and to the withdrawal of the Zionist movement from its substantial support to their continued existence. The book also deals with different questions of ethnic and national Jewish identity, the relations between marginal communities and the leading national institutions, and issues relating to Zionist historiography over the past century.

Beit Sheʻan, 1890-1936
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-267) and index.