Golda (56 page)

p. 72.

28 “such a horror of working in an office”: Golda Meir interview on Panorama, BBC, August 9, 1971.

1. “how many times did you shout”: Letter from Sheyna to Golda, from Den- ver, October 8, 1912, Israel State Archives.
   

2. “come to us”: Sheyna to Golda, undated, Denver, Israel State Archives (ISA).
   

1. “The Land of Israel is acquired through labor”: Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   p. 47.
   

2. “watching me like a hawk”: Ibid.
   

3. “Oh, now I wish I could hear that music”: Peggy Mann,
   Golda: The Life of Israel’s Prime Minister
   (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971), p. 45.
   

1. “he has a beautiful soul”: Interview with Medzini, in Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 53.
   

2. “So who’s this Mr. Somebody?”: Mann,
   Golda,
   p. 47.
   

3. “I have repeatedly asked you not to contradict me”: Quoted in Syrkin,
   Way of Valor,
   p. 35.
   

35 “oh how I would kiss you!”: Morris to Golda, from Denver, January 22, 1915, ISA.

35 “I noticed this striking girl”: Bill Marten interview with Isadore Tuchman, February 21, 1952, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison.

1. Only twenty-three delegates, representing four chapters: http://www.louis- ville.edu/a-s/english/subcultures/Zionism.
   

2. “I don’t know whether to be happy”: Morris to Golda, August 1915, ISA.
   

3. “Yes, Gogole”: Morris to Golda, October 5, 1915, ISA.
   

4. Yitzak Ben-Zvi and David Ben-Gurion were scheduled: Syrkin,
   Way of Valor,
   pp. 42–43; and Rinna Samuel interview with Golda, July 10, 1973.
   

1. “The truth is that I didn’t have exact”: Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 78.
   

2. “I don’t want to shatter your dreams”: quoted in Mann,
   Golda,
   p. 54.
   

1. “a national home for the Jewish people”: For background on the Balfour Declaration, see, Walter Laqueur,
   A History of Zionism
   (New York: Schocken Book, 1972), pp. 181–98.
   

2. “one nation solemnly promised to a second”: Arthur Koestler, “The Great Dilemma That Is Palestine,”
   New York Times Magazine,
   September 1, 1946.
   

40 “My fellow brethren”: Golda Meir,
My Life,
pp. 60–61, and Louis J. Swich- kow,
Memoirs of a Milwaukee Labor Zionist
(Tel Aviv: The Diaspora Research Institute, 1975).

1. American Jewish Congress: Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   p. 68.
   

2. “her mouth was gold”: Bill Marten interview with Isadore Tuchman, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
   

41 “This is the life for me!”: Author interview with Meron Medzini, December 15, 2004.

41 “Who leaves a new husband”: Golda Meir,
My Life,
p. 67.

1. “At Poale Zion, whatever I was asked”: Rinna Samuel interview with Meir, August 1974.
   

2. “Dearest, I arrived in Buffalo”: Golda to Morris, December 5, 1919, ISA.
   

42 Golda got pregnant: Sheyna to Golda, April 7, 1918, ISA.

42 repeatedly urged Golda to slow down: Sheyna to Golda, quoted in Syrkin,

Way of Valor,
pp. 47–48.

chapter three

1. Regina’s fiancé announced: Radio interview with Golda Meir, 1969, repro- duced in Marie Syrkin, ed.,
   Golda Meir Speaks Out
   (London: Weiden- feld & Nicolson, 1973), p. 32.
   

2. SS
   Pocahontas:
   The story of the voyage is based on Meir’s account in Golda Meir,
   My Life
   (New York: Putnam, 1975); Samuel interview with Meir,
   

   May 29, 1973; Sheyna Korngold,
   Zikhroyne`s
   

   (Tel Aviv: Farleg Idpres,
   

   1968); and Ralph G. Martin,
   Golda: Golda Meir, the Romantic Years
   

   (New York: Scribners, 1988).
   

3. By the time they arrived in Tel Aviv: Barbara Mann,
   A Place in History: Modernism, Tel Aviv, and the Creation of Jewish Urban Space
   (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture, 2006).
   

4. Kibbutz Merhavia: Description based on Golda Meir, “My First Days at Kibbutz Merhavia,”
   Jewish Affairs
   (December 1970) (Johannesburg), and author interview with Meron Medzini, December 15, 2004.
   

1. “We don’t know what will be”: Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 111.
   

2. “a rebellion against the bourgeois norms”: Lesley Hazelton,
   Israeli Women: The Reality Behind the Myth
   (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977).
   

1. “When I returned to my room”: Golda Meir, “My First Days at Kibbutz Merhavia.”
   

2. “[Morris] was not able to tolerate”: Interview with Golda Meir in Oriana Fal- laci,
   Interview with History
   (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), p. 116.
   

3. “Why do you regard this work”: Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   pp. 89–90; and Golda Meir, “My First Days at Kibbutz Merhavia.”
   

4. “Golda sat and appeared a little regal”: Syrkin,
   Golda Meir Speaks Out,
   

   p. 62.
   

5. “Why is giving food to people”: Meir interview with Samuel, May 29, 1973.
   

1. “Ah, Palestine, Palestine, you beggarly little land”: Quoted by Syrkin,
   Golda Meir Speaks Out,
   p. 63.
   

2. “It is a sad and shameful fact”: Dafna Izraeli, “The Zionist Women’s Move-
   

   ment in Palestine, 1911–1927: A Sociological Analysis,”
   Signs
   7, no. 1 (autumn 1981), p. 107.
   

3. accompany a prominent British suffragist: Meir interview with Samuel, May 29, 1973.
   

55 “For him”: Fallaci,
Interview with History,
p. 115.

1. “It lasted from the day we met”: Ibid.
   

2. “To her affection for Morris”: Syrkin,
   Golda Meir Speaks Out,
   p. 64.
   

1. “I was no nun”: Meir interview with Samuel, July 16, 1973.
   

2. “They were practically starving”: Quoted in Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 140.
   

1. “In Jerusalem I was a sort of prisoner”: Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   pp. 100–102.
   

2. “They were interested in the services”: Ibid., p. 109.
   

chapter four

61 “the inner struggles and the despairs”: Her article appears in Rachel Katznelson Shazar,
Plough Woman: Records of the Pioneer Women of Palestine
(New York: Herzl Press, 1975).

63 “Morris was father and mother”: Shapiro, quoted in Ralph G. Martin,
Golda: Golda Meir, the Romantic Years
(New York: Scribner, 1988), p. 151.

63 “But she wasn’t always around.”: Clara Stern, quoted in Martin,
Golda,
150.

63 “I never had sympathy:” Meir interview with Rinna Samuel, July 16, 1973.

63 Histadrut was the heart: A good comprehensive history of Histadrut history appears in Michael Shalev,
Labour and Political Economy in Israel
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

1. “dollar land”: Mark A. Raider, “Emissaries in the Promised Land,”
   Judaism
   

   vol. 49 (winter 2000), p. 359.
   

2. “The Palestinian workers have begun to dig”: Michael Brown, “The Ameri- can Element in the Rise of Golda Meir,”
   Jewish History
   6, nos. 1–2 (March 1992).
   

66 Imperial Labour Conference: Meir interview with Rinna Samuel, June 18, 1973.

1. Sarah and Menachem entertained themselves: Menachem Meir,
   My Mother Golda Meir: A Son’s Evocation of Life with Golda Meir
   (New York: Arbor House, 1983), p. 28.
   

2. “felt it was her duty”: Author interview with Menachem Meir, January 13, 2005.
   

67 Golda was felled by one of her regular migraines: Author interview with Sarah Rehabi, January 13, 2005.

1. “1 know I will not bring the Messiah”: Golda Meir,
   My Life
   (New York: Putnam, 1975), p. 118.
   

2. “easy to get”: Passow quoted in Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 163.
   

68 “Men have always been good to me”: Oriana Fallaci,
Interview with History

(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), p. 112.

68 her affair with Zalman Shazar: Detailed in Martin,
Golda,
pp. 152–56.

68 “He did not speak with his mouth”: Meir interview with Rinna Samuel, July 16, 1973.

1. “We always avoid talking about serious things”: Remez to Golda, June 14, 1930, quoted in Martin,
   Golda,
   pp. 171–72.
   

2. “Morris won’t give me a divorce”: Medzini, quoted in Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 197.
   

1. In Golda mythology: Meir interview with Rinna Samuel, July 24, 1973.
   

2. Even mainstream Zionist groups: Donna Robinson Divine, “American Jew- ish Women and the Zionist Enterprise,”
   Israel Studies
   11, no. 1 (spring 2006), p.205.
   

1. “Palestine today is a place where there are no gangsters”:
   Chicago Tribune,
   

   February 20, 1929.
   

2. “Goldie brought us a waft”:
   The Pioneer Woman,
   February 1934.
   

1. In one midwestern city, Golda attacked: Meir interview with Rinna Sam- uel, August 9, 1974.
   

2. “Golda was caught up in a running”: Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   p. 141.
   

72 “When I first met Golda in Toronto”: Steinglass, quoted in Martin,
Golda,

p. 192.

72 “Sometimes weeks would”: Author interview with Sarah Rehabi, January 13, 2005.

1. One night Sarah asked Golda what she did: Dr. Jacob Katzman, quoted in Martin,
   Golda,
   p. 189.
   

2. “She certainly never should have had children”: Medzini quoted by Mar- tin,
   Golda,
   p. 142.
   

chapter five

76 “buy Jewish”: The campaign is described well by in Marie Syrkin,
Way of Valor: A Biography of Golda Myerson
(New York: Sharon Books, 1955).

76 After each outbreak of Arab rioting: For excellent background on this dy- namic, see Tom Segev,
One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate
(New York: Metropolitan Books, 2000). The docu- ments of the commissions are available online at the Avalon Project, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm.

78 “Why not build a Jewish port”: Golda Meir,
My Life
(New York: Putnam, 1975), pp. 144–45.

1. “The sea is an organic”: Syrkin,
   Way of Valor,
   p. 92.
   

2. “What I need is a wife”: Menachem Meir,
   My Mother Golda Meir: A Son’s Evocation of Life with Golda Meir
   (New York: Arbor House, 1983), p. 36.
   

3. “She did not court her public”: Syrkin,
   Way of Valor,
   p. 98.
   

1. Her most brutal fight in those years: Ibid., p. 93–95; and Golda Meir,
   My Life,
   pp. 143–44.
   

2. Next she faced down: Syrkin,
   Way of Valor,
   p. 97.
   

81 “There is a sadistic streak to her”: Ibid., p. 96.

1. bragging about Histadrut efforts: Ralph G. Martin,
   Golda: Golda Meir, the Romantic Years
   (New York: Scribner, 1988), p. 225, based on interview with Yitzhak Eylam.
   

2. “In social questions she has a genius”: Syrkin,
   Woman of Valor,
   p. 98.
   

82 she complained that Shamai: Martin,
Golda,
p. 244.

1. “God forbid if she didn’t like you”: Author interview with Nomi Zucker- man, December 15, 2004.
   

2. “I can still see his room”: Ibid.
   

83 “1 came to Palestine for one reason only”: Ibid.

83 “What has Tel Aviv to offer”: Morris Meyerson to Menachem, Abadan, Iran, 1945, reprinted in Menachem Meir,
My Mother Golda Meir,
p 19.

83 “She was incapable of gray”: Quoted in Martin,
Golda,
p. 218.

1. “paper flying around”: Author interview with Zuckerman, December 15, 2004.
   

2. “Golda’s mother was impossible”: Ibid.
   

chapter six

86 when the British sent Lord Earl Peel: Palestine Royal Commission Report Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by

Command of His Majesty, July 1937. His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1937.

87 “We are given an opportunity”: Benny Morris,
Righteous Victims
(New York: Vintage, 2001).

1. “Some day my son will ask”: Golda Meir,
   My Life
   (New York: Putnam, 1975), p. 157.
   

2. “1 would agree that the Arabs leave”: American Zionist Emergency Council, Minutes of Meeting of Executive Committee, January 14, 1946, pp. 1, 4, Central Zionist Archives, F39/385.
   

3. “Who else did we have?”: Quoted in Ralph G. Martin,
   Golda: Golda Meir, the Romantic Years
   (New York: Scribner, 1988), p. 225.
   

1. From an office on Marc Aurel Street: For background on the smuggling, see Ehud Avriel,
   Open the Gates!: A Personal Story of “Illegal” Immigra- tion to Israel
   (New York: Atheneum, 1975).
   

2. “Take our children away”: Terry Morris,
   Shalom, Golda
   (New York: Haw- thorn Books, 1971).
   

1. Evian-les-Bains: For background on the conference, see S. Adler-Rudel, “The Evian Conference and the Refugee Problem,” in
   Leo Baeck Insti- tute Year Book,
   vol. 13 (London: Horovitz, 1968).
   

2. “This will not be just another conference”: Quoted in Peggy Mann,
   Golda: The Life of Israel’s Prime Minister
   (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971), p. 99.
   

3. the air of “a poker game”:
   New York Times,
   July 6, 1938.
   

1. “We have very little bread”: Robert Slater,
   Golda: The Uncrowned Queen of Israel
   (New York: Jonathan David, 1981), p. 93.
   

2. “There is one thing I want to see”: Quoted in Peggy Mann, p. 104.
   

1. White Paper: The text of the White Paper is online at http://www.yale.edu
   / lawweb/avalon/mideast/brwh1939.htm.
   

2. “It is in the darkest hour”: Peggy Mann, p. 110.
   

94 “It’s inconceivable that we shall not”:
D’var HaPoelet
(periodical of His- tadrut), May 3, 1939.