From Haifa to Berlin: The Jewish Bourgeoisie in Palestine in the Early 20th Century from a Gender Perspective

Abstract

This article provides an in-depth look at an elite Jewish family in Haifa during the 1920s with the goal of examining class and gender relations in that period. This is accomplished by analyzing family correspondence between the family’s parents, Nahum Vilbush (Vilbushevitz) and Shoshana Vilbush (né Feinberg), and their daughter Zohara who was staying in Berlin during the years 1929-1930. The Vilbushevitz, Feinberg, Belkind and Hankin families, who were linked by marriage, played an important role in the national narrative and have been the subject of much academic study and many documentary articles. However, in most cases, neither class nor gender has been the focus. The analysis of the letters reveals the parents’ daily experiences through the prism of gender and class – the experience of the bourgeois man, the industrialist entrepreneur, a member of the collective national entity and a father as opposed to the experience of the bourgeois woman, the manager of the home and family, and a mother. The analysis includes the content of the letters, the husband and wife’s foci of interest, their respective styles of writing, and the gendered socialization that each parent attempts to convey to their daughter. It is found that gender played a central role in determining the identity, attitudes and lifestyle of the Jewish bourgeoisie in Palestine. Nevertheless, and despite the gender differences that characterized bourgeois ethics, a blurring of boundaries between husband and wife can also be discerned in the letters. Finally, the family correspondence sheds new light on the place of nationalism in the daily life of the bourgeoisie, subject to daily experiences and personal circumstances.