Book Review: The Gavriel Tirosh affair

Readers of The Gavriel Tirosh Affair will find that the book increases their understanding of the history of the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948, why despite the multiple advantages the small Jewish population in Palestine in the 1930s gave to the Arab population the Arabs could not accept Jews in the country, and why the British assumption of control of Palestine from 1936 to 1939 forced the Jewish populations at that time to be passive while the Arabs were murdering Jews.

Most significantly, while the book deals with Palestine in the 1930s and the violent attacks by the Arabs in 1929 and 1936-1939, and the book was written before the current US and Israeli joint attacks against Iran, this book will help readers understand Iran, the US, and Israel more deeply.

The Gavriel Tirosh Affair was written by Yitzhak Shalev (1919-1992) in 1964. Shalev was a novelist and poet. It is based on Shalev’s personal experiences as an adolescent in the 1930s. It describes the rise of the Jewish underground resistance that repudiated the Jewish community’s culture of “restraint.” It was translated from Hebrew by Hillel Halkin in 2026.  Halkin is considered by many to be the best translator from Hebrew to English. It contains a Foreword by Ruth R. Wise explaining why the novel is interesting, even fascinating, and relevant, and a discussion by Yiftach Ofek giving readers an easy-to-follow historical context for this important book.

A young, 28-year-old, handsome, charismatic teacher arrives in Palestine after escaping Nazi murders. Despite being German, he speaks Hebrew better than most Jews. He is very knowledgeable about the different areas in Palestine and the history of the various locations in the country. He begins to teach a high school history class on why the Crusaders failed to hold the country in the past and why Jews will similarly fail unless they show strength.

He selects five students from his class for special instruction: four boys and a girl who falls in love with her teacher, a love that cannot be returned. In his room is a picture of an older couple who might be his parents, as well as a photograph of a beautiful girl whom he does not want to discuss.

Gavriel taught his five disciples that: “The fate of this country will be decided by offensive, not defensive, action.” Also: “You have no idea what the Jewish people are capable of.” And: “We’re going to be a pack of young wolves whose howls will have the Arab villagers quaking in fear.”