Beyond Dreams: Building a Nation
- Gedaliah Borvick
- 30 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Nearly 60 streets and squares across Israel are named after Ze’ev Jabotinsky - placing him among the top three most commemorated figures in the country, alongside David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin.
Why does Jabotinsky appear on more street signs than Theodor Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism?
Perhaps because Herzl gave us the dream - the vision of a Jewish homeland - but Jabotinsky offered the means to make that dream a reality. Herzl imagined; Jabotinsky insisted we act. His uncompromising belief in Jewish self-defense and sovereignty helped shape Israel’s foundations and inspired a generation of leaders - including Menachem Begin, who called him “our teacher and commander.”
Born in Odessa in 1880 to a traditional Jewish family, Vladimir (later Ze’ev) Jabotinsky grew up immersed in Russian culture and literature. As a teenager, he began writing and quickly gained a reputation for his sharp wit. He refused to tolerate hypocrisy or complacency, and believed that words could change the world - and the Jewish condition in particular.
But the Kishinev Pogrom of 1903 changed his path entirely. After witnessing 49 Jews murdered and hundreds wounded while the world looked away, he realized that words were not enough. He put aside his flourishing journalistic career and turned to action. In Odessa, he organized Jewish self-defense units, training young men to protect their communities, and often declared: “Better to have a gun and not need it, than to need it and not have it.”
During World War I, Jabotinsky championed the creation of a Jewish fighting force. The Jewish Legion, under the British flag, helped liberate the Land of Israel from Ottoman rule. For the first time in nearly two millennia, Jewish soldiers marched into battle in their ancestral homeland.
After the war, Jabotinsky grew disillusioned with Britain’s retreat from the Balfour Declaration. He founded the Revisionist Zionist movement, demanding mass Jewish immigration to Palestine and a state capable of defending itself. His famous 1923 essay, The Iron Wall, was unapologetically blunt: “We must build an iron wall of Jewish strength. Only then will peace be possible.”
His insistence on Jewish strength was not limited to Israel. In 1938, as the Nazis tightened their grip on Europe, Jabotinsky criticized the Zionist establishment for being too passive in protecting European Jewry. Unbowed, he traveled to Warsaw and pleaded with Jewish leaders: “I am prepared to take every Jew out of Poland. If you do not do this, you will condemn two million Jews to death.” His warning went largely unheeded - and within a few years, his nightmare became reality.
Many of Jabotinsky’s fiercest clashes were with David Ben-Gurion, leader of Labor Zionism. Ben-Gurion favored gradual diplomacy with Britain and building the Yishuv through kibbutzim and cooperative farming communities, while Jabotinsky demanded immediate statehood, mass immigration, and unapologetic strength. Their rivalry was often bitter, but Jabotinsky’s insistence on military power became central to the state Ben-Gurion eventually led.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky was a poet, novelist, and translator who brought Dante and Edgar Allan Poe into Hebrew. He was convinced that a Jewish state needed not only an army but also a national culture and a shared pride rooted in Jewish history: “We were not born to be a nation of beggars. We are the people of David and the Maccabees.”
Jabotinsky understood that Jewish survival requires both faith and determination. In 1935, speaking in Tel Aviv, he delivered a defiant declaration of Jewish sovereignty and resolve - no more pleading for permission, only asserting a right that would never be relinquished. His words were relevant then, and they are just as relevant today, as Israel faces unrelenting threats and Jews worldwide confront growing hatred:
“Tell them: We have returned and we shall remain. Forever.”
Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com.
