Francine Klagsbrun on Golda Meir—Israel’s Lioness

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2019

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

She was one of only two women to sign the Israel’s Declaration of Independence. She served as Israel’s first ambassador to the Soviet Union, as labor minister, foreign minister, head of the Israeli Labor Party, and the Jewish state’s only female prime minister. After Israel was hit with a surprise attack on Yom Kippur of 1973, she was a rock for the nation. Golda Meir was Israel’s lioness, the mother of her country.

In Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel, Francine Klagsbrun tells the story of Golda Meir’s remarkable life—from her childhood in Milwaukee to her time on a kibbutz to her ascent to Israel’s highest office. Klagsbrun shows how Meir’s plainspoken appeals and shrewd political instincts allowed her to build relationships throughout the world, and she takes a look at the darkest moment in Meir’s premiership—the Yom Kippur War—and what, if anything, the prime minister could have done to prevent it.

In this podcast, Klagsbrun sits down with Jonathan Silver to discuss her book and the life and times of Golda Meir. They explore the impact America had on Meir’s worldview, what she thought of American Jews, how she rose through the ranks of her party, and the mistakes and misjudgments that led to the Yom Kippur War.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Transcript

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0:00.0	born in sarist russia raised in milwaukee immigrants to mandate palestine
0:12.8	zionist founder ambassador minister and eventually wartime prime minister golden mair was among
0:19.4	the most interesting political figures of the
0:21.6	20th century. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest this week is
0:27.5	Francine Clagsbrun, author of a 2017 biography of Israel's fourth prime minister. In Golden Meir's life,
0:34.5	the reader traces an arc from progressive Midwestern America to
0:38.6	Kibbutzmerchavia in the Jesreal Valley, from Gendgurion's inner circle at the Histadroute,
0:43.8	to the massive public fundraising speeches in Jewish America, from the construction sites
0:49.0	that Gola oversaw as she prepared the new state to absorb a generation of new immigrants
0:53.8	to the battlefields of Yom Kippur,
0:56.0	1973. In our conversation, we'll explore her wartime conduct, her admiring views of America,
1:02.2	her criticisms of American Jewry, how she regarded some of the other giants of the Israeli founding,
1:07.5	and more. If you enjoy this conversation, you can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on iTunes,
1:12.6	Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify. I hope you leave us a five-star review to help us grow this community
1:17.5	of ideas. I welcome your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes at
1:22.5	podcast at TikvaFund.org. And of course, if you'd like to learn more about our work at Tickfah, you can visit
1:28.3	our website, Tickfund.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Here now is author of Lioness, Goulda Mair, and the Nation of Israel, Francine Clagsbrun. Francine, welcome to the Tickf podcast. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here. So I thought we could begin really at the beginning of Golda's life.
1:26.6	Of course, she was born in Russia and early... for podcast. Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here. So I thought we could begin, really at the beginning
1:45.2	of Golda's life. Of course, she was born in Russia, and early in her life, her and her family move
1:50.2	to Milwaukee. Just tell us about how she grew up. Well, it's an interesting thing, because she grew up
1:55.3	in a different way than the other founders of the state. All of them came directly from countries
2:00.5	where Jews were being
	...

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