Comprising three battalions of the British army, the Jewish Legion was established in 1914 to help the United Kingdom conquer the Ottoman Empire and, above all, to secure British support for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Middle East. One of its units was made up exclusively of Canadian and American Jews wanting to serve in the First World War, most of whom were recruited in Montreal. Known as the Zion Mule Corps until 1917, the detachments did not engage in direct combat but carried out service support tasks instead. In 1918, the Jewish Legion saw combat for the first time in the Battle of Megiddo in Palestine.
Hopes ran high among the Legion’s Zionist troops when the British issued the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, pledging support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine should the Ottoman Turks be defeated. That year, Montreal’s Yiddish newspaper Der Keneder Adler (The Canadian Eagle) exhorted young Canadian Jews to enlist in the Jewish Legion. Bernard “Dov” Joseph (a future minister of the Israeli Knesset), Joseph and Moses Brainin, Gershon Agronsky and Louis Fisher took charge of Legion recruitment. The following year, future Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion moved from New York City, where he had lived since 1915, to Montreal and enlisted in the Legion. He trained in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and joined the 38th Battalion, yet by the time he arrived in the Middle East, fighting had already ended. The Russian-born David Ben-Gurion was a forceful advocate for the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine, where he settled following the British victory. Like him, Yitzhak Ben Zvi (the future President of Israel) was recruited in Montreal and served in the ranks of the Canadian Jewish Legion.
More than 350 to 400 Canadians, including 50 from Montreal, took part in battles fought by the Jewish Legion on the Palestine Front during the First World War. The creation of the Legion would help to instil in Canadian Jews a sense of pride in the country’s war heroes. Without a doubt, it also reflected the growing desire of Canadian Jews to become involved in founding a Jewish state in Palestine.
Compiled by Valérie Beauchemin
Azrieli, David J. (2008), Rekindling the Torch, the Story of Canadian Zionism, Toronto, Key Porter Books Limited.
Gilner, Elias (1968), Fighting Dreamers; A History of the Jewish Legion in World War One: With a Glimpse at Other Jewish Fighting Groups of the Period, Ramsey, HJ Gilner.
Gilner, Elias (1969), War and Hope: A History of the Jewish Legion, New York, Herzl Press.
King, Joe (2009), Fabled City. The Jews of Montreal, Montréal, Price-Patterson Ltd.
Watts, Martin (2004), The Jewish Legion and the First World War, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.
Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada.
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