Village by the Jordan, A.
Introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
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Printed And Published In Israel
[Roosevelt, Eleanor]. Baratz, Joseph. A Village by the Jordan. The Story of Degania. “Reference Library.” Tel Aviv, Israel: Press Department of Ichud Habonim, [1960].
8vo.; illustrated; satin place marker bound in; cloth; dust-jacket. In a specially made quarter-morocco slipcase.
Third edition of this personal history of Degania, the first kibbutz in Israel, told by its founder and illustrated with black and white photographs throughout. With a note on the title page: “This publication in Israel marks the fiftieth jubilee of Degania Aleph which was founded in 1910.” Signed on the title page, Joseph Baratz. Baratz writes of in a prefatory note that the first editions printed in England and America were, by the time of this edition, out of print; and that versions in French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Braille had been produced. He notes that 225 kibbutz have grown out of the first, and that “From the group of twelve men and women who settled at Degania in 1910 we are now 400 men, women and children. Today there are over 84,000 people living on kibbutzim throughout the country.” He also thanks Eleanor Roosevelt for the “encouraging words” she contributed as a preface to the first American edition.
Baratz told his story to “M.H.,” who offered in a foreword the following explanation of its ultimately composition:
…in the end he dictated it to me during several evenings in London and, later, in Degania…Our only common language was Russian—my Hebrew wasn’t good enough and his English is stilted, but we both came from Russia many years ago. So he talked in his slow Russian and luckily it was easy to put down word for word, and when he stopped I translated it into English with the sound of his voice still in my ears; I was only sorry I couldn’t set down how it changed when he talked of something sad or gay, of how his face crinkled up at some funny memory.
In her brief but moving introduction, Roosevelt writes of the connection between the story of Degania and the life of Joseph Baratz who, with his wife and family “have had a gray share in making Degania what it is today.” She continues,
This is the story of the striving of people for a better existence, but of a desire to live in common and share in common with others. There is high thinking and unselfishness of action in the lives that the Baratz’ have lived and think there has been great satisfaction in the development that they have fostered. The story gives us much to think about because it deals with high aspirations, and it gives a lift to one’s daily life.
Provenance: From the library of Maureen Corr, ER’s private secretary for nearly twenty years.
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