Description
Book SynopsisHenry Mandel (1920-2015), a crewman aboard the Jewish Illegal Immigrant ship Abril/Ben Hecht, a prisoner in Acre fortress and a volunteer for the Israeli Army during the 1948 Arab - Israeli War, was an Orthodox Jew whose reminiscences provide a uniquely illuminating perspective on the creation of the Jewish state. Mandel smuggled in electric batteries to prisoners planning an escape from Acre Prison. After being released, Mandel helped set-up a secret bazooka shell plant in New York which was reassembled in Israel with his assistance as a foreign volunteer. Personal narratives of the Ben Hecht crew are complemented by editorial historical analysis.
Trade Review“You’ve probably never heard of Henry Mandel. Neither had I until I read Without Permission… A machinist who died in New York City in 2015, Mandel was an ardent American Zionist who helped create Israel’s arms industry and challenged Britain’s ban on Jewish immigration to Mandate Palestine. … Without Permission… covers Mandel’s career in workmanlike fashion. Mandel was a rare individual, a man of conviction and action who selflessly devoted himself to a cause higher than himself.”
— Sheldon Kirshner, Times of Israel
"Without Permission is one of those rare achievements that succeeds in twinning painstaking historical research with a compelling personal story. Flaks welcomes the reader into the remarkable life of his grandfather Henry Mandel, a man of courage who served as a Merchant Marine and a volunteer sailor aboard the S.S. Ben Hecht, a ship that sought to challenge the British ban on Jewish emigration to Palestine. Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, oral history and interviews, archival documents, letters and speeches, and significant original research, Flaks' book offers a personal perspective on those complicated moments at the dawn of modern Israel. He demonstrates that Mandel and his fellow crewmen 'struck a significant blow against the British Empire and its imperialist policy of denying the Holocaust survivors of Europe a permanent home and national self-determination.' Joining personal narratives and testimonies with superb historical contextualization, Without Permission is a must-read for anyone interested in the American Jewish experience and the founding of Israel!"
—Ariel Evan Mayse, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Stanford University
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Précis
-
- Part I - Interviews and Reminiscences of Jewish Illegal Immigrant Ship Ben Hecht Crewman Henry Mandel
- Interview Key
- Chapter 1 - Vienna Born, Bronx Bred
- Chapter 2 - The War Comes Home
- Chapter 3 - The Merchant Marine
- Chapter 4 - From Gowanus Canal to Atlantic Crossing
- Chapter 5 - Final Preparations
- Chapter 6 - The Irgun Had Other Ideas
- Acre Prison
- Prison Pictures
- Prayer & Paratrooper Boots
- The Marine Carp
- New York, New York
- Chapter 7 - Bazooka Plant
- American Jewish Underground
- Volunteering for the Israeli Army
- Part II - Letters and Contextual Commentary
- Chapter 8 - The Bergson Group
- Chapter 9 - The Mission and the Crew
- Chapter 10 - Atlantic Crossing to the Mediterranean Sea
- Chapter 11 - The Palestine Run
- Chapter 12 - Piracy on the High Seas
- Chapter 13 - Break Out
- Chapter 14 - Release
- Chapter 15 - MACHAL
- Chapter 16 - A Mercy Ship's Legacy
- Chapter 17 - Family & Brotherly Love
- Neither Tide Nor Time
- Religious Liberty
- Reflections on Aging
- Chapter 18 - Civil Servant & Union Activist
- Chapter 19 - Reflections of a Long Life
- Bibliography & Works Cited
- Acronyms
- Articles & Archival Documents
- Interviews
- Books
- About the Editor
- Hebrew Language Summary
