100: They escaped Europe — then parachuted back in, with Matti Friedman

In 1944, as the gears of the Holocaust turned toward Hungary, 32 young Jewish volunteers did the unthinkable: they parachuted into the genocide. They were a motley bunch, including a celebrated poet and a nearsighted 40-year-old pacifist. They were sent by the British to rescue downed pilots and by the Zionist leadership to save Jews. They stood almost no chance of success, and by every military metric, they failed. They organized no uprisings; they liberated no camps. Yet, as Matti Friedman reveals in his riveting new book Out of the Sky, their mission was never really about military tactics. It was about story-telling. They set out to show that even in the 20th century's deepest, darkest valley of death, a Jew must still strike a match. To prove that the Jewish people were no longer mere victims of history, but authors of it.

Their fame in today's Israel suggests that in that, at least, they were successful.

This episode was sponsored by Patreon member Eric, and dedicated to the Southern California Hillel chapters at UC Riverside, Claremont Colleges, CalPoly San Luis Obispo, CalPoly Pomona, and University of Redlands. Thank you for helping young Jewish adults thrive in their identity and togetherness!

If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything. There you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

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20 Jul 0s