Inspirational Quotes by Israel Zangwill (English Writer, Political Activist)

Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) was an English British novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, poet, and translator. Also a leader of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, he was one of the earliest English interpreters of Jewish immigrant life.

Zangwill’s famous epigram, ‘The Chosen People is a choosing people,’ expresses the sentiments of Jews torn between intense loyalty to the religious tradition and the allure of the wider world.

Born in London’s Whitechapel ghetto to immigrant parents, Zangwill went to school in Plymouth and Bristol but was mainly self-taught, and graduated with honours at London University. After teaching, he became a journalist and was editor of the comic journal Ariel. He published the witty tales collected as The Bachelors’ Club (1891) and The Old Maids’ Club (1892.)

A leading Zionist, he wrote poems, plays, and essays. He became widely known for his novels on Jewish themes, including Children of the Ghetto (1892) and Ghetto Tragedies (1894.) His stories and novels were infused with a sense of the Jewish lifestyle and its values.

Zangwill was a close associate of Theodor Herzl, initiator of a Zionism movement to establish a Jewish homeland. Zangwill broke with the movement in 1905, rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. He became the prime thinker behind the Jewish Territorial Organization, which advocated the settlement of Jews not necessarily in Palestine but anywhere Within the British Empire where they could build a home as an independent people.

Zangwill returned to the Zionist effort when Palestine’s Jewish settlement became distinct at the end of World War I. He helped the Balfour Declaration, proclaiming the right of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

Zangwill’s only significant contribution to crime and mystery, the novelette Big Bow Mystery (1892,) first serialized in the London Star in 1891, was made into three movies: The Perfect Crime (1928,) Crime Doctor (1934,) and The Verdict (1946.) Zangwill’s other works are The Master (1895,) the essays Without Prejudice (1896,) and the plays The Revolted Daughter (1901,) The Melting Pot (1908,) and We Moderns (1925.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Israel Zangwill