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“Their parents who had lived in ghettos and had known the fear and degradation of being Jews were determined to purge this horror from the new generation. They bent over backward to give the children freedom and to make them strong.”
In Book 2, Chapter Fourteen, Uris describes the first generation of sabras, or Jewish people born in Palestine. They are children of victory in some ways; their parents have escaped the oppression suffered by Jewish people in all parts of the world, and these children are born in the Jewish homeland. However, their story of freedom is far from over. Although they live in Palestine, this young generation must be ready for the inevitable difficulties they will face on their own land. In Uris' telling, they have to learn to safeguard their freedom for those who come after them. The Jewish people know that they can never go back to the persecution that they risked so much to escape, and they live with one eye toward the future. It is necessary for the sabra children to learn this lesson, but it is one that takes its toll on the parents of these young Israelis. At the end of his life, Barak laments that the cost of Israel freedom is having produced an entire generation of apathetic warriors.
“Here, a person wakes up every morning in doubt and tension—not knowing if all he has slaved for will be taken from him. Their country is with them twenty-four hours a day. It is the focal point of their lives, the very meaning of their existence.”
In Chapter Two of Book 3, Harriet Saltzman, an octogenarian who has been leading Youth Aliyahs for decades, explains to Kitty the effect that Palestine has on young Jewish people: it is as if Palestine becomes a part of them, and once they feel the tenuous freedom of it, they rarely leave. This is an idea that is foreign to Americans, who take their home and freedom for granted. Saltzman is telling Kitty this so that she does not get her hopes up about convincing Karen to go back to America with her. It is such a sought-after and long-awaited feeling for Jewish people to have the promise of freedom that they become fiercely protective of it. They also know how fragile it is, and they become wholly dedicated to ensuring it is available for others like them. Over the coming years, Kitty learns that Harriet’s words are accurate. By the end of the novel, it looks as though Karen might refuse to leave Israel even temporarily to be with Dov.
“No one in in Israel worked for comfort in his own lifetime: it was all for tomorrow, for the children, for the new immigrants coming in. And in the wake of this drive, the tough young sabra generation emerged a generation never to know humiliation for being born a Jew.”
In Book 5, Chapter Two, Uris describes what the State of Israel means for Israelis and what it represents to the rest of the world. Near the end of the book, after all the conflicts and battles have been detailed, he points out that nothing about achieving independence has been easy; it was only possible because of the bold determination of the Jewish people. It was all done with the hope that each generation will leave a stable and secure homeland that will welcome Jewish people from all over the world and be a safe haven from the oppression suffered by Jewish people for thousands of years. As Jordana promises the children at Gan Dafna when they commence their military training, sabras and new immigrants alike will be able to hold their head high and be free from the fear that so many of their ancestors had to endure.
