Advocates for Zion

Abstract

This chapter details the release of the Leon Uris novel Exodus and subsequent film adaptation as well as the less celebrated Frank Sinatra vehicle The House That I Live In. The pages also recount the kidnapping of 8-year-old Yossele Schumacher by his Orthodox Israeli grandparents, as well as the extradition drama between Israel and the US concerning Dr. Robert Soblen. Finally, the chapter explores the respective relationships to Israel of writers James Baldwin, John Steinbeck, and Saul Bellow.