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REVIEW: ‘Melting Point’

JL;DR SUMMARY Melting Point by Rachel Cockerell offers a captivating exploration into the history of the Zionist movement and early efforts to establish a Jewish homeland, focusing on the lesser-known Galveston Plan. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityZionismJewish HomelandTheodor HerzlOttoman EmpireWorld War IIsrael ZangwillRachel CockerellDavid JochelmanGalveston Plan

Places mentioned

Galveston, Texas, United States
"And among the items she unearths are the plans that began in 1907 to create a homeland for the Jews in Galveston, Texas."
Kishinev, Krasnodar Krai, Russian Federation
"In 1903, in the wake of a devastating pogrom in Kishinev, Herzl stunned delegates at the sixth Zionist Congress with the news that Britain had offered the Jews 5,000 square miles in East Africa."
Kenya
"The Uganda Plan, actually set in modern-day Kenya, was conceived for Britains self-interest."
Israel
"Herzl conducted a broad diplomatic effort with the leadership of Britain, Germany, Russia and the Ottoman Empire to issue a formal charter for a Jewish government in Palestine."
Argentina
"Herzl also pondered Argentina and East Africa."
London, England, United Kingdom
"Cockerell is the great-granddaughter of David Jochelman, one of the Zionist leaders behind the Galveston Plan and a close friend of Israel Zangwill, a British author and associate of Theodor Herzl."
Vienna, Austria
"Yet when Herzl, then a successful Viennese journalist and playwright, published his Zionist manifesto, The Jewish State, in 1896, the effusive accolades were tempered."
Chicago, Illinois, United States
"(England Offers Jews a Country was the headline in one 1903 Chicago Tribune article.)"
Russian Federation
"Eventually I discovered that Galveston was not a person but a place, and the destination for 10,000 Jews in the years leading up to the First World Warsent there from Russia by my great-grandfather, she writes."
New York City, New York, United States
"The last two sections of the book turn to Cockerells family, who immigrated from Russia to New York City, London and Israel."

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Retrieved 2025-08-01 05:30:53 UTC
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