The play is based on the 1930 novel Judge and Fool by Russian Jewish Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky.
The hawkish Jabotinsky, who has been an important source of inspiration to Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu, brings a fascinating perspective to Samson’s saga. Not written in the typical conservative Christian or Jewish tradition, Jabotinsky’s Samson demonstrates that the courage of just one individual can have a major impact on the security of the whole Jewish nation, but with a twist.
Judge and Fool, republished in 2016 as Samson, makes much of the contrasts in the strongman who was both an untamed outlaw among the Philistines and a wise, yet whimsical judge from the Tribe of Dan. Jabotinsky’s Samson is overflowing with life. The Philistines are his people’s enemies but also his closest friends. He drinks and laughs with them, entertaining them with his jokes. When the people of his own tribe accuse him of not...
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