Zionist lace. An ethno-religious and feminine company in the Palestine of the “Belle Époque”

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Having failed to impose themselves in the political arena, Zionist women reconsider their approach to adopt the principle of sexually-differentiated actions. The women leave politics to the men and turn to the area of culture. Their objective is to anchor the national revival in Jewish spirits to two main symbols. One is the language, Hebrew, and the other is the earth, Palestine. To achieve this, they created the Verband Jüdischer Frauen für Kulturarbeit in Palästina (the Jewish Women’s Association for Cultural Work in Palestine). In addition to other activities, lace workshops quickly take on a central role. Their business model is precarious, however. It is partial y based on the subsidies of the Association and the workshops experience difficulties to convince outlets to stock their products because of the strong competition from European oriental lace.