In late 1920s Palestine, Zalmen has just arrived at Jaffa port on his way to a small northern kibbutz. Young and idealistic, he hopes to put down roots and help create a model society. But he soon realizes that the power dynamics between British colonists and Jewish and Arab workers have reached a breaking point. Zalmen, caught in the web of ideological conflicts, violence, and revolution, must decide with whom his loyalties lie. With frank depictions of political and ethnic tension, sexual freedom on the kibbutz, Labor-Zionist politics, and rising Communist influences, Boom and Chains offers a rare glimpse of the Jewish left before the State of Israel and vividly illustrates the physical and mental toll of making a life in Mandatory Palestine. Zalmen's story raises important context for conversations around workers' movements and Jewish/Arab solidarity in Israel/Palestine from the Yishuv to today.
