Mordecai Chertoff came to Palestine in 1947 as a twenty-five-year-old, determined to make his contribution to the emerging Jewish state. In vivid and often moving letters to his family Mordecai describes the news of the UN vote for partition, the siege of Jerusalem, the bombing of the Palestine Post, the declaration of the State of Israel, his travels along the dangerous Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv highway, and, inevitably, the loss of friends. The correspondence, filled with details of everyday life in Jerusalem and meetings with famous and soon-to-be-famous people, includes historical information never before disclosed. Mordecai Chertoff's powerful first-person account allows us to re-experience a momentous turning point in Jewish history, while we accompany his son, Daniel, on his journey to penetrate into the heart and mind of his father.