Abstract: This article is based on the life narratives of two German Jews (« yekkes ») in Israel, who inherited specific models of pre-1933 Jewish masculinity which incorporated assimilation, virilisation, marginalisation, and potential effeminacy. What sort of narrative strategies did they adopt in order to (re)construct their masculine identity after migrating ? The question is particularly pertinent given the « virile » values of force and defence central to the construction of Israeli national identity.