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Zionism: Fulfillment of Jewish History or a New Idea?

Explore the historical and religious significance of Zionism, its connection to Judaism, and the establishment of the State of Israel. Discuss the tensions within Zionism, its impact on American Judaism, and the challenges faced in the 21st century.

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Zionism: Fulfillment of Jewish History or a New Idea?

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  1. Judaism and the Jewish StateCourse Review RELIG 210: Lecture 18

  2. Is Zionism New Idea or Fulfillment of Jewish History? • Strong connection to Land of Israel • Religious yearning to return • Historical connection • Jews living in Palestine • No precedent for large scale return • Jews in religious AND political exile • Return to Land of Israel linked to messianic redemption • Judaism designed for diaspora

  3. The Four Oaths and the Meaning of Exile “There are four oaths here: that they not rebel against the kingdoms; that they not force the End; that they not reveal their mystery to the nations of the world; and that they not ascend as a wall from the Exile.” (Midrash, Song of Songs Rab. 2:7)

  4. Historical Changes • Failure of Emancipation • Rise of antisemitism across Europe • 1881 Russian pogroms • Jewish acculturation • Rise of nineteenth-century nationalist movements • Italy, Germany, Bulgarians, Rumanians,etc • Identity through territory and sovereignty

  5. The Development of Zionism • 1862 Moses Hess,Rome and Jerusalem • 1882 Leon Pinsker, “Autoemancipation” • Theodore Herzl (1860-1904) • The Jewish State, 1896 • First Zionist Congress, 1897 • “Zionism aspires to the securing of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, guaranteed by public law.”

  6. The First Zionist Congress, 1897

  7. Zionism and the Jewish Question • Clear reason for antisemitism • Jews have no homeland • Alien people • Economic factors • No future for Jews in Diaspora • What is the solution?

  8. Founding of the State • 1882 First Wave of Immigration • 1909 Tel Aviv founded • 1917 British in Palestine; Balfour Declaration • 1947 U.N. Votes to Partition Palestine • 1948 State of Israel declared/War of Independence

  9. Post-War Refugees

  10. Three Major Zionist Ideologies • Political Zionism-Theodore Herzl • Saving the Jews • Cultural Zionism-Achad Ha-am • Preserving Judaism • Religious Zionism-Rabbi Kook • The Flowering of Redemption

  11. Key Differences: • What is the significance of the Land of Israel What is the purpose of Zionism? • What is the vision for Jewish life in the Land? • What is the future of Jews in the diaspora?

  12. Tensions in Zionism • Multiple visions of Zionism still exist • Visions have different views on internal politics, role of religion, meaning of territory, funding priorities • Knesset debate: Rambam vs. John Locke

  13. Judaism and the Jewish State? • No separation of church and state • Orthodox rabbinate in charge of personal status laws • Who is a Jew question? • Polarization in Israel between secular and religious

  14. Israeli and Jew • New identity based upon citizenship and secular Hebrew culture • Is Israeli identity Jewish? • What links Israelis with Jews in the diaspora?

  15. Jewish and Democratic “The State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration and to the ingathering of the exiles. It will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants. It will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisioned by the prophets of Israel. It will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex. It will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. It will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions.”

  16. New Israeli Culture • Multicultural • Post-Zionism • Return to Jewish Sources

  17. American Judaism and Zionism • American Jews initial hesitation toward Zionism/Israel (1897-1940s) • Close ties between American Jews/America and Israel (1948-1980’s) • Philanthropy • Jewish Continuity • Fragmentation in American Jewry’s attitude toward Israel • Dwindling sense of Jewish peoplehood • Tension between universal values and perception of Israel

  18. Concluding Questions? • What is Judaism? • What are Jewish values? • Who is a Jew? • How has this course challenged ideas about religion in general?

  19. The Dimensions of Judaism • Scripture and Interpretation • Fixed and fluid elements • Interpretation within a canon • Rules and guidelines • The modern period • Symbolic Vocabulary • God, Torah, Israel, Messiah • Shared themes--radically different meanings

  20. Dimensions, cont… • Communal Forms and Religious Authority • Classic models of authority • All encompassing rabbinic community • Emancipation and Jewish community • Ritual and Worship • Identity construction/Jewish narrative • Meaning vs. set structure

  21. Dimensions, cont… • Ethical Values and Formation of the Person • Centrality of moral behavior • Obligated for Tzedakah (righteous deeds) • Lifecycles orient individuals into communal narrative • Ideologies of Political Life • Judaism in dialogue with political authority • Religion integrally linked to politics

  22. 21st Century Challenges • Religious syncretism (Chrismukkah) • Is the modern period different? • Critique of particular • Voluntary and Fluid social boundaries • Blessing or curse of assimilation • Intermarriage • Ipod Generation: Individual Personal Meaning • Polarization between Orthodox and liberal Jews • Israelis vs. Jews

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