What is the importance of Zionism in modern Jewish life and religion, why

Due to all this violence that was directed at the Jewish people the Jews increased their efforts to get their own state, this in turn caused more ill will towards them. The result was massive emigration with the government encouraging them to leave the Arab states.

And so throughout the early twentieth century the Zionist movement started to grow with large groups of Jews settling in their ancient homeland, Palestine, which the Arabs were not happy about.

On top of this the Jews faced the tremendous massacres in the Nazi concentration camps, when news of the Holocaust was finally heard and the horrific circumstances the Jews had gone through in Europe because of the Nazi’s policy of anti-Semitism, many of the remaining Western Jews were convinced that they needed their own Jewish state and was an absolute necessity, Zionism was put on the fast track with ‘the state of Israel being established in 1948.’

The shock that greeted the Jews after the Nazi Holocaust suddenly made them more aware of just how much prejudice they faced and just how precarious they were in the world.

Zionism helps the Jews fill the gap that had been left due to the war and the disappearance of their religious beliefs and their rituals. Along with this is the isolation Israel faced from the rest of the world, when the Arab nations convinced the United Nations that Zionism meant racism, many Jews worried that the fall of Hitler and his regime had not seen the end of the anti-Semitic feelings.

 This is why the Jewish people, even today, are convinced that the only place they can be free to be Jews is in their own State of Israel, where they don’t have to be afraid of stirring up any kind of alienation towards them.

Zionism is not only a place where the Jewish people can have a refuge from persecution, but it is also somewhere that the Jews can reconstruct their Jewish identity not only for themselves but nationally and internationally, Zionism is not only a religious movement but also a political movement.

The most well known leader on the political side of Zionism is Theodor Herzel; it was he that called all of the ‘Zionist groups to attend the first Zionist congress’ he also sought out powerful countries and petitioned them to support a Jewish homeland in Israel.

What the Jewish people were hoping Zionism would bring them was a way for them to create ‘their own destiny instead of being passive victims’ and where they could have their own State becoming a ‘nation like other nations,’ as well as being a nation that others could aspire to, incorporating the ‘highest liberal ideals’ while encouraging the inclusion of different races and cultures of all the differing ‘strands of variegated Jewish Diaspora.’

Simultaneously as being a political movement Zionism is also a religious movement that is based upon, in part, religious traditions which link the Jewish people to the ‘Promised Land’ which is the Land of Israel.

The Jewish people feel that the land of Israel itself is their religious heart and soul, ‘The soul of the people and the land work together to create the secret of their existence, demanding their role in the realisation of their aspiration of holiness… the people expend their spiritual power upon the land… and the land causes the people to realize their attribute of desiring Divine life complete in their construction.’

What the Jewish people wanted to do was to live a completely full, Jewish lifestyle, to this end young Jewish people got together and formed a ‘Religious Kibbutz’ where they lived as an exemplary religious community, what they accomplished was the rebuilding of the internal spiritual life of the Jewish people and the nation which could only be accomplished in the Holy Land of Israel.

If it hadn’t been for all of the anti-Semitism the Jewish people have had to face or the complete and utter destruction that the Nazis subjected them to during the Second World War, then perhaps the push towards Zionism wouldn’t have started quite as soon as it did, the fact that they did face all of these obstacles and atrocities is what gave the surviving Jews the passion to persist with the idea of a Jewish state.

Since the Second World War the Jewish people have become very conscious and ‘much more aware of their insecurity and the depths of prejudice against them.’ 

This is why the support for Zionism has become as strong as it has, this is also why it is as important to the Jewish people today as in their past. It is Zionism which gives them all a sense of identity, of what it means to be Jewish, as their ‘religious beliefs and rituals’ eroded away it left a huge hole in their Jewish identity which is what Zionism has filled.

The State of Israel is so important to the Jewish people because it is the only place in the World that they feel totally free and safe from persecution of their ‘Jewishness.’ It also gives the Jews a place to focus on spiritually; just as the Muslims have Mecca the Jewish people have the State of Israel.

Zionism today signifies for the Jews that their ‘God has not forsaken his covenant or special relationship with the people of Israel.’It gives back to Jews all over the world a sense of pride, dignity and belonging which they had lost during the war; it is to the State of Israel that they turn when they need guidance to help them in this modern world.

Zionism was and will always be important to the Jewish people because an Israel state has given the Jews a purpose, a place to focus their spirituality, where they can practise their faith and worship without fear of persecution, a sense of belonging to a place and time, their dignity and most of all a place to call home, something they had lost long ago. No matter where they live in the world they know that there is somewhere that will welcome them as Jews, somewhere they can be where they don’t have to fear  any ‘anti-Semitic prejudice.’ Bringing great comfort, happiness and joy something they had lost after the Holocaust.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Bowker, John: Beliefs that Changed the World: Querus Publishing, London, 2007
• Fisch, Harold: The Zionist Revolution: A New Perspective: St Martins Press, New York 1978
• Fishman: Between Religion Ideology-Judaism and Modernization in the Religious Kibbutz; Jerusalem
• Hertzberg, Arthur: The French Enlightenment and the Jews: Columbia University Press, New York 1968
• Hinnell, John R: Handbook of Living Religions: Penguin books, London, 1997
• Kedoune, Elie (ed): The Jewish World: Revelation, Prophecy and History: Thames and Hudson, London,1979
• Michman, Prof.Dan: A Historical look at Religious Zionism: Department of Jewish History, 2007
• Quote by Tz. Varon: Mishnato Shel Harav Kook: World Zionist organization, Dept. of Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora.
• Zuesse, Evan M: Religion Studies: The Long Search: Study guide section 3: University of South Australia,2005

---