Explain how Jewish people put their beliefs about Israel/Zionism into action
Fatema Merali 11M
Zionism
A02 Question: Explain how Jewish people put their beliefs about Israel/Zionism into action (7 marks)
Israel is very important to Jewish people because Jews believe that it is the land that God promised to the Jewish people and that he looks favourably upon it. It is one of the things Jews gain in return for keeping the covenant relationship with God. Jews also might have a preference to live in a Jewish state. Jewish people use the term “aliyah” which means “going up” when describing and talking about going to live in Israel.
Traditionally Jews put their beliefs about Israel into action by joining a movement known as the Zionist movement. “Zion” is a word which is used for Jerusalem in the Old Testament but is often used to refer to the whole of Israel. Zionism is the name given to the belief that Jewish people should have a national homeland in which to live. It is a political view based on the Jewish people’s religious beliefs about Israel. Zionism first began in the 19th century. It was a movement which aimed to give Jewish people a homeland in Israel. The main two reasons for the start of the Zionist movement were because the Jewish people longed to have Israel as their homeland again and secondly because of anti-Semitism against Jews which was greatly experienced in the 19th Century e.g. in Russia anti Jewish riots were held which brought death and destruction in 160 Jewish communities. Jews felt that the only way they would be safe from persecution was to have their own land.
