socialmedian: What Is Zionism?

Hi there. I'm Jason, one of the founders of socialmedian.

socialmedian delivers the news, filtered by your network.

We'd love to have you join in.

You can use facebook connect to sign in.

Add News Flash

User-submitted headlines for this story

Clips

What Is Zionism?

Source: History News Network

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Zionism — the Jewish national renaissance movement — is one of the most misunderstood examples of modern nationalism. Part of the reason is that Zionism is founded on a paradox. In an attempt to transform the Jewish people into being like all other nations, Zionism sought a contemporary solution to the "Jewish problem" by returning Jews to their ancestral homeland. [1]

Although secular Zionist thinkers drew upon sacred Jewish traditions of rebirth and restoration, they discarded or recast anything not connected to restoration, especially religious rituals. Zionism is thus an endeavor to restore the Jew to his historical roots through national revival while "rebelling against Jewish history”; an effort to re-establish Jewish tradition while redefining Jewish practice and ritual; an attempt to enable Jews to live in their own land like every other nation, while stressing the distinctive elements in their history, culture, and society. [2]

Those who initially immigrated to the Yishuv (Jewish settlement in Palestine) were motivated by a desire for self- ...Read the full article

Comments (0)

Add Your Comment