Zionism Born in the Latter

Zionism born in the latter 19th century, is perhaps one of the most successful yet least understood movements in the last several centuries.

This is primarily because at its core, Zionism was based on a paradox: the concept that Jews should be restored to their ancestral homeland with a rejection of those elements of tradition not specifically related to restoration, such as religion. Since its inception, both religious and secular Jews have alternated between support and opposition of the ideology known as Zionism, largely due to the influences of anti-Semitism, socialism, and the fundamental principles of Judaism in the latter part of the 19th century.

First, it is important to understand the meaning behind the word 'Zionism'. The phrase derives its basis from the name 'Zion,' a biblical term, and is often used as a synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. As an ideology, the Zionist movement began with two types of supporters. First, the religious Zionists sought to recreate the Hebraic culture in terms of linguistic, religious, and ethnic connections to historic Palestine. On the other hand, the secular Zionists sought a solution to the Jewish problem, the dispersal of the Jewish people, and believed Palestine to be the most logical location for a Jewish national state.

This paper will focus on the development of Zionism as a concept in terms of a religious and secular aspect, rather than focusing on Zionism solely as a religious ideology. While modern Zionism organized in the late 19th century, the Jewish tie to the land of Palestine existed long before the organization. The hope of returning to a homeland for the Jewish people has existed since the Jews were exiled to Babylon. Modern Zionism, emerging in the 19th century, therefore neither invented the idea nor the practice of a return to a Jewish state. Rather, the movement altered the aging idea of the Jewish state and adapted it to meet the needs of the Jewish people at the time.

At the close of the 19th century, several processes were influencing the culture, religion, and identity of the Jews, including liberation, religious indifference, the revitalization of the people of Europe, and anti-Semitism. Faced with these challenges to the Jewish identity, Jews were forced to define a commitment to the Jewish collective, which had two primary characteristics. First, a nationalistic view that was tied directly into religion was established, and second, the existence of Jewish people outside both the religion of Judaism and the 'Homeland' was acknowledged. For many of these individuals, a new Jewish consciousness emerged, that of Zionism. Early Zionism sought to create a Jewish state in an effort to provide a refuge from persecution and to reconstruct a national identity. Specifically, Zionism sought to create such a state in Eretz Yisrael, the homeland of the Jews, and the land to which Jewish tradition, history, and culture was tied.

Theodore Herzl, one of the founders of modern Zionism, was a Viennese journalist. In 1896, Herzl called for a Jewish state to solve the Diaspora and anti-Semitism problem. By 1897, Herzl had called the first World Zionist Congress at Basel, which served to bring together various Zionist groups to form a single Zionist movement. At the Congress, the goal of modern Zionism was developed, which stated, "Zionism aspires to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, guaranteed by international law, in the land of Israel."

The goal of Zionism, therefore, was to liberate the Jews from oppressive rule and unify those in exile within the Jewish homeland. Wile this goal was innocent enough and would seem non-offensive, Zionism was not accepted by all Jewish peoples. The goals, meanings, and essence of the movement was a source of near constant disagreement between secular and religious Jews, as members of each group announced their support or opposition of Zionism as a movement towards the creation of a Jewish state.

From the standpoint of some religious Jews, Zionism was a necessary step in bringing the Jews to redemption. According to the Holy Bible, the Israelites inherited Eretz Yisrael through God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

However, this claim on the land was contingent on the Israelite's ability to continuously obey the word of God and the Ten Commandments, and if such obedience could not be maintained, the people would be exiled. As promised, when the people of Israel failed to obey God's laws, the people were scattered throughout the world. Eretz Yisrael was sentenced to be "desolate," while the cities were laid to ruin. The people themselves were sentenced to suffer, as well. Leviticus 26:36-38 states, "As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies... even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall...But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies' land will consume you."

However, the Bible also speaks of the ultimate redemption of the Jews, and this is primarily the reason for the religious Jew's support of Zionism. Leviticus 26:41-42 implies that, if the Jews admit to their mistakes, make amends for their "inequity," and atone for their sins, God will remember the covenant, and the Jews will return to Eretz Yisrael. Thus, in order to return to Eretz Yisrael, according to the Bible, as well as to the Torah, the Jews must come together in atonement.

One of the primary supporters of Zionism from a religious perspective was Abraham Issac Kook, or Rabbi Kook. During the late 19th and early 20th century, Rabbi Kook was a primary supporter of religious Zionism. Kook began his support early, but came to fully push for Zionistic ideas following his experiences with the youth building Jewish settlements in Palestine. Often hostile, secular, and nationalistic rather than religious, these youths were often in feud with priests, who believed the secularists were at odds with Jewish tradition, due to the youth's own beliefs that the priests were blind to the vision of Jewish redemption.

Rabbi Kook saw, during these feuds, the validity of both claims, and called on both sides to come together to reunite the Jews, rather than waiting for the Messiah to call them to Zion. According to Kook, if the Jews began the process of migration back to Palestine, created the Jewish state, and atoned for their past sins, they could hasten the coming of the Messiah, and thus, the redemption of the Jews. When others criticized his Zionistic views, Kook replied that if being a Zionist meant a struggle for the rebuilding of the land of God, then to be a Zionist was to be honorable.

Simultaneously, Kook was critical of the early Zionists, noting their nearly complete secular views of Zionist. According to Kook, such an emphasis of Jewish nationalism without reference to religion offered no "permanent directive for life." Instead, Kook believed the insertion of religion into Zionism would "serve...as the way of penitence, which will heal all of our afflictions and bring near full redemption." At the same time, Kook saw the efforts of early Zionists as positive, since their work showed a "deep love" for the Jewish people, and a "firm dedication to extend the practical work of rebuilding Eretz Yisrael." Kook also mentioned his belief that the secular Zionist movement was religious, by nature, and was simply waiting for a spark to ignite such principles.

Kook's support of Zionism, as well as the other religious Jews of the time, is therefore clearly based in their desire not only to reunite Jews, but to hasten the redemption of the people. While they disagreed with the lack of religion in secular Zionism, they supported the effort to bring the Jews back to the homeland, and believed strongly in the power of this migration in redeeming the Jewish people in the eyes of God. Convinced their actions would heal the afflictions of the Jews, many religious Jews joined Koon in his support of Zionism as an ideology, with the insertion of a religious component.

On the other hand, there were several groups of religious Jews who rejected the principles of Zionism, for the very reasons Kook and his followers supported the movement. Neturei Karta, an organization created in 1935, was one such group. The members of the Neturel Karta, and other religious Jewish organizations, strongly opposed the principles of Zionism, and thus, rejected any attempt to incorporate the movement. The reasoning for this rejection came not only from the secular aspects of Zionism, but also due to the fact that they believed the concept of a Jewish state was contrary to Judaism's fundamental principles.

According to these groups, the Talmud, a fundamental doctrine of Judaism believed to be given to Moses by God on Mt. Sinai, spoke specifically of the repopulation of a Jewish state. In Tractate Kesubos of the Talmud, the writings taught that the Jews should not use human force to create a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah. Further, the teachings stated the Jews were forbidden to rebel against the nations, should remain citizens, and should not attempt to leave ahead of time the exile into which God sent them.

From the standpoint of non-Zionist religious Jews, the Zionist movement went against the teachings of the Talmud. The Neturei Karta noted in their writings that the group was against the creation of the State of Israel, and the uprooting of Arab individuals from their communities by Zionists wishing sovereignty. According to the group, the shedding of Jew and non-Jew blood for this sovereignty was against Judaism not only because of the violence, but because the cause for which the wars occurred was against Judaism. The Neturei Karta believed Eretz Yisrael would be returned to the Jews on the appearance of the Messiah, and that any other method of return was invalid. As such, the Neturei Karta opposed, and still opposes, the creation of a Jewish state, on the basis that the creation of such a state is against the teachings of the Talmud, and against the word of God.

Clearly, the religious Jews were divided by the Zionist movement, primarily due to disagreement on the creation of a Jewish state, and the legitimacy of that creation at the hand of man, rather than because of the coming of the Messiah. At the same time, the secular Jews also became divided over the concepts of Zionism, even though the movement was primarily secular in nature. Yet even without any religious connotation, the secular Jews had vast areas of differences in their opinions of the fundamental concepts of Zionism.

Primarily, at the turn of the 19th century, religious supporters and opponents of Zionism were battling over the theoretical concept of Zionism as an ideology. However, several groups of Jewish peoples had begun to realize the need for a practical plan to settle Palestine, and claim rightful ownership of Eretz Yisrael, which most religious Zionist views did not specifically discuss. Additionally, there were an increasing number of socialist and communist movements among young Jewish peoples of Russia and the Zionist leaders realized a need to appeal to these groups in order to further the resettlement of Palestine by the Jewish people. As a result, Labor Zionism was created.

At the forefront of the movement was Nachman Syrkin, who founded the Workers of Zion, the first Labor Zionist party, in 1906, and Ber Borochov. Syrkin believed a Jewish settlement needed to be created based on the organizational ideas of socialism, those of the accumulation of capital by the Jews and the employment of Jewish laborers.

He noted in his writings that anti-Semitism was the result of unequal distribution of power in society, and that if the Jews remained weak, anti-Semitism would also remain. In other words, Syrkin called for the Jews to attain social and political power in order to create an environment in Palestine conducive to settlement by the Jewish peoples.

Ber Borochov believed in similar concepts, but his views contained far more ideologies of class and nationality. In his work, Nationalism and Class Struggle, Borochov laid out a plan for class struggle that would give rise to the Jewish nation. Borochov noted that through the creation of a Jewish society, in which Jews controlled all economic, social, and moral aspects, a class struggle could ensue that would allow the impoverished Jews of the world to unite against a similar cause and attain sovereignty over Palestine and the rightful land of the Jews. At the time, the Russian influence over many Jewish youths made such a concept appealing to many.

Clearly, support of Zionism from a secular viewpoint was not solely due to a need to avoid persecution, as the originators of Zionism believed, but was also as a way to attain and maintain social and economical power. As Syrkin pointed out, anti-Semitism was abundant in the world at the close of the 19th century through the early 20th century, and secular Zionism supporters such as Syrkin saw such processes continuing until the Jews could establish their own sovereignty, complete with economic and political independence. In order to create such a Jewish State, the Labor Zionists and other supporters realized a need to first create a society of Jewish labor and power, hence the need to create settlements in Palestine.

While socialism clearly influenced the secular pro-Zionists, it also had an effect on the secular anti-Zionists. While the pro-Zionists were planning settlements in Palestine to create a Jewish nation of economic, political, and social sovereignty that would force an end to anti-Semitism, the anti-Zionist secular movement was battling for an end to Zionism. For them, Zionism was simply an escape from anti-Semitism, rather than a solution.

During the early 20th century, many of the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe were attracted to communism, believing that the only way to end the racism against them was to overthrow the powers of the world that practiced anti-Semitism.

Unable to join in many socialist circles, the Jewish, led by Alexander Kremer, formed the Jewish Bund in 1897. The early foundation of the Bund was that Jewish nationalism was transitory. In other words, the Jews were predestined to live in exile, and many advocated Diaspora nationalism in the face of this destiny. They believed the Jews were a nation of people who would always be a minority in Europe, but could thrive in their own countries. In numerous writings, the Bund leaders reiterated the concept that they "believe our home is here, in Poland, in Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the United States... If my home is 'there,' it means that every drop of my sweat that falls here, in a foreign land, is in vain... A national home in Eretz Israel will not eliminate the Diaspora."