When they ask about… Zionism

Like any ism worthy of its suffix - such as feminism, socialism, liberalism or capitalism - Zionism is a broad term encompassing varied, evolving and even contradictory understandings. In recent years and greatly heightened in the last nine months, it has become something of a flash term with people, often hurriedly, taking sides as they vociferously affirm or denounce the ideology and those who uphold it (the ists). Amid this, many are caught in the middle, confused about why it is suddenly so contentious and how to identify themselves in relation to this movement.

At its most basic, Zionism refers to the modern movement for self-determination of the Jewish people in its ancestral homeland, the land of Israel, also known as Zion.

The centrality of the land of Israel, of Jerusalem and Zion to Judaism as a religion and to Jews as a nation is absolute. It is the biblical land of promise, it was here that the tribes became a nation and a kingdom, the two temples were erected in Jerusalem, the language of Hebrew, our lashon hakadosh (holy tongue), emerged from here. After the first exile to Babylon in 586 BCE, many (not all) of the Jews returned to the land in a movement known as Shivat Zion, a precursor to the modern movement. Jews pray facing Jerusalem three times daily, are buried facing Jerusalem, enunciate the hope ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ at the Pesach seder, it is the focal point of our redemptive vision. These and many more examples constitute the historic, cultural, spiritual and tangible links between people, land and faith.

When modern Zionism first emerged in the late 19th century, its leading proponents had varied aspirations for the movement. For Ahad Ha'am, it would lead to a spiritual and cultural renaissance, centred in the land of Israel. For Herzl and others, the goal was political, exemplified in the title he gave his seminal work ‘Der Judenstaat’ (‘The Jewish State’) 1896, although the Jewish nature of this state was vague.