HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/schoolsucks/zionut1.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 6KB | 83 lines

       Judaism's Transformation to Modernization in Relation to Zionism

       Zionism was formed as a reaction to the pogroms of the late 1800s.
       The czars were antagonistic to those victimized, and the people
       were apathetic, and it was made clear to the Jews during these
       pogroms that they were not wanted around. Many moved out quickly to
       friendlier lands, such as America or Palestine. But even there
       they encountered anti-Semitism and a desire of the locals for them
       to pack up again and leave. Nobody wanted the Jews; they were the
       outsiders.
       Zionism can be deemed a self-understanding of Judaism, dating back
       to the covenental times and promises -- a promise of Jews forever
       and a land, a concept in self-understanding of Jewish history is
       being in the land or wanting to be there. This concept is ancient;
       from 70 to 1948, the Jews have been in exile. Jews prayed to
       return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. The primary belief
       of the Jew was that "if I am not in my land, I am not where I
       belong." In the romantic nationalist phase in Europe, a person was
       connected by blood to the land. A foreigner can visit, but they
       really do not belong.
       Leon Pinsker, one of two men credited with the establishment of
       the Zionist movement (the other being Theodor Herzl),
       anti-Semitism was a significant component in the discoveries
       leading up to Jewish nationalism. In the summer of 1882 he
       published a pamphlet entitled Autoemancipation, which stated that
       the single answer to end anti-Semitism was to give the Jews a land
       of their own. By about 1895 the theory of Jewish nationalism
       reached Europe, where the ears of Herzl were listening. Considered
       a highly assimilated German Jew, he was at the time a newsman of a
       daily newspaper. He converted to Zionism, having liked what he
       heard (although local anti-Semitism was high) and because of the
       Dreyfus affair in France. He felt that Jews could not be
       integrated into a lifestyle because there would never be any way
       Jews would be deemed equals in European and/or other nations.
       Although the Jews adopted many things in their "new" land
       (wherever that may be) -- for example, clothes and language --
       they still garnered no acceptance. The dilemma was not religion
       (Judaism), but politics (political Zionism). Herzl claimed that
       the Jewish people would, at most, only be visitors in France. The
       situation wasn't equal because Jews didn't have a home to invite
       the French back to. Herzl wanted a land, and any place would do,
       as long as it belongs to the Jews. Then they can be guests. Herzl
       actually thought that all Jews would go to Israel after it had
       been established. The more realistic (and true-to-life) prediction
       of Ahad Ha-am (his name, the pseudonym of Asher Ginsberg, means
       "One of the People"), the paramount agent for cultural Zionism,
       was that the prospect of every single Jew on the planet making the
       odyssey to Israel seemed like a wonderful idea, but it was not
       feasible, and it was unnecessary. (To prove Ha-am, ask any
       American Jew where s/he lives, and where s/he belongs. Most will
       respond similar to: "I live in my city, and I belong in America.
       Israel is nice, but I have my family here, my friends here, my
       contacts here, and I feel comfortable here.") A national spirit
       needed revival; the secular Jewish culture was being eliminated.
       The land of the Jews should be a hub, based on the Hebrew
       language. These communities would inspire other communities to do
       things in Hebrew with pride in their land and their language. This
       is cultural Zionism.
       In America, and other lands like it, Judaism as a religion has
       been sadly separated from cultural Judaism. Separation is possible
       from the ideologies of the covenant and halahkah, while still
       maintaining a fruitful and productive culture.
       The modern city of Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 to complement the
       ancient and history-rich city of Jerusalem. The League of Nations,
       later to evolve into the United Nations, gave final approval to
       the Jewish National Home. Three years later, Hebrew University
       opened its doors in Jerusalem. In 1937, a commission recommended a
       Palestinian partition between the Arabs and the Jews. World War II
       lasted primarily from 1939 to 1945, but throughout the 1930s the
       Jews in Warsaw were forced to live in the ghetto. When people saw
       the camps, and all the paraphernalia and residue had been exposed
       to public view, the Jewish state was finally recognized by the UN
       in 1948. It didn't make the Holocaust worth it. The state of
       Israel is not the "good" that came out of the Holocaust. A year
       after Israel was granted its true independence from the UN (and
       from the war victory it received the countries that attacked it
       the day after the UN recognized it), Jews from across the globe --
       camps in Europe, Arab and other countries, and especially those
       Jews in every country who were waiting for their homeland and
       could finally see it -- made the pilgrimage and mass migrated to
       Israel.