Transcript Document 7228226

RELIG 210: Lecture 14 (February 25, 2009)
JUDAISM, ZIONISM AND THE STATE OF
ISRAEL
IS ZIONISM NEW IDEA OR FULFILLMENT OF
JEWISH HISTORY?

Strong connection to Land of Israel
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Religious yearning to return
Historical connection
Jews living in Palestine
No precedent for large scale return

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Jews in religious AND political exile
Return to Land of Israel linked to messianic redemption
Judaism designed for diaspora
THE FOUR OATHS AND THE MEANING OF EXILE
“There are four oaths here: that they not rebel
against the kingdoms; that they not force the
End; that they not reveal their mystery to the
nations of the world; and that they not ascend
as a wall from the Exile.” (Midrash, Song of
Songs Rab. 2:7)
HISTORICAL CHANGES

Failure of Emancipation
 Rise
of antisemitism across Europe
 1881 Russian pogroms
Jewish acculturation
 Rise of nineteenth-century nationalist
movements

 Italy,
Germany, Bulgarians, Rumanians,etc
 Identity through territory and sovereignty
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ZIONISM
1862 Moses Hess,Rome and Jerusalem
 1882 Leon Pinsker, “Autoemancipation”
 Theodore Herzl (1860-1904)

 The
Jewish State, 1896
 First Zionist Congress, 1897
 “Zionism aspires to the securing of a national home
for the Jewish people in Palestine, guaranteed by
public law.”
The First Zionist Congress, 1897
ZIONISM AND THE JEWISH QUESTION
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Clear reason for antisemitism
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Jews have no homeland
Alien people
Economic factors
No future for Jews in Diaspora
What is the solution?
FOUNDING OF THE STATE
1882 First Wave of Immigration
 1909 Tel Aviv founded
 1917 British in Palestine; Balfour Declaration
 1947 U.N. Votes to Partition Palestine
 1948 State of Israel declared/War of
Independence

Post-War Refugees
MAJOR ZIONIST IDEOLOGIES

Political Zionism-Theodore Herzl
 Saving

the Jews
Cultural Zionism-Achad Ha-am
 Preserving

Religious Zionism-Rabbi Kook
 The
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Judaism
Flowering of Redemption
Peoplehood/Diaspora Zionism
 Mordecai
Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization
KEY DIFFERENCES:
What is the significance of the Land of Israel
What is the purpose of Zionism?
 What is the vision for Jewish life in the Land?
 What is the future of Jews in the diaspora?

TENSIONS IN ZIONISM
Multiple visions of Zionism still exist
 Visions have different views on internal politics,
role of religion, meaning of territory, funding
priorities
 Knesset debate: Rambam vs. John Locke

What Is a Jewish State?
WHAT IS A JEWISH STATE?
Halachah?
 Civil Religion
 Division of Church and State?
 Minority Religions?

CIVIL RELIGION
Calendar
 Holidays
 Education
 National Narratives
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JERUSALEM FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND
SATURDAY
STATUS QUO AGREEMENT, 1953
All Jews under jurisdiction of chief rabbinate for
personal status issues
 Public observance of Jewish Law

 No
transporation on the Sabbath
 All government institutions have Kosher food
PERSONAL STATUS LAWS
MARRIAGE
DIVORCE
BURIAL
ARE THEY JEWISH?
WHO IS A JEW
Law of Return: “a grandchild of a Jew, the
spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew
and the spouse of grandchild of a Jew, except a
person who has been a Jew and has voluntarily
changed his religion.”
 Halachah: Matrilineal Descent or Orthodox
Conversion
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CONVERSION
IS THIS KOSHER?
CHIEF SEPHARDIC RABBI ELIAHU
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"Certainly there is religious freedom for
Moslems and Christians, but for Jews only the
Orthodox way of religious observance is
allowed"
CONTROL OF HOLY SITES
WOMEN OF THE WALL VIDEO
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxjZWX5rlE
OTHER IMPLICATIONS
Funding for Ministry of Religion
 Tolerance/Support for Minority Religions
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 5.4
million Jews
 1.2 million Muslims
 149,00 Christians
 117,000 Druze
STATUS QUO, 1953
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Any government leader must prescribe for himself priorities, must decide on
first things first...(W)here there was agreement on what was urgent to me, I
was prepared to make concessions on what was urgent to others...When I
wanted to introduce national service conscription, the religious parties said
they would of course support it but they insisted that all army kitchens be
kosher. Kosher kitchens to them were of paramount importance; to me they
were of subsidiary interest. It was a price I was prepared to pay for their fullfledged support on a vital defense measure...In the same way I agreed not
to change the status quo on religious authority for matters of personal
status. I know it was hard on some individuals. But I felt, again in the
national interest, that it was wise to...pay the comparatively small price of
religious status quo."
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN ISRAEL
Secular (Hiloni)
 Religious (Dati)
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 Haredi/Ultra
Orthodox
 Zionist
 Anti-Zionist
 Orthodox
Zionists
 Mizrahi
 “Traditional”
ANTI-ZIONIST HAREDI
HESDER PROGRAM
OVADIA YOSEF-MIZRACHI RELIGIOUS LEADER
ISRAELI AND JEW
New identity based upon citizenship and
secular Hebrew culture
 Is Israeli identity Jewish?
 What links Israelis with Jews in the diaspora?
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AMERICAN JUDAISM AND ZIONISM
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American Jews initial hesitation toward Zionism/Israel (18971940s)
Close ties between American Jews/America and Israel (19481980’s)
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Philanthropy
Jewish Continuity
Fragmentation in American Jewry’s attitude toward Israel
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Dwindling sense of Jewish peoplehood
Tension between universal values and perception of Israel