m***@walla.co.il
2008-04-29 16:17:07 UTC
Zionism - A Preliminary Paper
Zionism can be divided into three ages:
1. Paleozionism (c. 1200 BCE to 135 CE)
2. Mesozionism (1880 to 1993)
3. Neozionism (2000 and onward)
Paleozionism
Paleozionism is the basic Zionism of all the ancient Jewish sources,
especially the Torah. Its roots is in HaShem's promise to Abraham to
give the Land of Israel to his descendants, a promise fixed for
eternity in HaShem's word, the Torah, and fulfilled in the days of the
saviors (Shoftim) and the kings.
Foremost in Paleozionism is the notion that the Israelites are
entitled to take the Land of Israel by force from the seven Gentile
nations that inhabited it at the time. The land was to be purged of
those nations, and great was the punishment of the leader of the
Israelites who wavered in that task (cf. Shaul). Also, absent in
Paleozionism is the idea that the 400 years of slavery in Egypt
entitled the Israelites to the Land of Israel; HaShem's promise was
the only basis.
The decline of Paleozionism went hand in hand with foreign rule and
exile. The Babylonian exile and then life under the Persians and the
Greeks forged the first modes of lying low and waiting passively.
Paleozionism experienced a resurgence in the days of the Hasmoneans,
when the high priest and his sons ousted Seleucid rule and overcame
the Jewish Hellenizers (the day's post-Zionists). It declined again
under Roman rule, and its resurgence in was crushed in 70 CE and
finally in 135 CE. Following that last blow, Paleozionism was pushed
into the background of Jewish thought. Nevertheless, it appears even
in Jewish legislation, such as the ruling from Shulchan Aruch (16th
century) that he who makes aliyah to the Land of Israel must never
leave it.
Mesozionism
Mesozionism, like Palezionism, is a political Zionism, and it takes
Palezionism as its spiritual basis. However, it was deeply influenced
by what gave rise to it in the first place: European nationalism. It
was also catalyzed by the Jew-hatred of the day.
For Leon Pinsker and Theodore Herzl, the unbearable life of Jews in
Europe called for the establishment of a Jewish State, where Jews by
nature would be secured from anti-Semitism. The location of the Jewish
State was sometimes debated, but the assimilated Jew Herzl's
proposition of Uganda was forcefully rejected by those of a more
religious, therefore Paleozionist, background.
Mesozionism was a secular movement. It is thought that the opposition
of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews to Zionism was because of its active nature
(instead of waiting for miraculous deliverance), but that played only
a small part (hence the vocality of only those who took that as their
main objection--the Neturei Karta); the greater objection to
Mesozionism was because of it secularist nature. The early
Mesozionists were radicals and revolutionaries, seeking to end Jewish
religion and replace Jewish identity with the secular, nationalist and
socialist vision. The deconversion of religious Jews who had made
aliyah remained a sore issue for a long time.
Jews from the Islamic world joined Zionism partly for Paleozionist
reasons (e.g. the aliyah of the Yemenites in 1882) and partly from the
Mesozionist impulse of permanently ending Jew-hatred by setting up a
Jewish state. Few of them shared the Mesozionist radical vision. Thus
we can see why European Jews were the pioneers of Mesozionism, whereas
Oriental Jews were the first adherents of Neozionism.
The decline of Mesozionism was ideological. It had its roots in the
Canaanite movement of Ratosh, who proposed a Semitic single state of
Jews and Arabs living together, but he had little influence in his
time. Doubts about the legitimacy of [modern] Zionism began to creep
in 1973, after the near-defeat in the Yom Kippur War. The post-Zionist
stream appeared in full in 1982, in the demonstrations against the
Sabra and Shatila massacre, which has often, and justly, been compared
to the Vietnam War protests.
In 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords, post-Zionism was given
official sanction. The idea that "the good life" takes precedence to
the ideal of inhabiting the Land of Israel was prevalent for the next
seven years. Despite suicide-terrorism and the obviousness of the
Arabs' preaching for the destruction of the State of Israel, the Jews
of Israel held hope against hope that the final peace was at hand.
In the meantime, post-Zionist intellectuals played their own part in
stoking the flames of hatred by claiming that Zionism (i.e.
Mesozionism) was inherently illegitimate, wrong from the start. For
them, the two-state solution was not enough, and Ratosh's old
one-state solution had to be awakened from the dead. They denied the
existence of Paleozionism, claiming Zionism as a whole to be a
"European colonial settler movement". The post-Zionists became more
extreme in their views as the years went, until they became totally
out of touch with the Jew in the Israeli street, for that Jew had most
probably become a Neozionist by now.
Neozionism
The second intifada of October 2000, in which Arabs not only of the
Palestinian Authority but also of "Israel proper" (what most Gentiles
called Israel within the 1949-67 borders) rose up against the
authority of the Jewish State, sparked second thoughts among many
Jews. The last-ditch effort of post-Zionism was the expulsion of all
Jews from Gaza; when this resulted not in peace but in Qassam rockets
over Israeli towns near Gaza, Neozionism took hold in earnest.
Neozionism represents a return to Paleozionism in many ways: it is
much more religious in nature, even if secularists play not a small
role in it; it reiterates the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel by
right (historical, scriptural or otherwise), rather than appeal to the
need for shelter from Jew-hatred as the Mesozionists did; lastly, it
rejects all attempts at making the Arabs happy through gifts (of
either economic prosperity or land concessions) and at the very least
entertains the idea that peace could only come by driving them all out
from the Land of Israel.
Neozionism's roots lie in the religious Zionism of Rabbi Cook, who was
the first to attempt to purify Mesozionism by attaching a religious
nature to it. Religious Zionism was given impetus in 1967, following
the conquest of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The first systematic
Neozionist was Rabbi Meir Kahane, who attracted a large following,
especially among Jews from the Islamic world, and because of his
popularity was targeted by the Mesozionist establishment. His ideas
were not forgotten, however, and the general Arab uprising of October
2000 caused a growth of the number of adherents of his vision.
Neozionism is one of the most important Jewish movements today,
comparable to the fervor of the Hasmoneans in their day. In being a
return to Paleozionist basics, it can be considered a fulfillment of
the prophecy, "For I will save you in the end as in the beginning".
Zionism can be divided into three ages:
1. Paleozionism (c. 1200 BCE to 135 CE)
2. Mesozionism (1880 to 1993)
3. Neozionism (2000 and onward)
Paleozionism
Paleozionism is the basic Zionism of all the ancient Jewish sources,
especially the Torah. Its roots is in HaShem's promise to Abraham to
give the Land of Israel to his descendants, a promise fixed for
eternity in HaShem's word, the Torah, and fulfilled in the days of the
saviors (Shoftim) and the kings.
Foremost in Paleozionism is the notion that the Israelites are
entitled to take the Land of Israel by force from the seven Gentile
nations that inhabited it at the time. The land was to be purged of
those nations, and great was the punishment of the leader of the
Israelites who wavered in that task (cf. Shaul). Also, absent in
Paleozionism is the idea that the 400 years of slavery in Egypt
entitled the Israelites to the Land of Israel; HaShem's promise was
the only basis.
The decline of Paleozionism went hand in hand with foreign rule and
exile. The Babylonian exile and then life under the Persians and the
Greeks forged the first modes of lying low and waiting passively.
Paleozionism experienced a resurgence in the days of the Hasmoneans,
when the high priest and his sons ousted Seleucid rule and overcame
the Jewish Hellenizers (the day's post-Zionists). It declined again
under Roman rule, and its resurgence in was crushed in 70 CE and
finally in 135 CE. Following that last blow, Paleozionism was pushed
into the background of Jewish thought. Nevertheless, it appears even
in Jewish legislation, such as the ruling from Shulchan Aruch (16th
century) that he who makes aliyah to the Land of Israel must never
leave it.
Mesozionism
Mesozionism, like Palezionism, is a political Zionism, and it takes
Palezionism as its spiritual basis. However, it was deeply influenced
by what gave rise to it in the first place: European nationalism. It
was also catalyzed by the Jew-hatred of the day.
For Leon Pinsker and Theodore Herzl, the unbearable life of Jews in
Europe called for the establishment of a Jewish State, where Jews by
nature would be secured from anti-Semitism. The location of the Jewish
State was sometimes debated, but the assimilated Jew Herzl's
proposition of Uganda was forcefully rejected by those of a more
religious, therefore Paleozionist, background.
Mesozionism was a secular movement. It is thought that the opposition
of the Ultra-Orthodox Jews to Zionism was because of its active nature
(instead of waiting for miraculous deliverance), but that played only
a small part (hence the vocality of only those who took that as their
main objection--the Neturei Karta); the greater objection to
Mesozionism was because of it secularist nature. The early
Mesozionists were radicals and revolutionaries, seeking to end Jewish
religion and replace Jewish identity with the secular, nationalist and
socialist vision. The deconversion of religious Jews who had made
aliyah remained a sore issue for a long time.
Jews from the Islamic world joined Zionism partly for Paleozionist
reasons (e.g. the aliyah of the Yemenites in 1882) and partly from the
Mesozionist impulse of permanently ending Jew-hatred by setting up a
Jewish state. Few of them shared the Mesozionist radical vision. Thus
we can see why European Jews were the pioneers of Mesozionism, whereas
Oriental Jews were the first adherents of Neozionism.
The decline of Mesozionism was ideological. It had its roots in the
Canaanite movement of Ratosh, who proposed a Semitic single state of
Jews and Arabs living together, but he had little influence in his
time. Doubts about the legitimacy of [modern] Zionism began to creep
in 1973, after the near-defeat in the Yom Kippur War. The post-Zionist
stream appeared in full in 1982, in the demonstrations against the
Sabra and Shatila massacre, which has often, and justly, been compared
to the Vietnam War protests.
In 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords, post-Zionism was given
official sanction. The idea that "the good life" takes precedence to
the ideal of inhabiting the Land of Israel was prevalent for the next
seven years. Despite suicide-terrorism and the obviousness of the
Arabs' preaching for the destruction of the State of Israel, the Jews
of Israel held hope against hope that the final peace was at hand.
In the meantime, post-Zionist intellectuals played their own part in
stoking the flames of hatred by claiming that Zionism (i.e.
Mesozionism) was inherently illegitimate, wrong from the start. For
them, the two-state solution was not enough, and Ratosh's old
one-state solution had to be awakened from the dead. They denied the
existence of Paleozionism, claiming Zionism as a whole to be a
"European colonial settler movement". The post-Zionists became more
extreme in their views as the years went, until they became totally
out of touch with the Jew in the Israeli street, for that Jew had most
probably become a Neozionist by now.
Neozionism
The second intifada of October 2000, in which Arabs not only of the
Palestinian Authority but also of "Israel proper" (what most Gentiles
called Israel within the 1949-67 borders) rose up against the
authority of the Jewish State, sparked second thoughts among many
Jews. The last-ditch effort of post-Zionism was the expulsion of all
Jews from Gaza; when this resulted not in peace but in Qassam rockets
over Israeli towns near Gaza, Neozionism took hold in earnest.
Neozionism represents a return to Paleozionism in many ways: it is
much more religious in nature, even if secularists play not a small
role in it; it reiterates the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel by
right (historical, scriptural or otherwise), rather than appeal to the
need for shelter from Jew-hatred as the Mesozionists did; lastly, it
rejects all attempts at making the Arabs happy through gifts (of
either economic prosperity or land concessions) and at the very least
entertains the idea that peace could only come by driving them all out
from the Land of Israel.
Neozionism's roots lie in the religious Zionism of Rabbi Cook, who was
the first to attempt to purify Mesozionism by attaching a religious
nature to it. Religious Zionism was given impetus in 1967, following
the conquest of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The first systematic
Neozionist was Rabbi Meir Kahane, who attracted a large following,
especially among Jews from the Islamic world, and because of his
popularity was targeted by the Mesozionist establishment. His ideas
were not forgotten, however, and the general Arab uprising of October
2000 caused a growth of the number of adherents of his vision.
Neozionism is one of the most important Jewish movements today,
comparable to the fervor of the Hasmoneans in their day. In being a
return to Paleozionist basics, it can be considered a fulfillment of
the prophecy, "For I will save you in the end as in the beginning".