Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Menorah Review VCU University Archives 2001 Menorah Review (No. 52, Spring/Summer, 2001) Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/menorah Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons © The Author(s) Recommended Citation https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/menorah/51 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the VCU University Archives at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Menorah Review by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. vcu ME�QRAH� NUMBER 52 • CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY • SPRING-SUMMER 2001 For the Enrichment of Jewish Thought on the fault lines in Zionist ideology, high­ intelligentsia. These ethnicists respondedto lighting its hegemony as a discourse in pub­ the unexpectedwave of pograrnsagainst the lic Jewish culture and in the academe. He Jewish populationthat swept through South­ inlroduces us to an exciting new !rend in em Russia in the early I 880s. What sparked Israel that takes a critical stance toward the Jewish nationalistmovement, according traditional articulations of Zionism and its to Shimoni, was thetumabout ofthe integra­ history. As such, his is both a brilliant tionists and assimilationists who joined the analysis and the most radical questioning of core of ethnicists. Chapter Two, "Ideologi­ Zionism as a movement and an ideology. cal Precursorsof Zionism," includes among the early nationalist thinkers of the 19th The Zwnist Ideology, by Gideon Shimoni, century Moses Hess and the traditionalist Brandeis University Press. This book is a rabbis Yehuda Hai Alkalai and Zvi Hirsch comprehensive historical survey and ideo­ Kalischer. Shimoni notes that the impor­ logical analysis of major !rends in the Zion­ tance of Alkalai and Kalischer lies in their ist movement It summarizes research al­ ground-breaking reinterpretationsthat broke ready available in this field. Though it adds with a long traditionof passive messianism. and refines some historical data,the book's They opened the door to the inclusion of major conlributioninheres in its ability tore­ Orthodox Jews in the modem secular na­ conceptualizelrends and alignmentsin mod­ tionalist movement. Christian ideas of Jew­ em Zionism. Shimoni argues for a consider­ ish restoration-based on a millenarian be­ ation of Zionism in the context of general lief in the necessityof a Jewish return to the theories of nationalism and ethnic identity. homeland for the universal redemption of The fJISt part of the book deals with the humankind--were also common and influ­ social origins of Jewish nationalism and ential at the time. Most notable among such with proto-Zionist thinkers, or precursors. Christian Zionists are Ben jamin Disraeli, The second part deals with major !rends in George Eliot and LaurenceOliphant Chap­ Zionist thought, politicaland spiritual Zion­ ter Three, "General Zionism," goes on to ism, national-religious Zionism, labor Zion­ discuss Theodor Herzl whose thinking is ism, and revisionist Zionism. The third part defined here as "the functional nationalist consists of discussions of two major topics: conception." Herzl analyzed modem anti­ The books I consider in this review give Zionism as a secular Jewish identity and the Semitism as the problem of the Jews and us a history of Zionism as an unfolding of right to the land of Israel. rejected emancipation as well as integration diverse and heterogeneous forces. All three Chapter One, "SocialOrigins ofJewish as a solution for this problem. Shimoni sees discuss the vast chasm that often separated Nationalism," delineates the influence of the Herzl's conlribution less in his theorizing various factions and groups in the Zionist Haska/a, the Jewish Enlightenment move­ and more in Herzl' s ability to create the movement. But, while the first two books ment and Hibbat Zion, the Love of Zion organizations and socialmechanisms for the emphasize ideological diversity as strands movement on theearly developmentof Zi­ attainment of a Zionist objective. In addi­ in a generally positive development leading onism. It argues that the early precursors tion, and most importantly, Herzl initiated to the formation of a Jewish pluralisticstate, who advocateda returnto the land, to Eretz­ political diplomacy as a means to securing thelast book points to the blind spotsthat led lsrael, were ethnicists among the Jewish an internationally recognizedcharter for the to much dis1ress and injustice in the new reestablishment of Palestine as a national State. Shimoni's The Zionist Ideology ex­ home for the Jews. The functional national­ plains basic differences and similarities ism ofHerzl and MaxNordau differed from among the various factions, while Halpern the organic nationalist conception of Ahad and Reinhartz's Zionismand the Creation of Ha'am. He conceived of a homeland as a a New Society focuses on the tortuous path spiritual center that will restore the self­ that led from conflict to social consolida­ respect of Diaspora Jews. Ahad Ha'am tion. Both highlight problematic schisms rejected any territorial compromise offered that continue to bedevil modem Israel and by thefunctional Zionists and insistedon the its relations with the Diaspora, on the one Land oflsrael exclusively as the futurehome­ hand, and with Arabs in the Middle East on land. The emergence of General Zionism, the other. Laurence J. Siberstein's The essentially a liberal orientation, developed a Postzionism Debates focuses specifically synthesis between these two approaches. 2 Menorah Review, Spring/Summer 2001 Chapter Four, "National Religious Zi­ tine. In the late 1930s, a radical right-wing (p. 366). In other words, their approach onism,'' focuseson the emergence of Mizrahi, group of poets(notable among themwas Uri would concede that theArabs toohad a right or the nationalistreligious orientation within Zvi Greenberg) and political publicists be­ to the land but that the Jewish claim is more theZionist movement To be surethere were carneknownas "maximalists,'' who believed urgent due to the physical threat to their strong haredi, ultra-Orthodox opponents to in establishinga Jewish state on both sides of survival in the Diaspora. In contrast, the Zionism, who saw it as a satanic obstacle to theJordan. Theyespoused anethosofmight revisionist claim was that the Jews were messianic redemption. Rabbi Avrabam and referredto the "kingdom oflsrae l" asthe exiled by force and stayed in the Diaspora Yitzhak Ha-Cohen Kook, Chief Ashkenazi true objective of Zionism. This ideology against their will. The radical revisionists Rabbi for Palestine in the 1920s, on the other was endorsed by small anti-British under­ argued from the position of"might is right,'' hand, insistedthat the modem return to Zion ground groups in the 1940s. claiming that the Jewish majority must as­ be seen as a messianic-redemptive event. Having surveyed the major trends in sert its authority over the Arab residents in He was convinced that the secular national­ Zionist thought and in the main factions in Palestine. By contrast, the pacifist Reform ists were serving the revival of Torah Juda­ the Zionist movement, Shimoni proceeds in rabbi, Judah Magnes of Brit Shalom, argued ism. Another faction that emerged in Pales­ Chapter Seven, ''Zionism as a Secular Jew­ that both Jews and Arabs have a right to the tine in the 1930s, synthesizing socialismand ish Identity,'' to delineate some of the com­ land, though Jews have a dire spiritual need mon motifs and principles shared by all the for a unifying center. Nevertheless, the various groups. He argues that one such fundamentalbelief that Eretz Israel belonged Though it adds and refines some principle is "the aspiration toward a renais­ partially or entirely to theJewish people was historical data, The Zionist sance of Jewish culture... predicated on the shared by all the factions of the Zionist secularized understanding of Jewish iden­ movement. Ideology's major contribution tity as an outcomeof immanent processesin In the Afterword, Shimoni notes that Inheres In its abilityto the history of the nation" (p. 269). Shimoni contemporary DiasporaZionism continues, reconceptualize trendsand align­ credits Ahad Ha'am with composing the in essence, the general orientation of the most influential-albeit positivist and es­ early 19th-century Jewish ethnicists who ments in modern Zionism. sentialist-ethosof a secular nationalist Ju­ valued positively Jewish ethnie-religion, daism. He notes, however, thatAhadHa'am languages, historical memory, folklore and traditionalism, was Ha-Poel Harnizrahi, or was challenged by Micha Yosef the connection to the land of Israel. He the Union of Religious Workers. Chapter Berdyczewsky who advocated individual projects that the contrasting interpretations Five, "Labor Zionism," surveys the various spontaneity and freedom and rejected tradi­ of Zionism as an obligation and a possible socialist trends and groups in the Zionist tional rabbinic Judaism as constricting and alternative to Diaspora life may be schis­ movement. The cumulative influence of unnecessary. Ahad Ha'am also was chal­ matic but leaves open the possibility that socialism on the Zionist movement was de­ lenged by the radical secularism of Yosef both communities will continue to co-exist: cisive. The first to attempt a synthesis be­ Haim Brenner who believed