Religious & Zionist
Religious Zionists believe that the Jewish return to Israel hastens the
Messiah.
By Rachael Gelfman
Since
the destruction of the Temple, religious Jews have prayed for the return to the
Land of Israel. Yet these prayers have not necessarily translated into
political action to establish a Jewish state there. In fact, modern Zionism has
been mostly secular, particularly in its early years.
Many
religious Jews condemn modern Zionism as "forcing the hand of
God"--intervening with the divine plan for history. Religious Zionism,
however, sees the State of Israel not only as practically necessary for the
Jewish people but also as religiously meaningful. According to religious
Zionists, the State of Israel is an essential step in bringing the Messiah.
Two Early Thinkers
Rabbi Yehudah Alkalai (1798-1878) and Rabbi Zvi Hirsch
Kalischer (1795-1874), precursors to the modern Zionist movement, advocated
from a religious perspective for settlement in the Land of Israel. Living in
Eastern Europe in the mid-19th century, both men were influenced by modern
secular nationalism. They saw a Jewish state in the Land of Israel not only as
a political solution to the misery of Eastern Europe Jews but also as a
necessary step toward bringing the Messiah.
Many religious Jews believed that Jews must remain in
their homes in the Diaspora until God sends the Messiah and gathers the exiles,
but Alkalai and Kalischer stressed the importance of human effort in bringing
the Messiah. Both Alkalai and Kalischer, however, were ahead of their time;
their ideas were not widely accepted or well-known.
Abraham Isaac Kook
Rabbi
Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935)--considered the "father" of religious
Zionism--succeeded where Alkalai and Kalischer failed in garnering support for
religious Zionism. Kook published his first essay on Zionism while serving as
rabbi in Boisk, Lithuania. In the essay, he argued that modern Jewish
nationalism, even at its most secular, expresses the divinity within the Jewish
soul and signifies the beginning of the messianic age.
Kook
moved to Palestine in 1904 and served as rabbi of the city of Yaffo (Jaffa) and
the agricultural settlements nearby. In 1919 he became the chief rabbi of the
Ashkenazic Jews (those from Eastern Europe) in Jerusalem, and in 1921 he became
the first Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Palestine in the period of the British
mandate. As chief rabbi, Kook worked to spread his religious Zionist ideals. He
founded a Zionist yeshivah (Jewish
institution of higher learning) and defended the secular Zionists in the face
of widespread religious opposition.
Kook
believed that secular Zionists are unwittingly bringing the Messiah. All Jews,
he believed, have within themselves a divine spark that motivates them to
fulfill God's will even when they do not intend to do so. Secular Zionism is a
manifestation of this divine spark. Through divine guidance, history is
inexorably progressing toward the messianic age, and secular Zionism is an
essential part of this process. Religious Jews, therefore, should support
Zionism, while recognizing the religious significance that secular Zionists
themselves do not see.
Kook
did not live to see the Holocaust or the founding of the State of Israel. We
cannot know how he would have reacted to these events. Kook seemed to believe
that the Messiah was coming in his generation, so he did not work out the
practical implications of a Jewish state in a non-messianic age. How would he
address the complex problems that face the State of Israel today as a Jewish
democracy? How would he have responded to the Israeli conquests of 1967? Kook's
many followers today in the religious Zionist camp debate his legacy.
Tzvi Yehudah Kook & Gush Emunim
Kook's
son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook, believed his father would see the conquest of the
entire biblical land of Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza, as part of
the messianic fulfillment. Centered in Merkaz
ha-Rav, the yeshiva that his father founded, the younger Kook led a
campaign against territorial compromise.
Following
the Israeli conquest of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, Tzvi Yehudah Kook's
followers were among the leaders of the movement to settle in those areas. His
followers founded the political movement Gush
Emunim in 1974, following the Yom Kippur War. The party continues to
support and build settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and it opposed
Israel's return of the Sinai in the 1977 peace treaty with Egypt. Today,
members of Gush Emunim are prominent
among the settlers whodisobey
military commands to evacuate settlements in the territories.
Meimad
Not
all religious Zionists, however, interpret Abraham Isaac Kook's legacy as his
son and Gush Emunim do. Rabbi
Yehudah Amital established Meimad in
1988 as a religious Zionist alternative to the right-wing Gush Emunim. Meimad believes that the
Jewish values of peace and saving lives are more important than Jewish
sovereignty over the entire biblical land of Israel.
Although
not necessarily opposed to the settlements--Amital himself heads a yeshiva in
Gush Etzion, one of Israel's 1967 conquests--Meimad advocates territorial
compromise for peace, but does not support the evacuation of Jewish
settlements. In addition, Meimad supports
the idea of Israel as a Jewish and democratic country--a state that is Jewish
in character but does not employ coercive religious legislation.
Diversity & Challenges
Gush Emunim and Meimadare just two parties within
the category of religious Zionism today. Religious Zionism faces many political
challenges, from the question of the territories to that of how Israel can be
both a Jewish and democratic state. There is little consensus among religious
Zionists today regarding how to respond to these challenges.
In
addition, the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a young man
from the religious Zionist movement forced the movement to re-examine its goals
and methods. How could a man educated in religious Zionist institutions
conclude that murder was religiously justified because the prime minister
wanted to trade land for peace? In response to these issues and others,
religious Zionism as a political movement is constantly changing.
Despite
the challenges, religious Zionism is thriving today in Israel. Defined by far
more than just political parties, the movement includes a wide range of
institutions. Bnei Akiva, the religious Zionist youth movement, provides social
and educational activities for school-age youths. Academies known as hesder
yeshivot allow young religious men to combine military service with Torah
study. Bar Ilan University, founded in 1955, enables its students to explore
the Jewish tradition while simultaneously engaging in high-level secular
studies. For religious Zionists involved
in Israel's collective villages and farms, the Kibbutz Hadati movement
runs includes communities throughout the country that provide for full
religious observance within the socialist/agricultural kibbutz lifestyle.
These institutions and others
ensure the continued vibrancy of the religious Zionist community in Israel
today.
Rachael
Gelfman holds a B.A. in religion from Harvard University, and is now completing
her M.A. in Jewish Civilization at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.