Hot Take 🔥🔥🔥 The event that catalyzed the dawn of modernity in general, and of modern Zionism in particular, was the expulsion of the Jewish people from Spain in 1492.
Zionism
The prophetic project of return — and what it must yet become.
The Arizal as Zionist
Really enjoying this preliminary research situating the Arizal within the emergence of modern #Zionism and reading Lurianic kabbala as a Zionist project.
Immigration, political organization, autarky, ecology – just a few of the relevant elements promoted in the Arizal’s teachings and activities.
One Law for All
I have my thoughts about the death penalty and they’re complicated and truthfully undecided, but just focusing on policy for a sec:
I’m just saying… if the death penalty is too harsh for a citizen, it’s too harsh for a resident. Not only does discriminating between them in applying the death penalty further entrench the rights-less status of legal residents but it just generally reeks of racist ick.
“One law for the resident and the citizen alike.”
That’s my Torah. That’s my Zionism.
I Am Dry, They Are Wet
The land needs the rain. I’m grateful for it.
I’m also grateful to live in a safe, dry home, with a heater.
And not in a tent on a rubble-strewn mudslide of a street running between the ruins of bombed-out stores and apartment buildings, struggling to keep the freezing wind and downpour away from my children.
As a religious Zionist, who believes in building a golden city on a hill of justice and righteousness, who believes that we came back home to build a country based on our values, I can not get the thought of those other families out of my mind.
I am dry.
They are wet.
That is not right.
I dream of a Zion where all are safe, dry, and warm.
I hope that dream is infectious.
New Deal for Israel
Time for a New Deal for this country?
– annexation (better sixty years late than never)
– citizenship for all (regardless of ethnicity or religion)
– education for all (no more UNRWA or unregulated schools)
– national service for all (whether in the military or in public service projects and corps)
– economic reform (massive investment in domestic manufacturing, removal of barriers to small-scale entrepreneurship, and incentives for distribution to the domestic market)
– labor reform (bring all workers into a national union that is democratic, transparent, and effective)
– religious reform (transform rabbinate from bureaucratic authority to advisory body)
– political reform (no fascist parties, no criminal supporters allowed)
– environmental reform (end the corporate exploitation of the Galilee, the Dead Sea, and the water table beyond sustainable limits)
– energy development (massive investment in and disbursal of dividends from both renewables, like solar and wind farms, and non-renewables, like finding environmentally-safe ways to extract our oil shale and natural gas)
– constitutional convention (enshrine the basic laws that already have the standing of constitutional law into a document that enumerates and protects the the separation of powers, the responsibilities of government, and the rights of citizens)
“Shoot for the stars and you’ll wind up on the moon.”
Zionism for Palestinians
Zionism for Palestinians?
I’ve been having great discussions with listeners to The Z Word ‘s first episode, my conversation with Palestinian author Mo Husseini .
A central point of not conflict nor disagreement but, rather I would say, creative tension, between Mo and I was in the relevance of Zionism to Palestinians.
Mo represented an honest perspective: Zionism can mean different things to different people, granted, but beyond dealing with the localized (and often adverse) effects of Zionism on Palestinian lives, why should Palestinians care about Zionism? Isn’t it just something that the Jews are doing “over there”?
I, in response, made a brief argument for Zionism’s relevance to Palestinians.
I want to elaborate a bit more on why I think joining the Zionist discourse is not just relevant to Palestinians but, suggesting as a non-Palestinian, possibly desirable for them.
Firstly, I think that being subject to the localized effects of Zionism – whether under the current conditions of occupation and discrimination or in a situation where a future Palestinian state must partner with the Israeli state – is sufficient to make developing an active concern with its voices, institutions, policies, and direction a priority to Palestinians not just in the West Bank but “Israel proper.” From this purely pragmatic perspective alone, I think Zionism – as an irreversible fact of life not just in the modern Levant – is clearly relevant to Palestinians.
But beyond the pragmatic level, I think that the Palestinian national aim – to establish a just and autonomous society on this land of their ancestors, free from foreign colonialism and imperialism – is so closely aligned with the Israeli national aim that their attainments mutually coincide. Far from being an ideology of foreign invasion and exploitation, Zionism was and is a liberation movement of indigenous de-colonization, which for Israelis included an explicit process of leaving socio-political exile and reestablishing traditional society in their homeland. The intersection with Palestinian liberation and de-colonization is obvious – as is the shared dream of a just, democratic society. (Shared by most – obviously both Israelis and Palestinians deal with their own internal fascist demons and reactionary religious conservatives.) Zionism, in this sense, can serve Palestinians equally well as a vehicle and vector for realizing their national dream, as it does Israelis.
Furthermore, in my personal (controversial) opinion, while Palestinians and Jews are two separate peoples, we are actually majority descended from the same nation of Israel (which, again in my personal and controversial opinion, was called Palaistine in both Jewish and non-Jewish Hellenistic sources). The Romans did not succeed in driving out the entire nation, and many Israelites remained in this land after the Roman conquest. In the face of waves of colonization over the ensuing centuries, many Israelites eventually chose to adopt Christianity and/or Islam and an independent consciousness of peoplehood emerged among their descendants here in this land. While many foreigners came and joined them over the years, the exact same thing can be said of every Israelite community in the diaspora. This historical narrative makes a lot more sense to me than competing narratives which position either Palestinians or Israelis as essential interlopers in the land, based on superficial demographic markers and what I contend amount to the effects of colonization. Accordingly, Zionism – in its pursuit of Israelite autonomy – is as much the heritage of Palestinians as it is of Israelis, and the cultural dimension of Zionism (including the Kookian revivalism and renaissance of Israelite culture in all its spiritual and creative depth and diversity) may itself be further accessible to and expanded by the unruptured relationship with land (as well as the Christian and Islamic elements, redeemed of their imperialism and supremacism) of the Palestinian (-Israelite) people.
So there you have it:
We share the same roots.
We share the same land.
And I would go so far as to say that we share the same future.
Can we share the dream of Zion?
Who Invented the Jews
Who invented the Jews? Who invented the Palestinians?
“Sand explained during a newspaper interview his reasons for writing the book: “I wrote the book for a double purpose. First, as an Israeli, to democratise the state; to make it a real republic. Second, I wrote the book against Jewish essentialism.”
Sand explained in the same interview that what he means by ‘Jewish essentialism’ is, in the words of the interviewer, “the tendency in modern Judaism to make shared ethnicity the basis for faith.” “That is dangerous and it nourishes antisemitism. I am trying to normalise the Jewish presence in history and contemporary life,” Sand said.”
On the one hand, Dr Sand’s work has been criticized on all kinds of academic grounds.
On the other hand, as a Neomaimonidean Talmudist and a religious Zionist, I share his concern that “ethnicity” not become the basis for Jewish or Israeli identity.
I am proud to be a member of a nation that defines itself by its laws and its institutions, and not by blood, language, or phenotype.
I am proud to be a member of a nation whose culture is not derived from, and whose society is not organized around, myths of power and supremacy, but whose culture derives from and whose society is organized around the careful, collective reading and discussion of books that are accessible to, and the heritage of, all.
I am proud to be a member of a nation with both native and naturalized paths to citizenship, and both citizen and non-citizen paths to membership and inclusion, and an ethos of mutual support and solidarity regardless of social standing, and therefore does not require the administration of purity tests or the construction of walls to keep out the impure.
I am proud to be a member of a nation that has taught, and learned from, and mixed with, and been enhanced by every other people on this planet, of all “ethnicities” and “races,” to one degree or another. A nation that has preserved, transmitted, created, and shared so many different and diverse ideas about the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, ideas originating in the historical circumstances of members of our nation around the world and across history.
My religious Zionism reflects my understanding of Israelite nationalism, of Jewish peoplehood.
Of the unique covenant which is the political foundation of our society both in the land and in exile.
Of the psycho-spiritual collective organism that was created through that covenant and that has developed and evolved over the millenia since.
Of the cultural imperative to build a society that is just and holy, inclusive and diverse.
As the verse states:
ברב עם הדרת מלך
“In the multitude of the people is the glory of the King”
Dr Sands may have gotten a lot wrong but his mission seems to me – again, as a religious Zionist – to be sufficiently on track to merit giving the points he may have gotten right, careful consideration.
Our nation is an astounding thing, and the marvels have only begun to be revealed. Between shared origins and shared destiny lie many paths through history. Those who were estranged have been brought close, those who were distant now live side by side.
Traditionally, we call this “the ingathering of the exiled,” which might be best described by the American motto:
“From Many – One”
May we merit to see our nation fully revived, the crown restored to its glory, and a just peace in this land.
Zion in the Sources
Zion is mentioned 196 times in Isaiah. 64 times in Jeremiah. 130 times in the Twelve Prophets. 152 times in Tehillim.
441 times in the Talmuds (374 in the Zohar!)
98 times in the Ashkenazi liturgy. 228 times in the Mizrahi liturgy.
Over 1400 times in the most popular collections of responsa literature.
But yes, the specific term Zionism was coined in 1890 at a time when industrialization and the organization of European nation-states made it possible to realize the age-old dream on a mass scale.
The Z Word Launches
The Z Word – open and honest conversations with Palestinians and Israelis about Zionism, the land, the conflict, and the hope for a shared future…
These are going to be an amazing series of convos. Barukh Hashem, I have some great guests lined up.
A Dangerous Time to Be a Zionist
Thoughts on the current situation, on this evening after the departure of Shabbath:
This is a dangerous time to be a Zionist.
On the one hand, Nazi- and Soviet-era anti-Zionism is alive and infecting both the modern Islamic world and Leftist movements worldwide. Propagandists have successfully equated Zionism and genocide in the minds of millions of people, and violence against Jewish people carried out in the name of anti-Zionism is at an all time high. Jewish people in every country are being put in the impossible position of having to either disown Israel or accept condemnation and punishment as a supporter of genocide.
On the other hand, an objectively fascist government has taken over the USA and is mobilizing “Zionism” as a pretext for suppressing free speech and other gross violations of the rights of citizens and legal residents alike, as part of a broader transformation of the country into its vision of a White Christian utopia. This “Zionism” is weaponized not just against Palestinians and Muslims but also Jewish people who have freely expressed their opinions on the state, government, military, and/or wartime conduct of Israel. It is a “Zionism” that subverts real Zionism, replacing traditional Zionist values of holiness, justice, law, land, etc, with an eschatological battle between projected (and ultimately symbolic) ethno-national groups eventually leading to global Christian domination.
Say you’re a Zionist and someone’s bound to get the wrong idea, one way or another.
But nevertheless, here we Jewish people are, still dreaming of Zion. ❤️
A land, a city, of justice and holiness, of reverence for the divine image in humanity and fellowship among all human beings.
Zion. The banner of the prophets, the prayer of history, the call to return to God, to land, to ourselves.
Those of us who live in harmony with our traditions and with each other know:
Zionism is not the cause of this conflict but rather its solution.