Rise Of Zionism

Zionism can be defined as a Jewish movement of the 19th century that is all about the common desire to maintain a nation for the Jewish people as prophesized in a vision from God to Isaiah. In this vision, God promises to create not only a new heaven and earth, but they believe God will create a new Jerusalem for the Jewish people. This new Jerusalem is known as Israel and before that it was known as Palestine. Zionism was originally founded on a secular basis due to the anti-Semitism many Jews experienced in Europe. Originally Zionism focused on the political, cultural and socialist views therefore making it secular in theory. However, it deemed to be religious later on in the movement when Zionists advocated for a right to their own state …show more content…
With the rise of Jewish massacres and death camps by the Nazi’s the need for a Jewish state was increasing in popularity. The proposed state was that of Palestine. Although this idea of a Jewish state was originally rejected by many Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, after the Holocaust they all agreed that this was a necessary step to avoid further alienation and any chance of another Holocaust to occur. The most pivotal event in the Zionist movement was that of the Dreyfus Affair in which a Jewish captain of the French army was labeled a traitor and accused of selling documents to the Germans. The trial and outcome of the Dreyfus affair influenced a Jewish journalist named Theodore Herzl – who is the founding father of the Zionist movement. Herzl explored and dedicated his life to understanding and solving the idea of the “Jewish problem” and in 1896 he wrote a book on the concept of a Jewish State proposing Palestine as the best choice (Esposito …show more content…
In 1898 Herzl formed the Jewish Colonial Trust which planned to raise funds for Jews to buy a piece of land to call home and to escape the tortures and memories of the horrific acts they faced in Europe (Esposito 166). By the end of the Holocaust and World War II, Herzl’s legacy led to an increase in the Zionist movement and their influence for Palestine as their national homeland. The support they gained from all over the world allowed for the British to create the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which granted Jews permission to call Palestine their home (Esposito 167). This eventually led to the emergence and creation of the State of Israel thanks to the help of the United Nations in 1948 (Esposito 167). . They retell these stories as a “secular” historical events that corresponds to the maintenance of the Jewish identity over centuries, however, these same retellings are in fact a new interpretation of the oral and written Torah. This new interpretation and use of the dual Torah allows for Zionism to be a religious