Debates about the term and its definition date to the
late 1800s but are gaining urgency in some Jewish spaces.
As the word “Zionism” has grown more controversial, used
by critics of Israel to represent everything they believe is wrong about the
Jewish state, some Jewish leaders are asking whether the term should be
abandoned.
“The word Zionism
is dead,” reads the cover of the spring issue of the Jewish magazine Moment.
Jonah Platt, host of one of the biggest Jewish podcasts, last month said the term
should be “put out to pasture.” Around the same time, a consultant to a major
Jewish umbrella group lost his job after he urged young Jewish leaders to avoid
“Zionism” and instead use words that have an agreed-upon meaning.
Debates about Zionism and its definition have gone on
since the late 1800s, which was the start of the political and nationalistic
movement aimed at creating a Jewish homeland.
Theodor Herzl, considered the founder of modern Zionism, argued
that antisemitism made it impossible for Jews to assimilate in Europe and that
they needed their own state in their biblical homeland. But violence and mass
displacement of Palestinians when Israel was created, and the later occupation
by Israel of Palestinian territory, became central to how Israel’s critics
define the term.
The dichotomy is being discussed in sermons at some
synagogues during the Jewish high holidays — Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year,
was last weekend, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, starts Sunday night.
Rabbi Amy
Schwartzman, leader of Rodef Shalom, Virginia’s largest Jewish congregation,
said she will include Zionism in her talk on Yom Kippur about the global Jewish
future.
The current discussion “reminds me of the word
‘patriotism,’” she said. “How hard it is to connect with this word while we’re
trying to love our country and criticize it at the same time.” (Read More)
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Senior Researcher Brad Myers comments;
Have these Jewish leaders taken the time to read their
own Jewish Bibles, the Tanakh? What you're about to read is only a few of the
many Hebrew Scriptures found in the Tanakh using the 1917 Jewish Publication
Society JPS translation.
“For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for
His habitation: ‘This is My resting-place forever; Here will I dwell; for I
have desired it.” (Psalm 132:13-14)
“Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, In the city
of our God, His holy mountain, Fair in situation, the joy of the whole earth;
Even mount Zion, the uttermost parts of the north, The city of the great King.”
(Psalm 48:1-2)
“So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling
in Zion My holy mountain; Then shall Jerusalem be holy, And there shall no
strangers pass through her any more.” ( Joel 3:17)
‘Thus saith the
LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her
with great fury. Thus saith the LORD: I return unto Zion, and will dwell in the
midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and the
mountain of the LORD of hosts The holy mountain.” ( Zechariah 8:2-3)
“‘Truly it is I that have established My king Upon Zion,
My holy mountain.’ I will tell of the decree: The LORD said unto me: ‘Thou art
My son, This day have I begotten thee. Ask of Me, and I will give the nations
for thine inheritance, And the ends of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt
break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel.’” ( Psalm 2:6-9)
Do these JEWISH leaders know that the Lord is the biggest
Zionist in the world?
