Zionism: Ideological, Historical Force In The Life Of The Jewish People
By RENEE WOHL
Recently while browsing at
Border's bookstore, I came across a
book, The Hidden History of
Zionism, which I had never seen on
a Jewish library or bookstore shelf.
After thumbing through the book, I
realized why.
The book concerned itself with
four overriding myths of Zionism
including a most preposterous one
that the Zionists collaborated with
the Nazis to bring about a Zionist
state.
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FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1991
"The founders of Zionism
despaired of combatting anti-
Semitism and paradoxically,
regarded the anti-Semites
themselves as allies, because of a
shared desire to remove the Jews
from the countries in which they
lived. Step by step they assimilated
the values of Jew-hatred and anti-
Semitism, as the Zionist movement
came to regard the anti-Semites
themselves as their most reliable
sponsors and protectors."
The Hidden History of Zionism
also revealed the "supposed truth"
about massacres at Deir Yasin,
Kibya, Dueima and Kfar Qasim with
graphic details of brutalities
committed by the Israeli army. No
mention was made of Maalot, Kiryat
Shemona, Munich or other atrocities
committed against innocent children
or Israelis.
Endorsements from Muhammad
Hallaj, editor of Palestine
Perspectives and Akiva Orr,
Founder of Matzpen and author of
The UnJewish State: The Politics of
Jewish Identity in Israel made it
clear that this text did not represent
a new perspective on Zionism but a
newly packaged piece of Palestinian
propaganda.
According to the author -who
holds Zionist leaders responsible for
the death of millions during the
Holocaust, this strategy was a
decisive thrust for Zionism. This text
is provocative propaganda and
hardly accurate for anyone
attempting to understand the hidden
history of Zionism.
The early Zionists were
committed to Jewish self- .
determination and a return to the
land of Israel. Throughout Jewish
history, there has been an
attachment fo the land.
The Jews have been a distinct
people and have maintained a
collective religious identity for
centuries. Over the years, Jewish
tradition has not only been a matter
of belief, but of active, living
institutions. Jewish tradition
extended to institutional and
personal life, jurisprudence and
communal organizations. By
contrast, the modern Jewish world
began to perceive traditions as a
private affair and an individual's link
to the community as voluntary.
-Up until modern times, Jews
had limited interaction with the
outside world. During the 19th
century, Jews were less isolated,
interacted more with the outside
world and sought acceptance in this
new arena. Although many Jews
still had a peripheral status in the
modern world, they were redefining
their Jewish identity. These changes
were the starting point for modern
Jewish national thought which
questioned the basis of Jewish life.
There were several varieties of
national thought including the idea
of Jewish autonomy espoused by
the historian Simon Dubnow and
the Bund (the Jewish Social
Democrats) who opposed Zionism.
Zionism differed from the other
movements as it advocated placing
these social institutions in a
physical setting. Territory became a
focus for the Zionists. In the early
days of Zionism, there existed a
Territorialist faction which
maintained the need for a land in
which the Jews would become a
majority population but opposed the
land of Israel as the only possible
territorial solution. The Territorialist
faction seceded from the Zionist
movement in 1903.
Zionism was and is an ideology
and an historical force in the life of
the Jewish people. Zionism was one
of the most revolutionary
movements in history. It sent people
from one country into another. It
transferred people from one social
class to another, usually a lower
one. It totally transformed a people's
language, environment and culture.
Revolutions like Zionism are as rare
as are historical precedents to it.
Often Theodor Herzl, a
Viennese journalist, is credited with
the invention of Zionism. He did not
create Zionism; he only altered its
methods. Herzl was trying to find a
solution to the plight of Jews in
Europe. Covering the Dreyfus affair,
he was deeply moved by the anti-
Semitic outrages and stunned by
the crowd's cries of "Death to the
Jews." It was at this point that he
realized Jews would never find a
comfortable place in Europe. They
would always have a marginal
status in society and the only
solution was to form a nation of
their own.
The idea of nationalism and the
spirit engulfed all of Europe in the
19th century. For many Jews, the
gospel of Tolstoy and Marx became
intertwined with Zionism. Herzl
decided to provide the Jews with
the attributes of nationalism, a
sense of nationality and territory.
Many nations were clamoring for
nationhood and independence.
The early Zionists, as did other
nationalists, began to think of a
Jewish national home as a
continuation of ancient Jewish
history.
The political idea of the Zionists
which initially was a response to the
plight of European Jewry became
imbued with a religious and
messianic mystique. Although Herzl
was an assimilated Viennese Jew,
he was convinced that this mystique
was essential to the movement.
Zionism was truly a synthesis of
the old and new, it borrowed themes
inherent in Jewish tradition and
fused them with emerging trends in
the modern world. To reflect on
Zionism and Israel today is to
explore the meanings of a Jewish
state and being Jewish in the
modern world.
Renee Wohl is director of the
Agency for Jewish Education's
resource center
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