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The Zionist movement was a political movement that was envisioned in bringing back the Jews to their original homeland, Zion which is also referred to as Jerusalem. It was a movement that went against all odds in the persecution era by the Soviet Union. The Zionist movement was a composition of some set of Jewish religious tradition and beliefs which were directed towards the restoration of their values in the land of Israel. The movement dates back to 1897 when it was founded by Theodor Herzl who took into consideration the belief and ideas of early thinkers.

Historical Context of the text and to which it refers

The Zionist Movement was a unique alignment of the people who had been displaced from their land and who were grouping to once more rebuild a country left in ruins. The land was already destroyed and so the objected to start furnishing it once more. It was the Zionist Congress that took place in Basle, Switzerland, that created the Zionist Movement and it was the brainchild of Dr. Theodor Herzl. The movement was established under a mission statement from the book of Prophet Isaiah 2:5 ‘House of Jacob, Let us Go’

The Bar Kochba revolt that took place in 135 deeply affected the relationship between the Jews and Palestine, who had earlier lived as one community. During the revolt, several Jews were taken into exile from Roman Palestine which was regarded as their original home. Despite all these, the Jews maintained that there still remained a relation between them and the Palestine. Prior to the World War I, the Jewish population in Palestine increased tremendously and this provided the second wave of migration (America Jewish Joint Distribution). The migration which was characterized with the ideals of socialist Zionism was unable to implement those ideals as a result of unfavorable circumstances.

As a result of limitations in implementing those ideals that were originally the object of the movement, it tried to find the immigrants some work to do. However, these proved to be difficult as the Arabs were not willing to employ workers who were unable to speak Arabic as well as being efficient. In keeping with the beliefs of the Jewish traditions, the movement decided to remain neutral in the wake up to the First World War (MidEast Web, 2007). From the beginning of the formation of Zionist Movement, the Jewish people had associated themselves as a religious entity. Furthermore, the movement carried on the belief that they were required to adhere to the regulations laid down by Torah.

It is worth noting that Jewish beliefs pitted them with occupying the Holy land due to its holy nature and that God should consider returning the same dignity to the land of Israel. However, and despite all the efforts of Zionist Movement to restore the land of Israel, it brought a naturalistic character to the people of Israel which was new to them. For instance, the movement sought to dissociate the Jewish community from their historical beliefs as well as their faith in God. There are some Jewish who broke the tradition and delink themselves from the movement citing that it pitted them against their Arab neighbors. The Zionist grew into an outfit that later rejected the interest of Jews as a religion. It is feared that the Zionist movement will, by time, go against the values that were originally laid down by the creator to his chosen race. The Zionist has continued to disregard religious Judaism in the name of Israel. The laws that have been established by the Zionist clearly show they are for wanton autopsies, for instance the law of Anatomy and Pathology in 1953.

The author’s conceptions of Jewish experience and their visions of a Jewish future

Ahad Ha’am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) is considered one of the most pre-state Zionist thinkers. Ahad Ha’am highly uplifted the great significance that was between Jewish and Hebrew culture and how they could be incorporated in Palestine as well as the global world. However, this notion was to be perceived several years later after its initiation. He saw to it that it was only by reviewing the Hebrew language as part of Jewish tradition could the community stand the test of time (Rosenfarb, 2004). Furthermore, he advocated for the establishment of a link between the Hebrew culture and the Jewish State that was being proposed.

Through Bnai Moshe or Sons of Moses, he established a dynamic team from which he vigorously worked in uplifting the Hebrew education. He was also active in ensuring that the Jews received appropriate settlement.  It was his ideas that pointed out the several challenges that the Jewish people were going to encounter with the Arabs in Eretz Yisrael. Furthermore, the network of Hebraic schools that were the brain child of Ahad Ha’am illustrated the importance of a Jewish person as an individual who identifies with the Jewish nationalism as well as expresses it by making Aliyah and speaking the Hebrew dialect.

Abrahama Isaac Kook, the Land of Israel

Regarded as the founder of Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz Harav, he was a Jewish thinker born around 1865. His ideology was that the Jews could only make the full use of their abilities in the land of Israel. He advocated that the future growth of the nation of Israel could only bear fruit if the Jewish imagination was to be within the land. Furthermore, Kook reflects that the Land of Israel can never be compared to any other and that its uniqueness is bare for the world to see (Eisen). Abrahama Kook is critical when he notes that the Jewish tradition have long forgotten their ideologies that were supposed to act a guide to the rest of creation.

 The oppression and exposure to foreign winds had rendered the Israel community unable to achieve expression hence lacking in its potential to create a just society in the future. In his attempt to synthesize traditional Judaism, Kook refers to the modern orthodox Religious Zionist as naïve as well as hypocritical. It was his great effort that gave rise to the Hardal Religious Zionist who advocates for his philosophy, that the Jews were incapacitated when deprived of the land of Israel.