Religious Zionism – Sociology and Theology

Dear Colleagues,

Religious Zionism (hereinafter RZ) is an important sector within Orthodox Judaism that stands out as a unique case study of church–state relations in the modern world. The divine merit RZ attributes to the State of Israel consists of a wide prism of dispositions, from an embodiment of God’s rein to an important phase in the messianic vision. Thus, the division between citizen and religious adherent becomes obscure, and obeying the state law becomes a divine commandment.

When tracing the historical foundations of RZ’s ideology, one must note the Jewish catastrophe of the destruction of the second Temple (70 AD), and the two-millennia diaspora that followed. During those turbulent centuries, Jewish identity went through several vicissitudes. One major difference was the birth of the non-sovereign Jew. The literary treasures of the Talmudic era, the basis for Jewish law as we know it, were composed under the influence of this critical development. The idea of the Jew as a passive being, without aspirations of independence and self-ruling, and thus with a collective convergence to a more spiritual life—as opposed to the actual life of a state, with economic and civil responsibilities—emerged.

The study of the holy scriptures became the most important value in the eyes of the religious leaders, and not the fulfillment of the decrees in those texts by materializing an exemplary state, balanced between earthly and sublime interests. The distance between the stance that characterizes the Jew in the diaspora and the biblical model of an independent and initiator Jew that spends his time in hard labor (i.e., agriculture, the military, and other forms of manual work) is no less than overwhelming. The “Biblical” Jew became outdated.

The RZ revolution combined the shift in perception of the active role of Jew in times of redemption with a stark commitment to the classical religious values and lifestyle of observant Judaism—in a nutshell, a modern Jew in an epoch of nationality and freedom, but with submission to the rules of God as delivered in the traditional texts.

Politically, RZ was founded in the early 1900s, yet ideologically it stems from the thought of great scholars of the 19th Century, and perhaps even earlier. From its birth, political RZ (represented by the Mizrahi movement) took part in the Zionist movement. It created youth movements and school chains dedicated to educating new generations on the ideology of Torah (the Pentateuch, The Bible) and labor (in its broadest meanings).

RZ was quite marginal in the first decades of the Zionist movement, but in the past thirty years its disciples became more and more involved in leading roles within Israeli society, in almost every field and expertise.

This volume intends to elaborate and deepen the understanding of Religious Zionist ideology and theology, both practically and theoretically. We aim to portray a comprehensive and contemporary picture of RZ today, in light of its historical roots and vision, and considering crises and permutations that RZ experienced. We encourage suitable studies in philosophy, theology, history, sociology, political science, and other relevant fields.

Dr. Amir Mashiach
Dr. Isaac Hershkowitz
Guest Editors

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