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ZIONISM
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ZIONISM . One of the most interesting results of the See also:anti-Semitic agitation (see ANTI-SEMITISM) has been a strong revival of the See also:national spirit among the See also:Jews in a See also:political See also:form. To this See also:movement the name Zionism has been given. In the same way that anti-Semitism differs from the See also:Jew-hatred of the See also:early and See also:middle ages, Zionism differs from previous manifestations of-the Jewish national spirit. It was originally advocated as an expedient without Messianic impulses, and its methods and proposals have remained almost harshly See also:modern. None the less it is the lineal See also:heir of the See also:attachment to See also:Zion which led the Babylonian exiles under Zerubbabel to rebuild the See also:Temple, and which flamed up in the heroic struggle of the See also:Maccabees against See also:Antiochus Epiphanes. Without this national spirit it could, indeed, never have assumed its See also:present formidable proportions. The See also:idea that it is a set-back of Jewish See also:history, in the sense that it is an unnatural galvanization of hopes See also:long since abandoned for a spiritual and See also:cosmopolitan. conception of the See also:mission of See also:Israel, is a controversial fiction. The consciousness of a spiritual mission exists See also:side by side with the national idea. The See also:great bulk of the Jewish See also:people have throughout their history remained faithful to the See also:dream of a restoration of their national See also:life in Judea. Its ,manifestations have suffered temporary modifications under the See also:influence of changing political conditions, and the intensity with which it has been held by individual Jews has varied according to their social circumstances, but in the See also:main the idea has been passionately clung to. The contention of some modern rabbis that the national idea is Messianic, and hence that its realization should be See also:left to the Divine initiative (e.g. See also:Chief See also:Rabbi See also:Adler, Jewish See also:Chronicle, 25th See also:November 1898), is based on a false See also:analogy between the politics of the Jews and those of other oppressed nationalities. As all See also:Hebrew politics were theocratic, the national See also:hope was necessarily Messianic. It was not on that See also:account less See also:practical or less disposed to See also:express itself in an active political form. The Messianic dreams of the Prophets, which form the See also:frame-See also:work of the Jewish See also:liturgy to this See also:day, were essentially politico-national. They contemplated the redemption of Israel, the gathering of the people in See also:Palestine, the restoration of the Jewish See also:state, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the re-See also:establishment of the Davidic See also:throne in See also:Jerusalem with a See also:prince of the See also:House of See also:David. How little the dispersed Jews regarded this essentially political See also:programme as a See also:mere religious ideal is shown by their attitude towards the pseudo-Messiahs who endeavoured to fulfil it. See also:Bar Cochba (A.D. 117-138) lived at a See also:period when a Jewish national uprising might well have been exclusively political, for the See also:dissolution of the See also:kingdom was
1 Christians of the 4th See also:century removed the name to the S.W. See also: It was the same with another pseudo-See also:Messiah named See also:Abu-Isa Obadia, who unfurled the national banner in See also:Persia some See also:thirty years later. During the middle ages, though the racial See also:character of the Jews was being transformed by their See also:Ghetto seclusion, the national yearning suffered no relaxation. If it expressed itself exclusively in literature, it was not on that account under-going a See also:process of idealization. (Cf. Abrahams's Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, pp. 24-25.) The truth is that it could not have expressed itself differently. There could have been no See also:abandonment of national hopes in a practical sense, unless the prospect of entering the national life of the peoples among whom they dwelt had presented itself as an alternative. Of this there was not the remotest sign. The See also:absence of militant Zionism during this period is to be accounted for partly by the want of conspicuous pseudo-Messiahs, and partly by the terror of persecution. Unlike the modern Greeks, the See also:medieval Jews could expect no sympathy from their neighbours in an agitation for the recovery of their See also:country. One may imagine what the Crusaders would have thought of an See also:international Jewish See also:conspiracy to recapture Jerusalem. In the 15th century the aversion from political See also:action, even had it been possible, must have been strengthened by the fact that the See also:Grand Signor was the only friend the Jews had in the See also:world. The nationalist spirit of the medieval Jews is sufficiently reflected in their liturgy, and especially in the See also:works of the poet, Jehuda See also:Halevi. It is impossible to read his beautiful Zionide without feeling that had he lived another twenty years he would have gladly played towards the pseudo-Messiah David Alroy (circa 116o) the See also:part that Akiba played towards Bar Cochba. The strength of the nationalist feeling was practically tested in the 16th century, when a Jewish impostor, David Reubeni (circa 1530), and his See also:disciple, See also:Solomon Molcho (1501–1532), came forward as would-be liberators of their people. Through-out Spain, See also:Italy and See also:Turkey they were received with enthusiasm by the bulk of their brethren. In the following century the influence of the See also:Christian Millenarians gave a fresh impulse to the national idea. Owing to the frenzy of persecution and the apocalyptic teachings of the Chiliasts, it now appeared in a more mystical form, but a practical See also:bias was not wanting. Menasseh See also:ben Israel (1604–1657) co-operated with See also:English Millenarians to procure the resettlement of the Jews in See also:England as a preliminary to their national return to Palestine, and he regarded his See also:marriage with a See also:scion of the Davidic See also:family of Abarbanel as justifying the hope that the new Messiah might be found among his offspring. The increasing See also:dispersion of the Marranos or crypto-Jews of Spain and See also:Portugal through the See also:Inquisition, and the persecution of the Jews in See also:Poland, deepened the Jewish sense of homelessness the while the Millenarians encouraged their Zionist dreams. The Hebraic and Judeophil tendencies of the Puritan revolution in England still further stirred the prevailing unrest, and some Jewish rabbis are said to have visited England in See also:order to ascertain by genealogical investigations whether a Davidic descent could be ascribed to See also:Oliver See also:Cromwell. It only wanted a See also:leader to produce a national movement on a formidable See also:scale. In 1666 this leader presented himself at See also:Smyrna, in the See also:person of a Jew named Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676), who proclaimed himself the Messiah. The See also:news spread like wildfire, and despite the opposition of some of the leading rabbis, the Jews everywhere prepared for the journey987 to Palestine. Not alone was this the See also:case with the poor Jews of Lithuania and See also:Germany, but also with well-to-do communities like those of See also:Venice, See also:Leghorn and See also:Avignon, and with the great Jewish merchants and bankers of See also:Hamburg, See also:Amsterdam and See also:London. Throughout See also:Europe the nationalist excitement was intense. Even the downfall and See also:apostasy of Sabbatai were powerless to stop it. Among the wealthier Jews it partially subsided, but the great bulk of the people refused for a whole century to be disillusionized. A Messianic frenzy seized upon them. Encouraged on the one See also:hand by Christian Millenarians like See also:Pierre Jurien, Oliger See also:Pauli, and Johannes Speeth, pandered to by Sabbataic impostors like Cardoso, Bonafoux, Mordecai of Eisenstadt, See also:Jacob Querido, See also:Judah Chassid, See also:Nehemiah Chayon and Jacob See also:Franks, and maddened by fresh oppressions, they became fanaticized to the See also:verge of demoralization. The reaction arrived in 1778 in the shape of the Mendelssohnian movement. The growth of religious See also:toleration, the attempted emancipation of the English Jews in 1753, and the sane Judeophilism of men like See also:Lessing and Dohm, showed that at length the See also:dawn of the only possible alternative to national-ism was at hand. Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) sought to prepare his brethren for their new life as citizeps of the lands in which they dwelt, by emphasizing the spiritual side of Judaism and the See also:necessity of Occidental culture. His efforts were successful. The narrow nationalist spirit everywhere yielded before the hope or the progress of See also:local political emancipation. In 18o6 the Jewish Sanhedrin convened by See also:Napoleon virtually repudiated the nationalist tradition. The new Judaism, how-ever, had not entirely destroyed it. It had only reconstructed it on a wider and more sober See also:foundation. Mendelssohnian culture, by promoting the study of Jewish history, gave a fresh impulse to the racial consciousness of the Jews. The older nationalism had been founded on traditions so remote as to be almost mythical; the new See also:race consciousness was fed by a glorious See also:martyr history, which ran side by side with the histories of the newly adopted nationalities of the Jews, and was not unworthy of the companionship. From this race consciousness came a fresh See also:interest in the See also:Holy See also:Land. It was an ideal rather than a politico-nationalist interest—a See also:desire to preserve and cherish the great See also:monument of the departed national glories. It took the practical form of projects for improving the circumstances of the local Jews by means of See also:schools, and for reviving something of the old social See also:condition of Judea by the establishment of agricultural colonies. In this work See also:Sir Moses See also:Montefiore, the See also:Rothschild family, and the See also:Alliance Israelite Universelle were conspicuous. More or less passively, however, the older nationalism still lived on—especially in lands where Jews were persecuted—and it became strengthened by the revived race consciousness and the new interest in the Holy Land. Christian Millenarians also helped to keep it alive. See also:Lord See also:Ashley, afterwards Lord See also:Shaftesbury, See also:Colonel See also:Gawler, Mr See also:Walter Cresson, the See also:United States See also:consul at Jerusalem, Mr See also: In England political writers were found to urge the re-establishment of a Jewish state under British See also:protection as a means of assuring the overland route to See also:India (Hollingsworth, Jews in Palestine, 1852). Lord See also:Palmerston was-not unaffected by this idea (Finn, Stirring Times, vol. i. pp. 106–112), and both Lord See also:Beaconsfield and Lord See also:Salisbury supported Mr Laurence Oliphant in his negotiations with the See also:Porte for a concession which was to pave the way to an autonomous Jewish state in the Holy Land. In 1854 a London Jew attempted to See also:float a See also:company " for the purpose of enabling the descendants of Israel to obtain and cultivate the Land of Promise " (Hebrew Observer, 12th See also:April). In 1876 the publication of See also:George See also:Eliot's See also:Daniel Deronda gave to the Jewish nationalist spirit the strongest stimulus it had experienced since the See also:appearance of Sabbatai Zevi. It was not, however, until the spread of anti-Semitic doctrines through Europe made men doubt whether the Mendelssohnian denationalization of Judaism possessed the elements of permanency that the Jewish nationalist spirit reasserted itself in a practical form. As long as the anti-Semites were merely polemical, the nationalists were See also:mute, but when in See also:Russia their agitation took the form of massacres and spoliation, followed by legislation of medieval harshness, the nationalist remedy offered itself. In 1882 several See also:pamphlets were published by Jews in Russia, advocating the restoration of the Jewish state. They found a powerful See also:echo in the United States, where a See also:young Jewish poetess, See also:Miss Emma See also:Lazarus, passionately championed the Zionist cause in See also:verse not unworthy of Jehuda Halevi. But the movement did not limit itself to literature. A society, " Chovevi Zion," was formed with the See also:object of so extending and methodizing the establishment of agricultural colonies in Palestine as to make the eventual acquisition of the country by the Jews possible. From the beginning it was a great success, and branches, or " tents " as they were called, were established all over the world. At the same See also:time two other great schemes for rescuing the Jewish people from oppression were brought before the public. Neither was Zionist, but both served to encourage the Zionist cause. One was due to the initiative of Mr Cazalet, a financier who was interested in the See also:Euphrates Valley Railway project. With the assistance of Mr Laurence Oliphant he proposed that the concession from the Porte should include a hand of territory two See also:miles wide on each side of the railway, on which Jewish refugees from Russia should be settled. Unfortunately the See also:scheme failed. The other was See also:Baron de See also:Hirsch's See also:colossal colonization association (see HIRSCH, See also:MAURICE DE). This was neither political nor Zionist, but it was supported by a See also:good many members of the " Chevevi Zion," among them Colonel See also:Goldsmid, on the ground that it might result in the training of a large class of Jewish yeomen who would be invaluable in the ultimate See also:settlement of Palestine. (Interview in Daily Graphic, loth See also: The Hirsch scheme did not, in his view, provide a remedy, as it only trans-planted the Jews from one uncongenial environment to another. He came to the conclusion that the only See also:solution of the problem was the segregation of the Jews under autonomous political conditions. His first scheme was not essentially Zionist. He merely called for a new See also:exodus, and was ready to accept any See also: He accordingly resolved to identify it. with the nationalist idea: His See also:plan was set forth in a pamphlet, entitled The Jewish State, which was published in See also:German, French and English in the See also:spring of 1896. It explained in detail how the new exodus was to be organized and how thestate was to be managed. It was to be a See also:tribute-paying state under the See also:suzerainty of the Sultan. It was to be settled by a chartered company and governed by an aristocratic See also:republic, tolerant of all religious See also:differences. The Holy Places were to be exterritorialized. The pamphlet produced a profound sensation. Dr Herzl was joined by a number of distinguished Jewish See also:literary men, among whom were Dr Max See also:Nordau and Mr Israel See also:Zangwill, and promises of support and sympathy reached him from all parts of the world. The haute See also:finance and the higher rabbinate, however, stood aloof. The most encouraging feature in Dr Herzl's scheme was that the Sultan of Turkey appeared favourable to it. The See also:motive of his sympathy has not hitherto been made known. The Armenian massacres had inflamed the whole of Europe against him, and for a time the See also:Ottoman Empire was in very serious peril. Dr Herzl's scheme provided him, as he imagined, with a means of securing powerful See also:friends. Through a See also:secret emissary, the See also:Chevalier de Newlinsky, whom he sent to London in May 1896, he offered to present the Jews a See also:charter in Palestine provided they used their influence in the See also:press and otherwise to solve the Armenian question on lines which he laid down. The English Jews declined these proposals, and refused to treat in any way with the persecutor of the Armenians. When, in the following See also:July, Dr Herzl himself came to London, the Maccabaean Society, though ignorant of the negotiations with the Sultan, declined to support the scheme. None the less, it secured a large amount of popular support throughout Europe, and in 1910 Zionism had a following of over 300,000 Jews, divided into a thousand electoral districts. The English membership is about 15,000. Between 1897 and 1910 the Zionist organization held nine international Congresses. At the first, which met at See also:Basel, a political programme was adopted on the following terms: " Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured See also:home in Palestine. For the attainment of this purpose the See also:Congress considers the following means serviceable: (I) The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans and tradesmen in Palestine, (2) The federation of all Jews into local or See also:general See also:groups, according to the See also:laws of the various countries. (3) The strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness. (4) Preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose." • Subsequent congresses founded various institutions for the promotion of this programme, notably a People's See also:Bank known as the Colonial See also:Trust, which is the See also:financial See also:instrument of political Zionism, a National Fund for the See also:purchase of land in Palestine and a Palestine See also:Commission with subsidiary See also:societies for the study and improvement of the social and economic condition of the Jews in the Holy Land. For the purposes of these bodies about £400,000 was collected in small sums and invested. Very little practical work of any abiding value, however, was accomplished, and on the political side the career of Zionism had up to the end of 1910 proved a failure. In May 1901 and See also:August 1902 Dr Herzl had audiences of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, and was received with great distinction, but the negotiations led to nothing. Despairing of obtaining an immediate charter for Palestine, he turned to the British government with a view to securing a grant of territory on an autonomous basis in the vicinity of the Holy Land, which would provisionally afford a See also:refuge and a political training-ground for persecuted Jews. His overtures met with a sympathetic reception, especially from Mr See also: The movement was further shaken by the dissensions which followed the rejection of the East See also:African project. Mr Israel Zangwill led an influential minority which combined with certain non-Zionist elements to found a See also:rival organization under the name of the See also:ITO (Jewish Territorial Organization) with a view to taking over the East African offer or to establish an autonomous place of refuge elsewhere. Thus freed from all moderating elements the Zionists hardened into an exclusively Palestinian See also:body, and under the auspices of Mr Wolffsohn fresh negotiations were opened with the Porte. These, how-ever, were rendered finally hopeless by the See also:Turkish revolution, which postulated a united Ottoman See also:nationality, and resolutely set its See also:face against any See also:extension of the racial and religious autonomies under which the integrity of the Empire had already severely suffered. During 1905-1010 the Jewish national idea, for all practical purposes, was in a state of suspended animation. The recovery of the Holy Land appeared more distant than ever, while even the establishment of an See also:independent or autonomous Jewish state elsewhere, for which the ITO was labouring, had encountered unexpected difficulties. On the rejection of the British offer by the Zionists Mr Zangwill approached the Colonial See also:Office, but he was too See also:late, as the reserve on the Nasin Gishiu plateau had already been officially withdrawn. The ITO then turned its See also:attention to See also:Cyrenaica, and an expedition to examine the country was sent out (1908), but it was not found suitable. A project for combining all the Jewish organizations in an effort to secure an adequate foothold in See also:Mesopotamia in connexion with the scheme for the See also:irrigation of that region was subsequently proposed by Mr Zangwill, but up to See also:January 1911 it had not been found practicable. The ITO, however, did valuable work by organizing an See also:Emigration Regulation See also:Department for deflecting the stream of Jewish emigration from the overcrowded Jewry of New See also:York to the See also:Southern states of the See also:American See also:Union, where there is greater See also:scope for employment under wholesome conditions. For this purpose a fund was formed, to which Mr Jacob Schiff contributed £1oo,000 and Messrs Rothschild f 20,000. Although the Zionist organization was numerically strong--indeed, the strongest popular movement Jewish history had ever known—its experience from 1897 to 1910 rendered it very doubtful whether its nationalist aspirations could, humanly speaking, ever be fulfilled. From Turkey, either absolutist or democratic, it appeared hopeless to expect any willing relaxation of the Ottoman hold on Palestine, while in the event of a dissolution of the Empire it was questionable whether Christendom—and especially the Roman and See also:Greek Churches—would permit the Holy Land to pass to the Jews, even though the Holy Places were exterritorialized. Should these obstacles be overcome, still more formidable difficulties would await the Jewish state. The chief of these is the religious question. The state would have to be orthodox or See also:secular. If it were orthodox it would desire to revive the whole Levitical polity, and in these circumstances it would either pass away through See also:internal See also:chaos or would so offend the modern political spirit that it would besoon extinguished from outside. If it were secular it would not be a Jewish state. The great bulk of its supporters would refuse j to live in it, and it would ultimately be abandoned to an I outlander population consisting of Hebrew Christians and Christian Millenarians. Modern Zionism is vitiated by its erroneous premises. It is based on the idea that anti-Semitism is unconquerable, and thus the whole movement is artificial. Under the influence of religious toleration and the See also:naturalization laws, nationalities are daily losing more of their racial character. The coming nationality will be essentially a See also:matter of See also:education and See also:economics, and this will not exclude the Jews as such. With the passing away of anti-Semitism, Jewish nationalism will disappear. If the Jewish people disappear with it, it will only be because either their religious mission in the world has been accomplished or they have proved themselves unworthy of it. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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