The Cultural Origins of Zionism: History, Politics and Vision

• In Event: Issues on Religion and State

Abstract

This lecture examines the origins of the Zionist movement from a cultural approach in the study of Jewish nationalism. To demonstrate the decisive significance of pre-modern Jewish culture in the development of Zionism, I will discuss three dimensions. First, we will address the formation of the national consciousness of the Jewish past, at the inception of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century. Next, I will examine the influence of Jewish culture on Zionist organizations and politics with regards to two conflicts that shook the movement at its origin. Lastly, we will explore the influence of the Hebrew Bible on the formation of the "new Jew" in Palestine during the Yishuv period. As this lecture shows, to fully describe the scope of the Zionist movement, we must include an in-depth examination of the cultural origins of Zionism. This study aims to understand the inner cultural world of the Zionist movement based on the cultural (ethno-symbolic) approach in the research of nationalism.

Author

• Yitzhak Conforti, Bar-Ilan University