The Z Word: Zionism A to Z

Thought experiment: Consider the differences for a Jew born in the 1930s, the 1950s, and the 1970s. For example, for a Jew born in the 1930s who lived through horrors of the Holocaust and the miracle of the rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948, the
destruction‐to‐resurgence story of the Jewish people is not merely a trope but a formative lived experience.
For most Jews, the experience of living through a particular time and acquiring a specific memory, makes it such that there's almost nothing that the State of Israel can ultimately do wrong that is going to shatter or destroy that relationship.
However, for Jews born after 1970, instead of living through the miracles of 1948 and 1967, or even the miracle of Entebbe in 1976, the formative experiences and memories of Israel deal with internal and external, mostly non‐existential challenges (i.e. Lebanon wars, Occupation, terrorist attacks, Rabin assassination). For Jew born at this time, the relationship with the State of Israel is one of deep conflict and deep challenge…
Beyond our personal stories, a lot of us carry around some overarching sensibility, some big story, of what we imagine Israel is supposed to have been, or what it is supposed to mean… We all hold up some vision of what we imagine Israel is, and we evaluate its successes or failures against that template.
- Yehuda Kurtzer, iEngage

The Jewish people have a very ancient history in Palestine, going back three thousand years... The Jewish claim to indigeneity is based on two things: (1) the three-thousand-year-old continuous history... and (2) the status of the land since ancient times as "the focal point of Jewish existence and its expectations of the future." Jews never gave up their yearning for Zion.
- Barry Strauss, "Jewish Roots in the Land of Israel/Palestine"

Yearning for Zion: 19th-20th Century Ideology

Cultural Zionism
From this center, the spirit of Judaism will radiate to the great circumference, to all the communities of the Diaspora, to inspire them with new life and to preserve the overall unity of our people...When our national culture in Palestine has attained that level, we may be confident that it will produce men [and women] in the land of Israel itself who will be able, at a favorable moment, to establish a State there — one which will be not merely a state of Jews but a really Jewish state.
- Ahad Ha'Am (1856-1927)

Revisionist Zionism
The phenomenon called Zionism may include all kinds of dreams – a “model community,” Hebrew culture, perhaps even a second edition of the Bible – but all this longing for wonderful toys of velvet and silver is nothing in comparison with that tangible momentum of irresistible distress and need by which we are propelled and borne.
We do not have to apologize for anything. We are a people as all other peoples; we do not have any intentions to be better than the rest. As one of the first conditions for equality we demand the right to have our own villains, exactly as other people have them... We do not have to account to anybody, we are not to sit for anybody's examination and nobody is old enough to call on us to answer.

Zionism is a colonizing adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. It is important to build, it is important to speak Hebrew, but, unfortunately, it is even more important to be able to shoot.
The Jews might become the dynamite that will blow up the British Empire.
- Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940)

Balfour Declaration, Nov. 2, 1917
His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Columbus Platform (1937)
Israel. Judaism is the soul of which Israel is the body. Living in all parts of the world, Israel has been held together by the ties of a common history, and above all, by the heritage of faith... In all lands where our people live, they assume and seek to share loyally the full duties and responsibilities of citizenship and to create seats of Jewish knowledge and religion. In the rehabilitation of Palestine, the land hallowed by memories and hopes, we behold the promise of renewed life for many of our brethren. We affirm the obligation of all Jewry to aid in its upbuilding as a Jewish homeland by endeavoring to make it not only a haven of refuge for the oppressed but also a center of Jewish culture and spiritual life.

Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness
(After the UN General Assembly vote recommending the creation of two states - one Jewish and one Arab - on the territory of the British Mandate, Nov. 29, 1947)
My father and mother were standing there hugging one another like two children lost in the woods, as I had never seen them before or since, and for a moment I was between them inside their hug and a moment later I was back on Father's shoulders and my very cultured, polite father was standing there shouting at the top of his voice, not words or wordplay or Zionist slogans, not even cries of joy, but one long naked shout like before words were invented...
And very late, at a time when this child had never been allowed not to be fast asleep in bed, I crawled under the blanket in the dark fully dressed... My father lay beside me for a few minutes and said nothing... Then he told me in a whisper... what some hooligans did to him and his brother David in Odessa and what some Gentile boys did to him at his Polish school in Vilna, and the girls joined in too, and the next day, when his father, Grandpa Alexander, came to the school to register a complaint, the bullies refused to return the torn trousers but attacked his father, Grandpa, in front of his eyes, forced him down onto the paving stones in the middle of the playground and removed his trousers too, and the girls laughed and made dirty jokes, saying the Jews were all so-and-sos, while the teachers watched and said nothing, or maybe they were laughing too.
And still in a voice of darkness... my father told me under my blanket in the early hours of November 30, 1947, "Bullies may well bother you in the street or at school someday. They may do it precisely because you are a bit like me. But from now on, from the moment we have our own state, you will never be bullied just because you are a Jew and because Jews are so-and-sos. Not that. Never again. From tonight that's finished here. Forever."

Israel's Declaration of Independence, May 14, 1948
On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a Resolution for the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, and called upon the inhabitants of the country to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put the plan into effect.
This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their independent State may not be revoked. It is, moreover, the self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations, in its own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY, WE, the members of the National Council, representing the Jewish people in Palestine and the Zionist movement of the world, met together in solemn assembly today, the day of the termination of the British mandate for Palestine, by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish and of the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations,
HEREBY PROCLAIM the establishment of the Jewish State in Palestine, to be called ISRAEL.
WE HEREBY DECLARE that as from the termination of the Mandate at midnight, this night of the 14th and 15th May, 1948, and until the setting up of the duly elected bodies of the State in accordance with a Constitution, to be drawn up by a Constituent Assembly not later than the first day of October, 1948, the present National Council shall act as the provisional administration, shall constitute the Provisional Government of the State of Israel.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of the shrines and Holy Places of all religions; and will dedicate itself to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be ready to cooperate with the organs and representatives of the United Nations in the implementation of the Resolution of the Assembly of November 29, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the Economic Union over the whole of Palestine.
We appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building of its State and to admit Israel into the family of nations.
In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.
We offer peace and unity to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.
Our call goes out the the Jewish people all over the world to rally to our side in the task of immigration and development and to stand by us in the great struggle for the fulfillment of the dream of generations - the redemption of Israel.

So if I were to address some imaginary ultimate Zionist congress, what would I say? I'd probably say that the need was real. The insight was genius. The vision was impressive - ambitious but not mad. And the persistence was unique: for over a century, Zionism displayed extraordinary determination, imagination, and innovation... [But] it did not become a grand enterprise of progress that solved in a rational manner one of humanity's ugliest problems. It did not eradicate anti-Semitism in the way that modern medicine eradicated tuberculosis and polio... Rather, Zionism became an unruly process of improvising imperfect solutions to acute challenges, addressing new needs, adjusting to new conditions and creating new realities. It reinvented itself again and again, dealing in different ways with what is basically an impossible situation.
- Ari Shavit, My Promised Land

...[B]oth status quo Zionists and anti-Zionists are skeptical about a morally aspirational Zionist idea as an organizing principle for the future. Status quo Zionists want to cultivate support for Israel “as is,” and they fear that even moral aspiration, and the inevitable social criticism that follows, will quickly become disloyalty. Anti-Zionists tend to believe that Israel’s vision for itself has either failed or could never become true. In both cases, these populations replace a moral vision for Israel’s future with their own alternative interpretations of Israel’s present: either Start-Up Nation, in which economic and technological advancement replace moral aspiration; or apartheid, claiming that Israel is irredeemable and must be replaced, not repaired. These, too, are essentialisms; they make Zionism into either a vision fulfilled, or an unfulfillable pipe dream.
As a liberal Zionist, I want to insist now on the importance of the idea; to insist, against political odds and against the rhetorical climate, that there is a Zionist idea that animates us and obligates us, and to use that idea to hold us together and accountable to its fulfilment... throughout the middle and towards the end of the 20th century, Israel was a project of the Jewish people’s pragmatic optimism, and it invited participation. At the time, its challenges were infrastructure, security, and plausibility. Today, its challenges are democracy, religious pluralism, and human rights. They are no more impossible to achieve than their predecessors...
As a parent, and as an educator, I believe that our children have the capacity to understand far more deeply the challenges that Israel faces, particularly those that emerge from the breach between what Israel is and what it could be. I want them to see those challenges because I want them to feel responsible, like their Zionist ancestors before them. Our failures and our imperfections should not be a source of embarrassment for the Jewish people; they should be catalysts that move us to fulfill our obligations and responsibilities, and instruments through which we nurture attachment to our people. Jewish education should be a multi-generational process, wherein we gift our people’s problems to our children and help them take over fixing the world where we fell short.
Israel is great and broken in many ways. This is not a statement of disloyalty; it is the statement of a person who feels responsible.
- Yehudah Kurtzer, "Why Israel Now?"

Opinion: This is what a Zionist looks like
Lisa Grushcow • Special to Montreal Gazette • Published Oct 09, 2024
Oct. 7, 2023 was a nightmare from which we still have not woken up. Hamas’ cold-blooded murder of 1,200 men, women and children, hostage-taking and rape was an attack on Israel, but also on humanity. Since that day, though, the very idea of Israel has come under attack: from those we know are our enemies, and those we had thought were our friends.
But Israel is not just a country, and it is not just an idea. It is a dream, a Jewish dream, that has been a core part of our religion for over 2,000 years. There are countless debates within Judaism as to how that dream should be expressed. As the saying goes, “two Jews, three opinions,” and this piece is only my own. But over 90 per cent of Canadian Jews agree that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. That basic stance is Zionism.
This past year, I have heard Zionism wrongly defined as anything from supporting the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, to settler colonialism, to wanting to wipe out the Palestinian people. Sadly, this reminds me of when feminists were derided as “Femi-Nazis” and “man-haters.” In response, many of us would proudly say, “This is what a feminist looks like.” I am motivated to do the same for Zionism today.
Zionism is a positive vision; one can be both Zionist and pro-Palestinian, Zionist and pro-peace. Many of us who mourn Oct. 7, who fight against antisemitism and call for the hostages’ return, also oppose the Netanyahu government (as countless Israelis also do). Many of us have advocated for years for a two-state solution, for civil and human rights. Our vision of Israel is inspired by its Declaration of Independence in 1948, which says: “(Israel) will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. …”
Like any country, Israel has fallen short. As I write this, we have just observed the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation; as Canadians, we surely know that we have our own profound failures. But the need to do better does not negate one’s right to exist.
This is why I am a Zionist:
I am a Zionist because Jews have lived in the Land of Israel continuously for almost 3,000 years. It is our homeland. The Hebrew which I speak to my Israeli friends and relatives is the same Hebrew of my prayers, is the same Hebrew found on ancient artifacts excavated in the land. Even when we were exiled, even when our spiritual and political centre was destroyed, we turned our buildings and our bodies, our hearts and our prayers, toward Israel.
I am a Zionist because we know all too well what it means to have the borders slammed shut when we are most in need. This is why Temple sponsored Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s, and Syrian refugees just seven years ago. With violent antisemitism on the rise outside of Israel, even a country under attack feels relatively safe. After millennia of powerlessness and persecution, we need to know that in an hour of need, somewhere will take us in.
I am a Zionist because almost half the world’s Jewish population lives in Israel. Judaism is not just a religion; we are also a people. Like any people, we are connected to each other by bonds of kinship and care. When a protester chants, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” I wonder: What happens to those 7 million Jews? To Jews who survived the Holocaust, Jews who were forced out of Arab lands, Jews who were airlifted from Ethiopia, smuggled out of Syria, freed from Russia, Jews who — like my wife’s family — have lived in Jerusalem since 1492, when they were expelled from Spain?
Finally, I am a Zionist because I believe in the dream of Israel, however imperfect the reality may be. When I am in Israel, I am inspired by the breathtaking diversity of its people, by how Jewish culture is part of every day, by the courage of those who live under fire and nevertheless are dedicated to coexistence and peace. I don’t ask you to agree with me. But I ask you to understand that, like all peoples, my people have the right to self-determination and dreams.
I am a Zionist and a loyal Canadian. I am a Zionist and a proud progressive. I am a Zionist and a faithful Jew. This is what a Zionist looks like.

A Brief (& Incomplete) Bibliography
Shlomo Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State
Daniel Gordis, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn
Adam Kirsch, On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice
Yossi Klein Halevi, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
Hen Mazzig, The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto
Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness
Ari Shavit, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Daniel Sokatch, Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted
Michael Stanislawski, Zionism: A Very Short Introduction
Noa Tishby, Israel: A Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth
Gil Troy, The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow
Ayelet Tsabari, Songs for the Brokenhearted
Einat Wilf, We Should All be Zionists: Essays on the Jewish State and the Path to Peace