Illuminating the path to Armageddon

Abstract

For now, however, I point out the sophistication with which the Israeli religious Right has transformed the Zionist menorah. No longer a metaphor to be “returned,” the arch menorah is now a cipher for the messianic community and its practical steps toward settlement of the land and the rebuilding of the Temple— steps that are supported financially by Israel’s current rightist government. For the Israeli messianic Right, the menorah is a symbol that reaches from Roman and Christian exile to Zionist return, to “leftist” Israeli “betrayal,” and, for the most extreme, onward toward apocalyptic fulfillment. (from chapter conclusion)