Reflections on the State of Religious Zionism

Abstract

Poised between the aggressively anti-religious nationalism of mainstream secular Zionists and the passive Messianic faith of the bulk of believing Jews, nineteenth-century Religious Zionism was born on the horns of a dilemma. Embracing both horns, its leaders affirmed the validity of tradition and its divinely-assured Messianic Age, while arguing that human initiative, hardly distinguishable from the behavior of secular nationalists, was crucial to the Redemption of Israel. For some, the redemptive dimension receded, and the religious aspect of their nationalism was expressed in terms of the commandment to settle the Land and the opportunity to establish a state that would function in accordance with the laws of the Torah. (from Introduction)