The Quest for a Jewish Homeland: Abraham to 1917
Name:
Date:
Instruction:
Part I: Read or look at each document in carefully. Then, thoughtfully answer the
question(s) that follow each document.
Part II: Using the background information provided and evidence from the documents,
write a short essay responding to the question. Be sure to include an introduction, body
and conclusion.
Question:
What were the driving motivators behind the Zionist movement and the goal to create a
Jewish homeland?
Background:
The story of the Jewish people begins with Abraham when God asked him to leave his
home and move his family to the land of Canaan. God promised Abraham that his
descendents would be blessed and great in number. This land is now called Israel. The
Israelites lived in this land for generations and established a great nation. But other
empires also wanted the land and eventually the Israelites lost control of Israel and its
capital, Jerusalem. The Jewish people were scattered around the world far away from
Israel.
For thousands of years, the Jewish people desired to return to a homeland but this was
a vague hope with no concrete plans to achieve it. In the late 1800’s, Theodor Herzl, an
Austro-Hungarian secular Jewish journalist, founded a political movement dedicated to
the creation of a Jewish state of Israel. Herzl felt little attachment to his Jewish heritage
until he reported on the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French military
who was unjustly convicted of treason. The incident prompted a wave of anti-Jewish
sentiment that shocked Herzl into realizing the need for a Jewish state. He saw the
state of Israel as a refuge for Jewish victims of oppression.
Zion is a Biblical name given to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Herzl’s political
movement, Zionism, sought to establish a secular state and homeland for the Jews. The
movement slowly gained popularity and gained support in Europe and the United
States. Jews slowly began to move to the land, at this time called Palestine. In 1917,
Britain officially recognized the dreams of the Zionist and issued the Balfour Declaration.
However, official recognition was only the beginning of a long journey.
Part I:
Document A: Genesis
Genesis 12:1-5
The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s
household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
2
4
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his
nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had
acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
Gen 15:18-21
18
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I
give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of
the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites,
Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
What did God promise to give to Abraham?
Why is Abraham and his covenant important to the Jews?
Document B: Arch of Titus
In 70 A.D, the Romans conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple which had been
the center and heart of the Jewish people. The Romans then conquered all of Judea
(Israel). To rid the land of any connection to the Jewish people, they renamed it
“Palestine” after the ancient enemies of the Israelites, the Philistines. Many Jews were
taken as slaves and spread across the Roman Empire.
This picture is a detail from the Arch of Titus, built in Rome to commemorate the
victories of the Emperor Titus, among them, the conquest of Jerusalem. It shows
Roman soldiers carrying ritual items out of the Temple as loot.
What attitude did the Romans have towards the Jews?
How might Jews living in Rome at this time feel about the Arch of Titus?
Document C: The Diaspora
(http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/0415236614/resources/maps/map37.jpg)
The Jewish Diaspora is the term used to describe the scattering of the Jews out of
Israel after the Roman conquest. Many Jews migrated to Europe, although others
moved to areas of the Middle East, Asia and Africa as well.
This map shows the migration of several Jewish groups throughout Europe during the
Middle Ages.
Describe the migration of the Jews depicted on this map.
Why do you think there was so much movement of these groups throughout
Europe during the Middle Ages?
Document D: The Dreyfus Affair
Theodore Herzl (founder of Zionism) writing in 1899 about the Dreyfus Affair:
"The Dreyfus case embodies more than a judicial error; it embodies the desire of the
vast majority of the French to condemn a Jew, and to condemn all Jews in this one
Jew. Death to the Jews! howled the mob, as the decorations were being ripped from
the captain's coat.... Where? In France. In republican, modern, civilized France, a
hundred years after the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The French people, or at any
rate the greater part of the French people, does not want to extend the rights of man
to Jews. The edict of the great Revolution had been revoked."
What does Herzl think the Dreyfus Affair symbolizes?
Why would this case be motivating to the Zionist political movement?
Document E: HaTikvah (The Hope)
This song, written in 1878, was adopted as the theme song for the Zionist movement.
It was later adopted as the national anthem of Israel.
In the Jewish heart
A Jewish spirit still sings,
And the eyes look east
Toward Zion
Our hope is not lost,
Our hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
In the land of Zion and
Jerusalem
Kol ode balevav P'nimah Nefesh Yehudi homiyah
Ulfa'atey mizrach kadimah
Ayin l'tzion tzofiyah.
Ode lo avdah tikvatenu
Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim:
L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu
Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim
What is the message of this song?
How does the message support the Zionist movement?
Document F: Balfour Declaration
Until World War I, the Ottoman Empire (a Muslim empire) controlled much of the land
in the Middle East. After the defeat of the Ottomans, the land was divided among the
Allies and Britain gained control of Palestine and the surrounding areas.
In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, wrote this letter to Baron
Rothschild, a leader in the British Jewish community and Zionist movement.
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in
conveying to you, on behalf of His
Majesty's Government, the
following declaration of sympathy
with Jewish Zionist aspirations
which has been submitted to, and
approved by, the Cabinet:
"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".
I should be grateful if you would
bring this declaration to the
knowledge of the Zionist
Federation.
Yours sincerely
Arthur James Balfour
Why is the support of the British important to the Zionist movement?
Part II:
Question: What were the driving motivators behind the Zionist movement and the goal
to create a Jewish homeland?
Use this space to outline your essay:
Introduction:
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Body (Evidence):
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Conclusion:
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For homework, due Wednesday, October 19, 2011, please write a short (4-5
paragraph) essay answering the question above.