Zionist Think Tank
If Herzl Had Facebook
These materials were developed for the National Ramah Commission as
part of “RILI” (Ramah Israel Leadership Initiative) with generous support
from the Legacy Heritage Fund
Spring, 2009
‫מחנות רמה‬
Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, National Director
Email: [email protected]
To: ‫צוות מחנות רמה‬
From: Rabbi Mitch Cohen
Date: June, 2009
Re: “Ramah Israel Leadership Initiative” (RILI) Resource Materials
It is my pleasure to present these resource materials, which have been specially designed
for ‫ מחנות רמה‬with generous support from the Legacy Heritage Fund. One of the most
important goals of the National Ramah Commission is to provide resources for sustaining
the high level of educational and religious programming at every Camp Ramah, and to
help each camp maintain the high standard that is associated with the name Ramah.
Working under the direction of Amiel Hersh, JTS students and Ramah staff members
(including many of our Shapiro Fellows and Rashei Chinuch) have volunteered many
hours this year to help produce these materials. Three seasoned educators, who all bring
a great deal of camping experience, have spent the past year writing the first four units
for this summer. A big ‫ תודה רבה‬to Ilan Bloch, Tuvia Book and Carl Schrag!
Our goal is that over the course of three years, twelve new units of material will be
developed to enhance the resources available in each of the camps. While success in this
endeavour will look different for each camp, as long as the materials are utilized, the
RILI shlichim are involved and engaged in its implementation, and new Israel resources
are shared amongst the camps, our goals and those of the grant will have been met.
I look forward to seeing you at camp this summer and learning more about ‫ארץ ישראל‬
together!
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Zionist Think Tank
If Herzl Had Facebook
Unit Topic: An Introduction to Early Zionist Thinkers
Unit Author: Ilan Bloch
Topics: Historical Background to the emergence of Modern Political Zionism and
major Zionist political philosophies and thinkers.
Age: 9th and 10th graders (can be adapted for older chanichim)
Summary:
This unit will serve as an introduction to Zionist thought and theory. The unit will
be rooted in the reading of primary texts by and about key Zionist thinkers such
as Theodor Herzl, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, A.D. Gordon, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Rav
Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, Achad Ha’Am, and Martin Buber. The
overarching goal will be to provide chanichim with a basic understanding of the
cultural and historical developments that framed early 20th-century Zionist
thinking. As with all units of Study in the camp setting, this unit should be taught
in as experiential, interactive, and informal a way as possible, in order to facilitate
dialogue between chanichim and critical thought and reflection on the part of
chanichim in relation to their values and attitudes vis-à-vis Zionism.
This unit consists of the following components:
1. Seven core sessions (pp. 5-38)
2. Peulat Edah (pp. 39-52)
3. Sample Divrei Torah (p. 53)
4. Additional readings and resources (p. 54-57)
Madrichim are encouraged to develop other programs and activities that will help
chanichim engage with the materials in the framework of Peulat Erev, Peulat
Tzrif and/or Yom Meyuchad.
Aims:
 The chanichim will acquire a basic understanding of the historical background
to the emergence of Modern Political Zionism. This will focus on Eastern
European anti-Semitism, but the Haskalah (Eastern European Jewish
Enlightenment) will also be briefly covered.
 The chanichim will be exposed to Hebrew national culture, specifically
Hayyim Nahman Bialik’s “On the Slaughter.”
 The chanichim will acquire a basic understanding of some of the main
alternative Jewish political responses to Eastern European anti-Semitism.
 The chanichim will acquire a basic understanding of the distinction between
“Ancient Spiritual Zionism” and “Modern Political Zionism.”
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 The chanichim will acquire a basic understanding of the different major Zionist
political philosophies and thinkers.
 The chanichim will develop their analytical, group work, discussion, and
skimming and scanning skills.
 The chanichim will develop their own definition of Zionism and examine the
question of whether they, themselves, are Zionists.
 The chanichim will acquire a basic understanding of the issues related to the
different versions of the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel and
develop viewpoints regarding these issues.
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Zionist Think Tank
Session 1 – Introduction- Trigger Texts (50 minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Printed Appendix I (1 copy per chanich/a)
2. Printed Appendix II (1 copy per/chanich/a)
Procedure:
Part A – Walk and Talk (10 minutes)
 The chanichim should be paired up in chevrutot and instructed to go for a
short walk together (away from the group, but close enough so that the
madrich/a can monitor all chevrutot). During the walk, the chanichim should
discuss following items:
 When in your life have you been proud to identify as a Jew?
o What made the situation a proud moment?
 When in your life have you been embarrassed to identify as a Jew?
o What made the situation an embarrassing moment?
 Have you or anyone in your immediate family, experienced AntiSemitism?
Part B – Whole Group Trigger (10 minutes)
 After returning from the walk, the madrich/a should ask the chanichim to
share their responses.
 The madrich/a should ask them about what it felt like to be
proud/embarrassed of their Judaism.
 The madrich/a should ask them how they, or their family members, reacted to
their experiences of anti-Semitism.
 The madrich/a explains that during this unit of Study, the group will be
examining issues of Jewish identity, historical anti-Semitism, and Jewish
reactions to it.
Part C – Chevruta (20 minutes)
 Madriching should divide the chanichim into chevrutot and have them
study the texts found in Appendices I and II.
 The madrich/a should interrupt the chevrutot about ten minutes into the
study for a quick discussion about the first text. Once this discussion is
complete, the chevrutot should continue with the second text.
 During the chevruta time, the madricha/ should be walking around and
checking on all of the small groups. The madrich/a should be familiar
with the texts so he/she they can engage the chanichim with questions.
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Part D – Whole Group Sikkum (10 minutes)
 The madrich/a asks for a few responses from the chevruta study to be
shared with the larger group.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix I
Eastern European Anti-Semitism (18th-20th centuries) – A brief introduction
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Czars ruled imperial Russia.
Under Catherine the Great (Catherine II) (1762-1796), the Pale of
Settlement is established, allowing Jews to reside only within
certain boundaries and excluding them from entering “Russia
proper.”
Nicholas I (1825-1855) introduces the “Cantonist Law,” forcibly
conscripting eight-year-old Jewish boys into military service for a
period of twenty-five years.
Under Alexander III (1881-1894), the “May Laws” (or “Temporary
Laws”), restricting the movement of Jews and limiting the size of
the Pale of Settlement, are introduced.
During this time period, the head of the governing body of the
Russian Orthodox Church (Konstantin Pobedonostev) formulates
his “one-third plan” for the Jews: one-third should emigrate, onethird should be forcibly converted, and one-third will starve to death.
During the reign of Nicolas II (1894-1917), the “Black Hundreds”
instigate numerous pogroms, anti-Jewish riots.
The infamous false document “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a
supposed set of minutes of a meeting of all world Jewish leaders
regarding taking over the world, is issued by the secret police of
Nicolas II.
During this time, a Jew, Mendel Beiliss, is accused of kidnapping,
torturing and murdering a Christian child to use his blood for
matzah production (“Blood Libel”).
Questions:
1. How would you react to this state-supported anti-Semitism?
2. Is there more that one appropriate way to react?
3. How would you convince other Jews that your way is the best one?
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix II
This poem was written in response to the Kishinev Pogrom of April 6-7, 1903, in
which almost 50 Jews were brutally killed.
By: Chaim Nachman Bialik (translated by Richard Silverstein)
Date: ‫ תרס"ג‬,‫אייר‬
On the Slaughter
Heavens! Seek mercy for me!
If there is a God among you and he has a clear pathYet I have not found him –
Pray for me.
My heart is dead and no prayer lingers on my lips,
The hand has lost its strength, nor is there any hopeHow long? When will this end? How long?
Hangman! Here is a neck–arise and slaughter!
My neck is like a dog’s, you have the arm of the axe,
All the world is for me a gallowsAnd we-we are the choice few!
My blood flows freeStrike with the axe and the blood of murder will gush forth,
Blood soaks through your shirtAnd will not be erased forever.
If there be justice-let her appear now!
But if, after my extinction from the face of the firmament
justice appears,
Let her seal be overturned forever!
And in eternal evil let the heavens rot;
You too go, wicked spirits, in this cruel injustice
And in your blood live and suckle.
Cursed be he who says: “Avenge!”
Vengeance such as this, vengeance for the blood of a small
boy,
Satan himself has not devisedLet that blood pierce the abyss!
Let that blood pierce the depths of darkness,
Let it eat away the darkness and there undermine
All the rotted foundations of the earth.
‫עַל הַשְּׁ חִיטָ ה‬
!‫ ַבּ ְקּשׁוּ ַר ֲח ִמים ָעלָי‬,‫שׁ ַמי ִם‬
ָ
‫ִאם י ֵשׁ ָבּכֶם ֵאל ְו ָל ֵאל ָבּכֶם נָתִ יב‬
‫ַו ֲא נִ י "א ְמצָאתִ יו‬
!‫הִתְ ַפּלְּלוּ ַאתֶּ ם ָעלָי‬
,‫שׂפָתָ י‬
ְ ‫ֲא נִ י ִלבִּי ֵמת ְו ֵאין עוֹד תְּ ִפלָּה ִבּ‬
‫וּ ְכבָר אָזְלַת י ָד אַף ֵאין תִּ ְקוָה עוֹד‬
?‫ עַד ָמתָ י‬,‫ עַד אָנָה‬,‫עַד ָמתַ י‬
!‫שׁחָט‬
ְ ‫הַתַּ ְלי ָן! הֵא ַצוָּאר קוּם‬
,‫ לְ) ז ְר ֹ ַע עִם ַק ְרדּ ֹם‬,‫ע ְָר ֵפנִי ַכּ ֶכּלֶב‬
‫ָאָרץ לִי ג ְַרדּ ֹם‬
ֶ ‫ְוכָל ה‬
!‫ַו ֲאנַחְנוּ ֲאנַחְנוּ ַה ְמעָט‬
,‫ וִיזַנֵּק דַּ ם ֶרצַח‬,‫דָּ ִמי ֻמתָּ ר הַ! ָקדְ ק ֹד‬
! ְ‫שׂב עַל כֻּתָּ נְתּ‬
ָ ‫דַּ ם יוֹנֵק ָו‬
.‫ ָלנֶצַח‬,‫וְ"א י ִ ַמּח ָלנֶצַח‬
!‫ְו ִאם י ֶשׁ צֶדֶ ק יוֹפַע ִמיּ ָד‬
‫שּׁ ְמדִ י ִמתַּ חַת ָר ִקי ַע‬
ָ ‫ַא! ִאם אַח ֲֵרי ִה‬
‫ַהצֶּדֶ ק יוֹפִי ַע‬
!‫י ְ ֻמגַּר נָא ִכסְאוֹ ָלעַד‬
;‫שׁ ַמי ִם י ִ ָמּקּוּ‬
ָ ‫שׁע עוֹ ָל ִמים‬
ַ ‫וּב ְֶר‬
‫ ַבּ ֲח ַמ ְסכֶם ז ֶה‬,‫ ז ֵדִ ים‬,‫אַף ַאתֶּ ם לְכוּ‬
.‫וּבְדִ ְמכֶם חֲיוּ ְו ִהנָּקוּ‬
!‫ נְק ֹם‬:‫וְאָרוּר הָאוֹ ֵמר‬
‫ נִ ְק ַמת דַּ ם יֶלֶד ָקטָן‬,‫נְ ָק ָמה כָז ֹאת‬
‫שּׂטָן‬
ָ ‫עוֹד "א ב ָָרא ַה‬
!‫ְוי ִקּ ֹב הַדָּ ם ֶאת הַתְּ הוֹם‬
,‫שׁכִּים‬
ַ ‫י ִקּ ֹב הַדָּ ם עַד תְּ ה ֹמוֹת ַמ ֲח‬
‫שׁם‬
ָ ‫שׁ! ְוחָתַ ר‬
ֶ ֹ ‫וְאָכַל בַּח‬
.‫ָאָרץ ַהנְּ ַמ ִקּים‬
ֶ ‫כָּל מוֹסְדוֹת ה‬
Note that the poem starts off with a traditional Jewish response to tragedy (“Heavens!
Seek mercy for me!”), then moves on to questioning the existence of God (“Yet I have
not found him”), to demanding immediate Heavenly Justice (“If there be justice – let her
appear now!”), and then coming to the belief that the traditional order has been
undermined, and that something must change radically. (“Let it eat away the darkness
and there undermine/All the rotted foundations of the earth.”) Also note that this poem
was written in response to an event which can be described as “the straw which broke
the camel’s back” – the Kishinev Pogram became the new symbol of an Eastern
European anti-Semitism which was all-pervasive, state-sponsored and enduring.
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Zionist Think Tank
Session 2 – Exploring Responses to Eastern European Anti-Semitism (45
minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Printed Appendices III-VIII (1 copy of each, though for larger groups,
multiple copies of each should be printed)
2. Printed Appendix IX (1 copy per chanich/a)
3. Tape
4. Pencils (if chanichim will be answering questions in writing)
5. Index Cards/Small pieces of paper (1 per chanich/a)
Procedure:
 Madrich/a should hang up Appendices III-VIII all around the room
 Review last session and ask for additional feedback and responses from the
chanichim.
 Chanichim must walk around the room, where there will be explanations of six
different Jewish responses to Eastern European anti-Semitism hanging on
the wall.
 During the walk around time, the chanichim should be recording some notes
on their individual index cards about each of the groups.
 After providing enough time for chanichim to read each response, the
madrich/a should pass out Appendix IX.
 Chanichim should read the brief summaries of each of the six responses and
answer the questions listed, either in writing individually or verbally with a
chevruta.
 It could be mentioned here that these responses also developed under the
influence of an Eastern European Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), which
sought to fuse Judaism and modernity (although it was a very different
movement to the Western European Jewish Enlightenment, as emancipation
did not take place in Eastern Europe.)
 Afterwards, the madrich/a should facilitate a discussion based on the
chanichim’s answers to the questions.
 Depending on timing, the chanichim could be asked to write their own
Wikipedia style entry for each of the groups mentioned in Appendices III-VIII.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix III
“Territorialists”
Summary
Territorialism was a Jewish political movement calling for the creation of a
sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory (or territories), not necessarily in
the Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous. Before 1905 some
Zionist leaders took seriously proposals for Jewish homelands in places other
than Palestine. Theodor Herzl's Der Judenstaat argued for a Jewish state in
either Palestine, "our ever-memorable historic home” or Argentina, "one of the
most fertile countries in the world.” Many of the early socialist Zionist groups
were more territorialist than Zionist.
Other Facts
 In 1903 British cabinet ministers suggested the “British Uganda Program,”
which would have led to land for a Jewish state in "Uganda"
 Herzl initially rejected the idea, preferring Palestine.
 In response to this, the Jewish Territorialist Organization split off from the
Zionist movement. It attempted to locate territory suitable for Jewish settlement
in various parts of America (e.g. Galveston, Texas), Africa, Asia, and Australia,
but with little success. The ITO was dissolved in 1925.
 Apart from the (ITO), there was also a Territorialist effort in Ukraine and later in
Birobidzan, Russia, where a Jewish Autonomous Region was established in
1934.
 In the face of the looming Nazi genocide, the Freeland League was established
in the United States in 1935. This organization attempted, unsuccessfully, to
pursue Jewish autonomy by obtaining a large piece of territory in sparsely
populated areas in Ecuador, Australia, or Surinam.
 For a few years after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, some
territorialists continued attempting to create a non-nationalist Jewish settlement
in some other region of the world.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix IV
“Bundists”
Summary
The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, generally
called “The Bund” (in German “Bund” means federation or union) or the “Jewish
Labor Bund,” was a Jewish political party in several European countries
operating predominantly between the 1890s and the 1930s with remnants of the
party still active in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The Bund was a secular socialist party, opposed to what they saw as the
reactionary nature of traditional Jewish life in Russia. Created before the Russian
Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), the Bund became a founding collective
member of the RSDLP at its first congress in Minsk in March 1898. A Member of
the Bund is called a Bundist.
Timeline
 Founded in Wilno, Lithuania (which was then a part of the Russian Empire) on
October 7, 1897.
 Sought to unite all Jewish workers in the Russian Empire into a united socialist
party.
 Sought to ally itself with the wider Russian social democratic movement to
achieve a democratic and socialist Russia. Within such a Russia, they hoped to
see the Jews achieve recognition as a nation with a legal minority status.
 From 1898-1903, the Bund was recognized as the sole representative of the
Jewish workers in the RSDLP.
 Strongly opposed Zionism, arguing that emigration to Palestine was a form of
escapism.
 Didn’t advocate for separatism, focusing on culture, not a state or a place, as
the glue of Jewish "nationalism."
 Promoted the use of Yiddish as a Jewish national language and opposed the
Zionist project of reviving Hebrew.
 Nevertheless, many Bundists were also Zionists, and the Bund suffered from a
steady loss of active members to emigration. Many Bundists became active in
forming socialist parties in Palestine, and later in Israel.
 Won “converts” mainly among Jewish artisans and workers but also among the
growing Jewish intelligentsia.
 Acted as both a political party (to the extent that political conditions allowed)
and as a trade union.
 Joined with the Labor Zionists and other groups to form self-defense
organisations to protect Jewish communities against pogroms and government
troops.
 By 1922 the Bund had ceased to exist as an independent party.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix V
“Communists”
Summary
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes
the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on
common ownership and control of the means of production and property in
general. Karl Marx believed that communism would be the final stage in human
society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure
communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless, and
oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to
pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate
in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.
Other Facts
 As a political ideology, communism is usually considered to be a branch of
socialism, a broad group of economic and political philosophies that draw on
the various political and intellectual movements with origins in the work of
theorists of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution.
 Communism attempts to offer an alternative to the problems with the capitalist
market economy and the legacy of imperialism and nationalism.
 Karl Marx never provided a detailed description as to how communism would
function as an economic system, but it is understood that a communist
economy would consist of common ownership of the means of production,
culminating in the negation of the concept of private ownership.
 Communism is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where
mankind is free from oppression and scarcity.
 A Communist society would have no governments, countries, or class divisions.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix VI
“Immigrants”
 The emigration of Jews from Russian Poland and other areas of the Russian
Empire to the United States began as far back as 1821 but did not become
especially noteworthy until after 1870.
 Though nearly 50,000 Russian, Polish, Galician, and Romanian Jews went to
the United States during the succeeding decade, it was not until the pogroms,
anti-Jewish uprisings in Russia, of the early 1880s, that the immigration
assumed extraordinary proportions.
 From Russia alone the emigration rose from an annual average of 4,100 in the
decade 1871-80 to an annual average of 20,700 in the decade 1881-90.
 Additional measures of persecution in Russia in the early 1890s and continuing
up until very recently have resulted in large increases in the emigration,
England and the United States being the principal lands of refuge.
 By 1924, two million Jews had arrived in the United States from Eastern
Europe.
 Growing anti-immigration feelings in the United States at the time resulted in
the National Origins Quota of 1924, which severely restricted immigration from
Eastern Europe after that time.
 The American Jewish community took the lead in opposing immigration
restrictions, which remained in effect until 1965.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix VII
“Agudat Yisrael (Ultra-Orthodox)”
World Agudat Israel (The World Jewish Union), usually known as the Aguda, was
established in the early twentieth century as the political arm of Ashkenazi Torah
Judaism. Its strong base of support was located in Eastern Europe before the
Second World War but included Orthodox Jews throughout Europe. World
Agudat Israel was established at a conference held in Kattowitz, Poland in 1912.
Its aim was to perpetuate authentic Judaism by mobilizing Torah-loyal Jews to
promote the supremacy of Torah in all problems facing Jews as individuals and
as a nation. Agudat Israel gained a significant following, particularly among
Hasidic Jews, and even ran in Polish general elections winning seats in that
country's parliament.
In England, the Agudat Israel movement was represented by the Adath Israel
Synagogue, formed in 1909 and then the Union of Orthodox Hebrew
Congregations formed in 1926. Prior to World War II and the Holocaust, Agudat
Israel operated a number of Jewish educational institutions throughout Europe
and continues to do so in both the United States as Agudath Israel of America
and in Israel.
In the years following WWII, Agudat Israel reached an agreement with the State
of Israel, which was predominantly led by secularists, and thus the need to
secure the status quo between Ashkenazi Rabbinical leaders and David BenGurion, which ensured Ashkenazi Rabbinical co-ordination with the state as well
as the implementation of such guarantees, such as being Shomer Shabbat and
Shomer Kashrut.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix VIII
“Zionists”
Summary
Zionism is the international Jewish political movement that originally supported
the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine, after two
millennia of exile. Since the creation of Israel, the Zionist movement continues
primarily as support for the modern state of Israel. Zionism is largely based on
strong historical ties and religious traditions linking the Jewish people to the Land
of Israel. The modern Zionist movement was mainly founded by secular Jews,
beginning largely as a response by European Jewry to anti-Semitism across
Europe, initially one of several Jewish political movements offering alternative
responses to assimilation and the position of Jews in Europe. Zionism grew
rapidly following knowledge of the Holocaust and became the dominant power
among Jewish political movements.
Other Facts:
 Established by journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century following the
publication of Der Judenstaat.
 Originally seeked to encourage Jewish migration to Israel and was eventually
successful in establishing Israel in 1948 as the homeland for the Jewish people.
 "Zionism" was originally coined as a term for Jewish nationalism by Austrian
Jewish publisher Nathan Birnbaum, founder of the first nationalist Jewish
students' movement Kadimah, in 1890. (Birnbaum eventually turned against
political Zionism and became the first leader of Agudat Israel.)
 Zionism must be distinguished from Territorialism. During the early history of
Zionism, a number of proposals were made for settling Jews outside Europe,
but ultimately all of these were rejected or failed. The debate over these
proposals helped to define the nature and focus of the Zionist movement.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix IX
Responses
1. Territorialists
2. Bundists
3. Communists
4. Immigrants
5. Agudat Yisrael (Ultra-Orthodox)
6. Zionists
Summaries
We want Jewish self-rule/a Jewish
state in the area in which we now live,
or in an “empty” piece of land.
We want everybody to be equal and to
share. We are committed secular
(irreligious) Jews. We are anti-Zionists
because we believe that one can be a
good Jew wherever one lives.
We want everybody to be equal and to
share, and for all religion (including
Judaism) to be abolished.
We want to move to the Goldine
Medine (the United States) because
only there will we be free and safe.
With trust in Hashem we will overcome
this episode of anti-Semitism, just as
our forefathers have before us.
Only the establishment of a Jewish
cultural center, a Jewish self-rule
authority, or a Jewish state, in Eretz
Yisrael can save us.
Questions:
1. What are the advantages/disadvantages of each of these responses to
Eastern European anti-Semitism?
2. If you were living in Eastern Europe at this time, which response do you
think you would have chosen? Why?
3. Which responses do you think failed? Why did they fail? Could they be
retried and succeed in the future?
4. Which responses do you think succeeded? Why did they succeed? Could
they fail in the future?
5. Which response would you choose if you were faced with a similar threat
of anti-Semitism in North America today?
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Zionist Think Tank
Session 3 – Ancient Spiritual Zionisim vs. Modern Political Zionism (45
minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Big Piece of paper and a Marker
2. Appendix X (1 per half of the chanichim)
3. Appendix XI (1 per half of the chanichim)
4. Appendix XII (1 per chanich/a)
Procedure:
Part A – Review/Brainstorming (15 minutes)
 After a short review of the previous lesson, as an entire group, chanichim are
asked to brainstorm what Zionism means to them, and their responses are
quickly listed on a board/big piece of paper.
 A few chanichim are asked to elaborate on their responses and the thinking
behind them.
 The madrich/a attempts to come to some sort of class consensus as to what
Zionism is according to the chanichim, but also makes sure to state clearly
any opposing, minority views that are mentioned by the chanichim.
Part B – Text Study/Questions (30 minutes)
 Each chanich/a receives a text and a question page (Appendix XII and
Appendix X or Appendix XI).
 The chanichim are divided into two smaller working groups (could be more,
depending on the group size), and the chanichim are asked to read either
Appendix X (Bereshit 12:1-9, focussing on “Ancient Spiritual Zionism”) or
Appendix XI (Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State, focussing on “Modern
Political Zionism”).
 Chanichim are asked to answer seven key questions regarding the Zionism of
their assigned text (Appendix XII).
 Afterwards, the madrich/a will ask for volunteers to offer their groups’
responses to the questions, selecting one response for each question from
both Appendix X and Appendix XI groups.
 Through this process, chanichim will come to understand that two different
types of Zionism are being discussed, and a reflection on the similarities and
differences between these two types of Zionism will be covered.
 Ancient Spiritual Zionism is a term which has been coined for this unit of
study only, and which is not found in academic literature, in order to help
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distinguish the ancient Jewish yearning for Zion from Herzlian Zionism. It
should always be referred to as “Ancient Spiritual Zionism” (i.e. with the
inverted commas) both because it is not a known, recognized term, and
because it is anachronistic to define Lech Lecha as an expression of Zionism,
or Avraham as a Zionist.
 The question of whether Zionism is a break from traditional Judaism, or a vital
expression of it, should be discussed.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix X
“Bereshit 12:1-9”
God said to Abram, “Go away from your
land, from your birthplace, and from your
father’s house, to the land that I will show
you.
!ְ‫אַרצ‬
ְ ‫ לֶ! לְ! ֵמ‬,‫וַיּ ֹא ֶמר י ְהוָה אֶל אַב ְָרם‬
‫שׁר‬
ֶ ‫ ֲא‬,‫ָאָרץ‬
ֶ ‫ אֶל ה‬,$‫ וּ ִמבֵּית אָבִי‬$ ְ‫וּ ִממּוֹלַדְ תּ‬
‫אַר ֶא ָךּ‬
ְ
I will make you into a great nation. I will
bless you and make you great. You shall
become a blessing.
;!‫שׁ ֶמ‬
ְ ‫ ַו ֲאגַדְּ לָה‬,!ְ‫ ַו ֲאב ֶָרכ‬,‫ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל‬,!‫שׂ‬
ְ ‫ְו ֶא ֶע‬
‫ בּ ְָרכָה‬,‫ֶו ְהי ֵה‬
I will bless those you bless you, and s/he
who curses you, I will curse. All the
families of the earth will be blessed
through you.”
,!ְ‫ אָא ֹר; ְונִב ְְרכוּ ב‬,)ְ‫ וּ ְמ ַק ֶלּל‬,)‫ ְמב ְָרכֶי‬,‫ַו ֲאב ְָרכָה‬
.‫שׁפְּח ֹת ָה ֲאדָ ָמה‬
ְ ‫כּ ֹל ִמ‬
Abram went as God had directed him, and
Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old
when he left Charan.
,‫ ַויֵּלֶ! ִאתּוֹ‬,‫שׁר דִּ בֶּר ֵאלָיו י ְהוָה‬
ֶ ‫ ַכּ ֲא‬,‫ַויֵּלֶ! אַב ְָרם‬
, ‫שׁנָה‬
ָ ‫שׁ ְבעִים‬
ִ ‫שׁנִים ְו‬
ָ ‫ בֶּן ָח ֵמשׁ‬,‫לוֹט; וְאַב ְָרם‬
‫ ֵמח ָָרן‬,‫ְבּצֵאתוֹ‬
Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot,
and all their belongings, as well as the
people they had gathered, and they left,
heading towards Canaan. When they
came to Canaan,
, ‫שׁתּוֹ ְו ֶאת לוֹט בֶּן אָחִיו‬
ְ ‫שׂ ַרי ִא‬
ָ ‫ַויּ ִ ַקּח אַב ְָרם ֶאת‬
,‫ ְו ֶאת ַהנֶּפֶשׁ‬,‫שׁר ָרכָשׁוּ‬
ֶ ‫שׁם ֲא‬
ָ ‫ְו ֶאת כָּל ְרכוּ‬
,‫אַרצָה ְכּנַעַן‬
ְ ‫ ָל ֶלכֶת‬,‫שׁר עָשׂוּ ְבח ָָרן; ַויֵּצְאוּ‬
ֶ ‫ֲא‬
.‫אַרצָה ְכּנָעַן‬
ְ ,‫ַויּ ָב ֹאוּ‬
Abram travelled through the land as far as
the area of Shechem, coming to the Plain
of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the
land.
‫ עַד אֵלוֹן‬,‫שׁכֶם‬
ְ ‫ עַד ְמקוֹם‬,‫ָאָרץ‬
ֶ ‫ בּ‬,‫ַויַּעֲב ֹר אַב ְָרם‬
.‫ָאָרץ‬
ֶ ‫ אָז בּ‬,‫מוֹרה; ְו ַה ְכּנַ ֲענִי‬
ֶ
God appeared to Abram and said, “I will
give this land to your offspring.” [Abram]
built an altar there to God who had
appeared to him.
‫ ְלז ְַרעֲ& ֶאתֵּ ן ֶאת‬,‫ וַיּ ֹא ֶמר‬,‫ אֶל אַב ְָרם‬,‫ַויּ ֵָרא י ְהוָה‬
‫ לַיהוָה ַהנּ ְִר ֶאה‬,ַ‫שׁם ִמזְ ֵבּח‬
ָ ‫ָאָרץ הַזּ ֹאת; ַויִּבֶן‬
ֶ ‫ה‬
.‫ֵאלָיו‬
From there, he moved on to the mountains
east of Bethel. He set up his tent with
Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He
built an altar there and called it in God’s
name.
‫ ִמ ֶקּדֶ ם ְלבֵית אֵל ַויּ ֵט‬,‫שּׁם ָהה ָָרה‬
ָ ‫ַויַּעְתֵּ ק ִמ‬
‫שׁם‬
ָ ‫ ַויִּבֶן‬,‫ ְו ָהעַי ִמ ֶקּדֶ ם‬,‫אָהֳ&ה; בֵּית אֵל ִמיּ ָם‬
.‫שׁם י ְהוָה‬
ֵ ‫ ַויּ ִ ְק ָרא ְבּ‬,‫ִמזְ ֵבּ ַח לַיה ָוה‬
Abram then continued on his way, moving
steadily toward the south.
.‫ ְונָסוֹ ַע ַהנֶּגְבָּה‬.‫ הָלוֹ‬,‫ַויִּסַּע אַב ְָרם‬
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XI
“Der Judenstaat/TheJewish State”
Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) was published in 1896.
In the preface Herzl wrote:
“We are a people – one people. We are strong enough to form a state and
indeed a model state. The sovereign territory could be in the Argentine
[Argentina], that has fertile places; or in Palestine, the historic homeland.”
In the latter part of the pamphlet, Herzl makes observations on a number of
practical questions: organization, emigration, capital, land distribution,
constitution, language, laws, army and flag.
“I feel that with the publication of this pamphlet,” wrote Herzl, “my task is done.”
For months after its publication, Herzl worked night and day preparing for the
First Zionist Congress, attending himself to every invitation and every detail. On
August 29, 1897, the First Zionist Congress met is Basle, Switzerland, attended
by 107 delegates from many countries. They were all conscious that history was
being made. This was the first international Jewish assembly for nearly two
thousand years. At the opening session Herzl insisted that each delegate should
wear a tailcoat and white tie, to mark the importance of the occasion.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XII
“Question Page”
Bereshit 12:1-9
(Text 1)
1. Which area of land is
important to Zionism
according to your text?
2. Who are the original
inhabitants of the land
according to the text (for
Text I), and from your
prior knowledge (Text II)?
3. What is the beginning
date of Zionism
according to the text (for
Text I) or from your prior
knowledge (Text II)?
4. Who are the main
characters involved in
Zionism according to
your text?
5. Who are the modernday supporters of only
this type of Zionism, from
your prior knowledge?
6. What is the ideal
nature of the State of
Israel for this type of
Zionism, from your prior
knowledge?
7. What are the
representations of this
type of Zionism today,
from your prior
knowledge?
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Der Judenstaat/TheJewish State
(Text 2)
Zionist Think Tank
Session 4- Chevruta in Concentric Circles (45 minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Paper
2. Pen
3. Appendix XIII (1 per chanich/a)
Procedure:
 The Chanichim will be participating in a concentric circles text study. Ideally
each chanich/a will have their own copy of Appendix XIII, though if
necessary they can share with a chevruta.
 The chevrutot will begin with traditional Jewish texts, demonstrating the
centrality of the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition, before moving on to modern
Zionist ideas, which will be covered by discussing summaries of major Zionist
streams.
 Two circles should be made so that the inner circle is facing out and the outer
circle is facing in. Each circle should have an equal number of chanichim.
 Each chanich/a will study one of the texts in Appendix XIII with one other
person. They should be asked to go through the text and then talk through
the questions listed with their chevruta.
 After each “session” chanichim are asked to share interesting responses of
their chevrutot with the entire group, and these responses should be listed by
the madrich/a for later reflection.
 After each short reflection, the madrich/a should instruct the outer circle to
rotate one spot to the left, in order to start working with their new chevruta.
 The above process should repeat itself until all 5 texts have been studied. Of
course, two texts could be studied at the one time by chevrutot, which would
require only two repetitions of the process.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XIII
“Concentric Circle Chevrutot”
With thanks to David Bryfman, the Australaian Union of Jewish Students, and the
Hillel Foundation of Australia
Chevruta 1: Bereshit 15:18
God’s promise to Abram: “On that day
the Lord made a covenant with Abram
saying, ‘To your offspring I give this
land.’”
‫ כּ ַָרת ה’ ֶאת אַב ְָרם בּ ְִרית לֵאמ ֹר‬,‫בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא‬
‫ָאָרץ הַזּ ֹאת‬
ֶ ‫ נָתַ תִּ י ֶאת ה‬,*ֲ‫ְלז ְַרע‬
Questions for discussion:
1. What is meant by the term “covenant” (b’rit)? What is the difference
between a covenant and an agreement or other promise?
2. Describe some other covenants with which you are familiar. (If you are
unsure then think of animal parts and rainbows.)
Chevruta 2: Bereshit 26:3 and 28:13
God’s promise to Isaac: “I will assign
these lands to you and your offspring,
fulfilling the oath that I swore to your
father Abraham.”
‫ ַו ֲה ִקמ ֹתִ י ֶאת‬,‫ֶאתֵּ ן ֶאת כָּל ָה ֲא ָרצ ֹת ָהאֵל‬
.!‫שׁ ַבּעְתִּ י לְאַב ְָרהָם אָבִי‬
ְ ִ ‫שׁר נ‬
ֶ ‫ ֲא‬,‫שּׁ ֻבעָה‬
ְ ‫ַה‬
God’s promise to Jacob: “… the ground
on which you are lying I will assign to
you and your offspring.”
,‫שׁר ַאתָּ ה שֹׁכֵב ָעלֶי ָה לְ) ֶאתְּ נֶנָּה‬
ֶ ‫ ֲא‬,‫ָאָרץ‬
ֶ ‫…ה‬
!ֶ‫וּ ְלז ְַרע‬
Questions for discussion:
1. What is the significance of the fact that the Land was promised not only to
Abraham, but also to his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, and to their
“offspring” (“zar’echa”)?
2. Do you consider yourself part of this “offspring”? (Whether spiritually,
nationally, historically, genetically, etc.)
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Chevruta 3: Shemot 3:7-8
“I have seen the affliction of My people
who are in Egypt… and I will descend
to save them from the hand of Egypt
and to take them up from that land to a
good and vast land, to a land flowing
with milk and honey…”
…‫שׁר ְבּ ִמצ ְָרי ִם‬
ֶ ‫ָרא ֹה ָראִיתִ י ֶאת ֳענִי ַעמִּי ֲא‬
‫ָאָרץ‬
ֶ ‫תוֹ מִן ה‬#ֲ‫ וּ ְל ַהע‬,‫ָו ֵא ֵרד ְל ַהצִּילוֹ ִמיּ ַד ִמצ ְַרי ִם‬
‫ אֶל ֶא ֶרץ זָבַת‬,‫וּר ָחבָה‬
ְ ‫ אֶל ֶא ֶרץ טוֹבָה‬,‫ַההִוא‬
…‫ָחלָב וּדְ בָשׁ‬
Questions for discussion:
1. What is meant by the phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey”? Should
it be taken literally? Is it prescriptive (i.e. telling you the desired situation)
or descriptive (i.e. telling you the current situation)?
2. How are your views of Israel today influenced by the notion of Israel as “a
land flowing with milk and honey”? Are your views of Israel realistic or not?
If you have been to Israel before: Was the reality of Israel different to how
you imagined it to be? If so, how?
Chevruta 4: Pesach Haggadah
Next Year in (Rebuilt) Jerusalem.
‫ִירוּשָׁ ָלי ִם ַהבְּנוּי ָה‬
ַ ‫שׁנָה ַהבָּאָה בּ‬
ָ ‫ְל‬
Questions for discussion:
1. What is the significance of this sentence being included as part of the
Pesach Haggadah?
2. Why might some people regard the celebration of Pesach as a meaningful
expression of Zionism?
3. Was the Exodus caused by a negative (that is, reactive) response (that is,
fleeing from “Hebrew-haters”) or a positive (that is, proactive) response
(that is, nationalist sentiment)?
4. How do you feel when you recite this line during the Pesach Seder?
Should it be taken literally?
Chevruta 5: Yehuda HaLevi
My heart is in the East and I am in the
depths of the West.
‫לבי במזרח ואנוכי בסוף מערב‬
Questions for discussion:
1. How do you feel when you are away from Israel? Where is your home?
Can you have two homes at the same time? What does this mean for your
identity?
2. Do you feel angry, depressed, happy, or some other emotion when you
read this text?
-24-
Chevruta 6:
Midrash Sifrei on Devarim12:29
Settling in the Land of Israel is equal in
worth to all of the commandments in
the Torah combined.
Bereshit Rabbah 30
It is far better to sleep in the deserts of
Israel than in the palaces of the
Diaspora.
BT: Kiddushin 49b
“Ten measures of beauty descended
on the world - nine were taken by
Jerusalem, one by the rest of the
world.”
‫עשרה קבים יופי ירדו לעולם תשעה נטלה‬
‫ירושלים ואחד כל העולם כולו‬
Questions for discussion:
1. According to the first two quotes how does one become a “good Jew”? Do
you support such a notion? Is Aliyah necessary or even an ideal?
2. How do you feel when you read these texts?
-25-
Zionist Think Tank
Session 5 – Values clarification exercise (45 minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Appendix XIV (1 copy of each belief statement)
Procedure:
 Madrich/a should hang the 5 Zionist summaries (Appendix XIV) around the
room.
 Chanichim will be asked to walk around and read the summaries of the five
different types of Zionism that will be hung up around the room. Zionist
posters from the pre-State that illustrate these streams of Zionism will be
hung up alongside the explanations.
 Chanichim should stand by the type of Zionism with which they most agree. If
a chanich/a does not agree with any one type of Zionism he/she should stand
between the types of Zionism with which he most agrees, or otherwise stand
in the middle, if he/she does not agree with any of the types of Zionism.
(These chanichim will later be asked to explain their opinions and beliefs.)
 One or two chanichim from each group will then be asked to explain why they
chose their preferred type of Zionism.
 The madrich/a will then conduct a discussion with the chanichim about how
the various types of Zionism manifest today in both Israel and the Diaspora.
 What does Zionism look like in modern Israel?
 Does it look different in Jerusalem then it does in Tel Aviv?
 What does it mean to be a Zionist living in North America?
 Once each of the Zionisms is named – e.g. Zionism 1 is Labor Zionism – they
should be called only by their proper names and not by their numbers, which
are only being used for the purpose of this session.
-26-
Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XIV
“Types of Zionism”
Zionism #1
The economy of the State should be run
according to Socialist principles.
Through working the land with its own
hands, the Jewish nation will be able rebuild
itself.
The State should be secular, although
deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and
learning. Our book of choice is the Bible
(specifically Prophets, as well as Joshua),
not the Talmud.
-27-
Zionism #2
The economy of the State should be run
according to free-market/liberal principles
(that is, not socialist).
Iron Wall: Peace with the Arabs will come,
when we are so strong, that they realise that
they will not be able to defeat us, and not
from concessions, which will simply invite
further hostility and demands.
A Jewish majority is needed on both sides
of the Jordan River (that is, in Israel, Judea
and Samaria (The West Bank), the Gaza
Strip, and Jordan.
Silence is mud. Jews must be activists.
Every Jew is a prince and must act as such.
The Goal of Zionism is Aliyah. Not Aliyah
plus, for example, working on a Kibbutz.
Once you make Aliyah, you do whatever
Israel needs you to do.
-28-
Zionism #3
Zionism is the “first flowering of our
redemption,” that is, the beginning of the
Messianic redemptive process. Through
supporting Zionism, we gradually bring the
Messiah.
OR…
In order to fulfil the mitzvah of “pikuach
nefesh” (saving Jewish lives), we must
establish and sustain a Jewish State.
Ideally, this state should be in the Land of
Israel, and should allow for the
enhancement of Jewish observance and
practice of its citizenry.
-29-
Zionism #4
The elite of Jewish communities throughout
the Diaspora should make Aliyah and
become part of the Jewish cultural
leadership of the nation.
Jewish cultural life throughout the world can
be revitalised through such a process.
The culture of this Jewish community in the
Land of Israel will influence Diaspora Jewry
and become the culture of Diaspora Jews
as well. (That is, even though there will be a
distinctive American Jewish literature and a
distinctive Australian Jewish literature, these
will develop under the heavy influence of
Land of Israeli Jewish literature, which will
come forth from the Land of Israel Jewish
community.)
There is no absolute need for a Jewish
majority in the Land of Israel or for a Jewish
State.
-30-
Zionism #5
There is no possible way to maintain Jewish
humanistic values and establish a Jewish
State, considering the massive Arab
population that resides in the Land of Israel.
If we establish a State it will very soon not
be Jewish or democratic.
With this in mind, we should establish one
state (for example, “Israstine” or
“Palesrael”), where Arab and Jew can live
together as equals. This is better for Jews
than to live as a despised, powerless
minority in other states.
-31-
Zionist Think Tank
Session 6 – Review - (45 minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Printed Appendix XV (multiple copies)
Procedure:
Part A – Review activity: Primary text study (35 mins)
 Chanichim are divided into groups and read a primary text from a Zionist
thinker, representing one of the streams of Zionism that they have now
studied. (Appendix XV) [Text I – Revisionist; Text II – Religious; Text III –
Labor; Text IV – Humanistic; Text V – Cultural]
 In their groups, chanichim are asked to determine with which stream of
Zionism the text is associated and to critique the text.
 After 20 minutes, each group should present a summary of their text,
including an explanation of with which stream of Zionism the text is
associated and a critique of the text.
Part B – Summary Discussion (10 minutes)
-32-
Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XV
Text 1
The expulsion of the Arabs from Palestine is absolutely impossible in any form.
There will always be two nations in Palestine – which is good enough for me,
provided the Jews become the majority… We formulated [the Zionist program]
not only for Jews, but for all peoples, and its basis is the equality of all nations. I
am prepared to swear, for us and our descendants, that we will never destroy
this equality and we will never attempt to expel or oppress the Arabs…
As long as there is a spark of hope that [the Arabs] can get rid of us, they will not
sell these hopes, not for any kind of sweet words or tasty morsels, because they
are not a rabble but a nation, perhaps somewhat tattered, but still living. A living
people makes such enormous concessions on such fateful questions only when
there is no hope left. Only when not a single breach is visible in the iron wall, only
then do extreme groups lose their sway, and influence transfers to moderate
groups. Only then would these moderate groups come to us with proposals for
mutual concessions. And only then will moderates offer suggestions for
compromise on practical questions like a guarantee again expulsion, or equality
and national autonomy.
I am optimistic that they will indeed be granted satisfactory assurances and that
both peoples, like good neighbours, can then live in peace. But the only path to
such an agreement is the iron wall, that is to say, the strengthening in Palestine
of a government without any kind of Arab influence, that is to say, one against
which the Arabs will fight. In other words, for us, the only path to an agreement in
the future is an absolute refusal of any attempts at an agreement now.
Text 2
All length, height, depth; every light, rejuvenation, fertility, process; every impulse
in poetry and every spark of reason; lights which flame eternally and lights which
burn for a moment only; all this sublime reality is in truth nothing but refractions of
God’s being, sparks of divinity… The world unites and reconciles all
contradictions; all souls and all spirits, all events and all things, all desires, drives
and enthusiasms: everything is part of a larger order and kingdom. God is King.
There is an eternal covenant which assures the whole House of Israel that it will
not ever become completely unclean. Yes, it may be partially corroded, but it can
never be totally cut off from the source of divine life. Many of the adherents of the
present national revival maintain that they are secularists. If a Jewish secular
nationalism were really imaginable, then we would, indeed, be in danger of falling
so low as to be beyond redemption.
-33-
But Jewish secular nationalism is a form of self-delusion: the spirit of Israel is so
closely linked to the spirit of God that a Jewish nationalist, no matter how
secularist his intention may be, must, despite himself, affirm the divine. An
individual can sever the tie that binds him to life eternal, but the House of Israel
as a whole cannot. All of its most cherished national possessions – its land,
language, history and customs – are vessels of the spirit of the Lord.
How should men of faith respond to an age of ideological ferment which affirms
all of these values in the name of nationalism and denies their source, the
rootedness of the national spirit, in God? To oppose Jewish nationalism, even in
speech, and to denigrate its values is not permissible, for the spirit of God and
the spirit of Israel are identical. What they must do is to work all the harder at the
task of uncovering the light and holiness implicit in our national spirit, the divine
element which is its core. The secularists will thus be constrained to realise that
they are immersed and rooted in the life of God and bathed in the radiant sanctity
that comes from above.
Text 3
It all seems very clear: From now on our principal ideal must be labor. Through
no fault of our own we have been deprived of this element and we must seek a
remedy. Labor is our cure. The ideal of Labor must become the pivot of all our
aspirations. It is the foundation upon which our national structure is to be erected.
It is life we want, no more and no less than that, our own life feeding on our own
vital sources, in the fields and under the skies of our homeland, a life based on
our own physical and mental labours; we want vital energy and spiritual richness
from this living source. We come to our homeland in order to be planted in our
natural soil from which we have been uprooted, to strike our roots deep into its
life-giving substances, and to stretch out our branches in the sustaining and
creating air and sunlight of the homeland.
…
As we now come to re-establish our path among the ways of living nations of the
earth, we must make sure that we find the right path. We must create a new
people, a human people, whose attitude towards other peoples is informed with
the sense of human brotherhood and whose attitude toward nature and all within
it is inspired by noble urges of life-loving creativity.
…
We must draw our inspiration from our land, from life on our own soil, from the
labour we are engaged in, and must be on guard against allowing too many
influences from outside to affect us. What we seek to establish in Palestine is a
new, recreated Jewish people, not a mere colony of Diaspora Jewry, not a
continuation of Diaspora Jewish life in a new form.
Text 4
I am setting up Hebrew humanism in opposition to that Jewish nationalism which
regards Israel as a nation like unto other nations and recognises no task for
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Israel save that of preserving and asserting itself. But no nation in the world has
this as its only task, for just as an individual who wishes merely to preserve and
assert himself leads an unjustified and meaningless existence, so a nation with
no other aim deserves to pass away.
By opposing Hebrew humanism to a nationalism which is nothing but empty selfassertion, I wish to indicate that, at this juncture, the Zionist movement must
decide either for national egoism or national humanism. If it decides in favour of
national egoism it too will suffer the fate which soon befalls all shallow
nationalism, i.e., nationalism which does not set the national a true supernational
task. If it decides in favour of Hebrew humanism it will be strong and effective
long after shallow nationalism has lost all meaning and justification, for it will
have something to say and to bring to mankind.
Our settlers do not come here as do the colonists from the Occident [the West,
as opposed to the Orient, i.e., the East] to have natives do their work for them;
they themselves set their shoulders to the plough and they spend their strength
and their blood to make the land fruitful. But it is not only for ourselves that we
desire its fertility. The Jewish farmers have begun to teach their brothers, the
Arab farmers, to cultivate the land more intensively; we desire to teach them
further: together with them we want to cultivate the land – to “serve” it, as the
Hebrew has it. The more fertile this soil becomes, the more space there will be
for us and for them. We have no desire to dispossess them: we want to live with
them. We do not want to dominate them: we want to serve with them…
Text 5
Subsequent events – the terrible oppressions and frequent migrations, which
intensified immeasurably the personal anxiety of every Jew for his own safety
and that of his family – contributed still further to the enfeebling of the already
weakened national sentiment, and to the concentration of interest primarily in the
life of the family, secondarily in that of the congregation (in which the individual
finds satisfaction for his needs). The national life of the people as a whole
practically ceased to matter to the individual. Even those Jews who are still
capable of feeling occasionally an impulse to work for the nation cannot as a rule
so far transcend their individualism as to subordinate their own love of self and
their own ambition, or their immediate family or communal interests, to the
requirements of the nation. The demon of egoism – individual or congregational –
haunts us in all that we do for our people, and suppresses the rare
manifestations of national feeling, being the stronger of the two.
This, then, was the state of feeling to which he had to appeal, by means of which
he had to create the invincible faith and the indomitable will that are needed for a
great, constructive national effort.
What ought we to have done? It follows from what has been said above that we
ought to have made it our first object to bring about a revival – to inspire men
with a deeper attachment to the national life, and a more ardent desire for the
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national well-being. By these means we should have aroused the necessary
determination, and we should have obtained devoted adherents. No doubt such
work is very difficult and takes a long time, not one year or one decade; and, I
repeat, it is not to be accomplished by speeches alone, but demands the
employment of all means by which men’s hearts can be won. Hence it is
probable – in fact almost certain – that if we had chosen this method we should
not yet have had time to produce concrete results in Palestine itself: lacking the
resources to do things well, we should have been too prudent to do things badly.
But, on the other side, we should have made strenuous endeavours to train up
Jews who would work for their people. We should have striven gradually to
extend the empire of our ideal in Jewry, till at last it could find genuine, wholehearted devotees, with all the qualities needed to enable them to work for its
practical realisation.
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Zionist Think Tank
Session 7- Your Own Zionism (45 minutes)
Tziyud Needed:
1. Paper and Pen (1 per group)
2. Appendix XVI (1 per group)
3. Appendix XVII (1 per group)
Procedure:
 The madrich/a should conduct a quick summary discussion of some of what
has been covered thus far in the unit. This will serve to refresh the memory of
the chanichim.
 Even though it is vital to understand the origins of Zionist thought and theory,
both in the context of “Ancient Spiritual Zionism” and “Modern Political
Zionism,” chanichim may well feel that labels from more than one century ago
are not relevant to their lives as Jews (and possibly Zionists) today.
 With this in mind, the penultimate activity of this unit of study calls for
chanichim to develop their own type of Zionism, which may be inspired by
what has been discussed in the previous parts of this unit of study, but may
be completely new and unconnected.
 This activity can be done in the larger group, in small groups, in chevrutot or
individually.
 The groups should develop their own definition of Zionism. Ideally, the groups
should arrive at their decisions by consensus, but if this is not possible, then
all votes should be recorded, along with minority viewpoints.
 Once each group has developed its own definition of Zionism, they will be
asked to create a “Facebook” page for that definition. The chanichim should
utilize all of the knowledge and information they have learned during the
course of the unit.
 If computers are available, then the chanichim can actually do this on the
computer.
 If computers are not available, then chanichim can create their “Facebook”
page utilizing the form found in Appendix XVII.
 The groups will be asked to present their definitions of Zionism, as well as
their Facebook pages, and a discussion should take place regarding any
points of controversy.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XVI
“Your Zionism”
Your group is required to formulate your own definition of Zionism.
Below are some issues that you should consider when drafting your definition.
1. Does one need to live in Israel to be a Zionist?
2. Can one live in Israel and not be a Zionist?
3. Does being a Zionist require action or is it more about identity and
feelings?
4. Can a Zionist criticise Israel? (Does it matter whether s/he lives in Israel or
the Diaspora?)
5. Are there different levels of Zionism – better and worse kinds of Zionism?
6. Have any major news and current affairs items from the past few years
affected your conception of Zionism? What are these items and what
effect have they had?
7. Are you a Zionist according to the definition that your group has
formulated?
8. Who should decide what it means to be a Zionist?
You should record your group’s definition of Zionism
If you need to vote on whether to accept a bullet point, you should make a note
of the vote (that is, how many voted for, how many against).
If there were points that were rejected by the group you should also record these
points (and the vote) below your definition.
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Zionist Think Tank
Appendix XVII
“Facebook Page”
Your group’s definition of Zionism is a modern, living, breathing, definition. If you
were making a Facebook page to market and “sell” your definition, what would be
on the page? With which Jewish organizations do you think they your definition
would affiliate? Please create a “Facebook” profile for your definition of Zionism.
facebook
Profile Picture
Home
Profile
Friends
Inbox
Name: _______________________
is ______________________________
about an hour ago
Basic Information----------------------------------------------------------Networks:
Sex:
Birthday:
Hometown:
Relationship Status with God:
Looking For:
Religious Views:
Revelation Views:
Contact Information----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Email:
Current Town:
Personal Information------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activities/Interests:
Favorite TV Shows/Movies:
Favorite Books:
Favorite Quotations:
About Me:
Member of:
Top Friends:
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Unit: An Introduction to Early Zionist Thinkers
Topic: Major Zionist political philosophies and thinkers
Age: 9th and 10th graders (can be adapted for older chanichim)
Aims:
 The chanichim will acquire a rudimentary understanding of the different major
Zionist political philosophies and thinkers.
 The chanichim will develop their creative, group work and discussion skills.
 The chanichim may develop a basic affinity towards one of the major Zionist
political philosophies.
Tziyud required:
• Costumes for each of the Zionist thinkers.
• Three chanukiyot, three nerot zikaron, matches/lighters. (In addition,
spares of each of these as well, together with aluminum foil for safety
purposes.)
• Monopoly money (or something similar) in denominations of $5 and $10
($300 in total, plus some spare money).
• Any tziyud required by the woodwork, scouting, etc. expert.
• Any tziyud required for playing Whose Line is it Anyway? (The precise
tziyud list will be dependent on which games the madrich/a decides to
play. This should be coordinated well in advance.)
Preparation required beforehand:
• Acquire tziyud.
• Rehearse the play, or write your own.
• Divide chanichim into five groups.
• Prepare each of the activities, and collect and set up any necessary tziyud
beforehand.
• Ensure that all madrichim have reviewed the tochnit and know how to
discharge their responsibilities.
• Speak to the Rosh Chinuch and/or Chevrey Mishlachat if more content
knowledge is needed.
Procedure:
1. Part A – Introduction – Play, Division into Groups, and Walking to First
Station (30 minutes)
• Five madrichim, representing the characters of A.D. Gordon, Ze’ev
Jabotinsky, Rav Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook, Achad Ha’Am and Martin
Buber appear on the stage in costume.
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•
The text for one possible play is included below. Each tzevet is invited to
create its own text, or to use this one, if it so wishes. The central idea is
that the correct line should be drawn between content and medium (i.e.
the play should both teach and entertain).
Achad Ha’Am: So get this guys… Herzl walks into a bar and… no, but
seriously… “Im Tirzu, Ein Zo Agada!” But why wish for the wrong thing!
Argh! Herzl is such an idiot! He’s missing the point completely! He’s
talking about a Jewish State, because Jews are in danger due to antiSemitism, but really it’s Judaism, which is in danger of dying!
Buber: You’re worried only about Herzl?! It’s all of them (points to the
other three characters) who bother me as well! Besides the fact that
they’re funny looking, they’re so worried about a Jewish homeland that
they’ve completely ignored (whispering) shhh, I won’t say it too
loudly… the Arabs! We start with this Zionism thing the way it’s
shaping up, and we’re going to end up doing terrible things to them,
and to ourselves. We can return home to Eretz Yisrael, but let’s work
together with the Arabs: one state for two nations!
Jabotinsky: You little idiot! Are Arabs and Jews going to sit around
and have milk and cookies together as well?! The Arabs are not my
problem! I need to worry about my own family first! They’ve got
hundreds of millions of Arabs to worry about them; I’ve only got the
Jewish people to worry about the Jewish people! We’ve got to build a
strong state, and do everything to protect it.
Gordon: (Chanting like at a football game) Fascist, Fascist, Fascist!
You should put on a black shirt! You make the State so central, you
ignore the Land, and our working relationship with it! It’s this
relationship that will heal the Jewish people!
Kook: Yidden, yidden, yidden, yidden! (Hugs each of the others in
turn.) My dearest fellow Jews, who I love! You all miss the point – it’s
not just the Land, or just the State, or just the People, or even just the
Torah! It’s all of them working together to bring the Messiah!
2. Part B – Activities (90 minutes) – 12 minutes each station, plus 5
minutes rotation time, plus two minutes leeway per station. (The
activity time can be shortened, and rotation time will of course be
different in each camp.)
• After a roaring applause, and a standing ovation, the chanichim are
divided into five groups, each of which will visit the five thinkers, who will
be located in different positions around the campsite, on a rotational basis.
• At each station, the thinker will facilitate an activity with the group, and
then explain briefly what the activity represented, and the central beliefs of
the thinker (in the first person). (A short biography of each thinker and the
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central ideas of the Zionist philosophy that gained its inspiration from the
thinker are included in Appendix XVIII-XXII.)
Activity 1: Rav Kook: “Lights relay”
• Chanichim are divided into three groups.
• A ner zikaron will be placed next to each group, and opposite each group, on
the other side of the activity area, will stand a chanukiyah.
• Each chanich must light a Chanukah candle (“the shamash”) from the ner
zikaron, run/walk to the other side of the activity area, and light one of the
candles of the chanukiyah of his group.
• After this, he/she should return to his/her group and pass the still-lit shamash
to the next group member.
• Groups will be awarded points for each Chanukah candle which remains lit by
the end of the relay and will lose points for each time they relight the
“shamash” from the ner zikaron.
Practical note: Please ensure that your equipment is set up in a way which
accords with safety standards and that the candles are set up in such a way that
they are shielded from the wind.
Educational note: One of Rav Kook’s seminal works was “Orot,” which speaks
of the evolutionary process by which the Jewish people will be perfected. The
perfection of the Jewish people is a pre-requisite for the spiritual perfection of all
humanity.
Activity 2: Jabotinsky: “Gadna activities”
(Pazatzta, AZa”R/Rimon, Esh, marching, “shlishiyot” formations, matzav shatyim,
ken hamefaked, etc.)
Educational note: Even though Revisionist thought is about much more than
military strength, the activity represents the “Iron Wall” component of Revisionist
philosophy (see below).
Activity 3: Buber: ‫ א ב‬Game
• Chanichim are divided into four groups.
• Each group receives three pieces of paper (one with an “‫”א‬, one with a “‫”ב‬,
and one explanatory page – see Appendix XXIII), along with $50 of
Monopoly money in denominations of $5 and $10 (alternatively, the madrich
can keep track of the money on a whiteboard or on butcher paper).
• After the madrich gives each group a few moments to discuss their options,
on the count of three, each group must raise either their ‫ א‬or their ‫ב‬.
• Groups (and the madrich) will either pay or receive money, depending on
which letters they raised, according to the explanatory page.
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•
•
This is then repeated. For Rounds 3 and 4, the madrich gives the groups time
to discuss their options with the other groups.
This time is not given before Rounds 5 and 6, and participants will only have
the opportunity to discuss their options within their own groups.
Educational note: The aim of this game is to teach that cooperation, rather than
competition, is the key in achieving greater gain for all sides. It is a mistake to
view the game – or Arab-Israeli relations – according to a zero-sum game model.
Activity 4: Gordon: “Labor Activity”
One of the mumchim” leads a scouting, woodwork, or other similar, “labor”
activity, etc.
Educational note: The link is self-explanatory: Labor=Labor.
Activity 5: Acad Ha’Am: “Whose Line Is it Anyway?”
Madrich/a facilitates a game from “Whose Line Is it Anyway?” (see this webpage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_from_Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F
for examples of improvisational games, or come up with on your own).
Obviously, games should include as many references to Judaism (and Zionism)
as possible.
Educational note: The creative juices of the chanichim flowing while playing
“Whose Line” is a parallel to the rejuvenation of Jewish culture, which could
happen, according to Achad Ha’Am, only in the Land of Israel. (For further
information, see below.) For this reason, it is important to stress again and again
that the games should include as many references to Judaism (and Zionism) as
possible.
3. Part C – Sichat Sikkum (20 minutes)
• Review each of the activities, and what they symbolized. It is highly
important that the connection between the activities and the content is
reinforced.
• Review the key points of the ideologies of each of the five thinkers.
• Suggested sicha questions might include:
o Which activity did you enjoy the most and why?
o From which activity did you learn the most and why?
o With which thinker did you agree the most and why?
o With which thinker did you agree the least and why?
o What lessons, if any, can we learn from learning about these early
Zionist thinkers?
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XVIII
“Labor Zionism/A.D. Gordon”
Aaron David Gordon (Hebrew: (‫אהרן דוד גורדון‬, born June 9, 1856 in Troyanov,
Russian Empire, died February 22, 1922 in Degania Alef, Mandate Palestine),
more commonly known as A. D. Gordon, was a Zionist ideologue and the
spiritual force behind practical Zionism. He founded Hapoel Hatzair, a movement
that set the tone for the Zionist movement for many years to come. Influenced by
Leo Tolstoy and others, it is said that in effect he made a religion of labor.
However, he himself wrote in 1920, "Surely in our day it is possible to live without
religion."
Gordon was the only child of a well-to-do family of Orthodox Jews. He was selfeducated in both religious and general studies, and spoke several languages.
For thirty years, he managed an estate, where he proved to be a charismatic
educator and community activist. Gordon married his cousin, Faige Tartakov, at
a young age and had seven children with her, though only two of them survived.
Gordon was an early member of the Hibbat Tziyon (love of Zion) movement and
made aliyah to Ottoman Palestine in 1904, when he was 48. His wife and
daughter immigrated with him, but his son refused to accompany him because of
differences in their religious outlooks. Four months after he arrived in the country,
his wife became ill and died. Gordon lived in Petah Tikva and Rishon LeZion
before finally settling in the Galilee in 1919. He supported himself as a hired
agricultural hand, living simply and writing his emerging philosophy at night. Out
of principle, he refused to become involved in any of the Zionist political parties,
though he participated in the Zionist Congress of 1911.
Some of his major beliefs:
• The economy of the State should be run according to Socialist principles.
• Through working the land with its own hands, the Jewish nation will be
able rebuild itself.
• The State should be secular, although deeply rooted in Jewish tradition
and learning. Our book of choice is the Bible (specifically Prophets, as well
as Joshua), not the Talmud.
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XIX
“Revisionist Zionism/Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky”
Ze'ev Jabotinsky (Hebrew: (‫זאב ז'בוטינסקי‬, born October 18, 1880, died August 4,
1940) was a right-wing Revisionist Zionist leader, author, orator, soldier, and
founder of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in Odessa. He also helped form
the Jewish Legion of the British army in World War I and was a founder and
leader of the clandestine Jewish armed organization Irgun.
Born Vladimir Jabotinsky in Odessa in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), he
was raised in a Jewish middle-class home and educated in Russian schools.
While he took Hebrew lessons as a child, Jabotinsky wrote in his autobiography
that his upbringing was divorced from Jewish faith and tradition.
Jabotinsky's talents as a journalist became apparent even before he finished high
school. His first writings were published in Odessa newspapers when he was 16.
Upon graduation he was sent to Bern, Switzerland and later to Italy as a reporter
for the Russian press. He wrote under the pseudonym "Altalena" (the Italian word
for “swing”; see also Altalena Affair). While abroad, he also studied law at the
University of Rome, but it was only upon his return to Russia that he qualified as
an attorney. His dispatches from Italy earned him recognition as one of the
brightest young Russian-language journalists: he later edited newspapers in
Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. He married Anna Markova Gelperin in late 1907.
They had one child, Eri who died after the Six Day War at age 59—the same age
as his father.
Some of his major beliefs:
• The economy of the State should be run according to free-market/liberal
principles (that is, not socialist).
• Peace with the Arabs will come when we are so strong, that they realize
that they will not be able to defeat us, and not from concessions, which will
simply invite further hostility and demands.
• A Jewish majority is needed on both sides of the Jordan River (that is, in
Israel, Judea and Samaria (The West Bank), the Gaza Strip, and Jordan.
• Silence is mud. Jews must be activists.
• Every Jew is a prince and must act as such.
• Goal of Zionism is Aliyah. Not Aliyah plus, for example, working on a
Kibbutz. Once you make Aliyah, you do whatever Israel needs you to do.
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XX
“Religious Zionism/Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook”
Abraham Isaac Kook (Hebrew: as ‫ ;הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק‬and by the acronym
HaRaAYaH or simply as "HaRav"; 1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief
rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist
Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned
Torah scholar. He was one of the most celebrated and influential Rabbis of the
20th century.
Kook was born in Grīva, Latvia (now part of Daugavpils, then a town in Courland
Governorate of Imperial Russia) in 1865, the oldest of eight children. His father,
Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ha-Cohen Kook, was a student of the Volozhin Yeshiva,
the "mother of the Lithuanian yeshivas," whereas his maternal grandfather was a
member of the Kapust dynasty of the Hassidic movement.
As a child he gained a reputation of being an “ilui” (prodigy). He entered the
Volozhin yeshiva in 1884 at the age of 18, where he became close to the rosh
yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv). Although he stayed at the
yeshiva for only a year and a half, the Netziv has been quoted as saying that if
the Volozhin Yeshiva had been founded just to educate Rav Kook, it would have
been worthwhile. During his time in the yeshiva, he studied about 18 hours a day.
In 1886, Kook married Batsheva, the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu David
Rabinowitz-Teomim, (also known as the Aderet), the rabbi of Ponevezh (today's
Panevėžys, Lithuania) and later Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Jerusalem. In 1887, at
the age of 23, Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of Zaumel,
Lithuania. In 1888, his wife died, and his father-in-law convinced him to marry her
cousin, Raize-Rivka, the daughter of the Aderet's twin brother. In 1895 Kook
became the rabbi of Bausk (now Bauska). Between 1901 and 1904, he published
three articles which anticipate the fully-developed philosophy which he developed
in the Land of Israel. During these years he wrote a number of works, most
published posthumously, most notably a lengthy commentary on the Aggadot of
Tractates Berakhot and Shabbat, titled “Eyn Ayah” and a brief but powerful book
on morality and spirituality, titled “Mussar Avikhah.”
In 1904, Kook moved to Ottoman Palestine to assume the rabbinical post in
Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new mostly secular Zionist
agricultural settlements nearby. His influence on people in different walks of life
was already noticeable, as he engaged in kiruv ("Jewish outreach"), thereby
creating a greater role for Torah and Halakha in the life of the city and the nearby
settlements.
The outbreak of the First World War caught Kook in Europe, and he was forced
to remain in London and Switzerland for the remainder of the war. In 1916, he
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became rabbi of the Spitalfields Great Synagogue (Machzike Hadath, "upholders
of the law"), an immigrant Orthodox community located in Brick Lane,
Whitechapel. While there, he was involved in the activities which led to the
Balfour Declaration, 1917. Upon returning, he was appointed the Ashkenazi
Rabbi of Jerusalem, and soon after as first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in
1921. Kook founded a yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav Kook (popularly known as
"Mercaz haRav"), in Jerusalem in 1924. He was a master of Halakha in the
strictest sense, while at the same time possessing an unusual openness to new
ideas. This drew many religious and nonreligious people to him but also led to
widespread misunderstanding of his ideas. He wrote prolifically on both Halakha
and Jewish thought, and his books and personality continued to influence many
even after his death in Jerusalem in 1935.
Kook built bridges of communication and political alliances between the various
Jewish sectors, including the secular Jewish Zionist leadership, the Religious
Zionists, and more traditional non-Zionist Orthodox Jews. He believed that the
modern movement to re-establish a Jewish state in the land of Israel had
profound theological significance and that the Zionists were pawns in a heavenly
plan to bring about the messianic era. Per this ideology, the youthful, secular and
even anti-religious Labor Zionist pioneers halutzim were a part of a grand divine
scheme whereby the land and people of Israel were finally being redeemed from
the 2,000 year exile (galut) by all manner of Jews who sacrificed themselves for
the cause of building up the physical land, as laying the groundwork for the
ultimate spiritual messianic redemption of world Jewry. He once commented that
the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate was the first step towards the reestablishment of the Sanhedrin.
His empathy towards the anti-religious elements aroused the suspicions of his
more traditionalist haredi opponents, particularly that of the traditional rabbinical
establishment that had functioned from the time of Turkey's control of greater
Palestine, whose paramount leader was Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Kook's
greatest rabbinical rival. Kook once quoted a rabbinic axiom that "one should
embrace with the right hand and rebuff with the left." He remarked that he was
fully capable of rejecting, but since there were enough rejecters, he was fulfilling
the role of embracer. However, Kook was critical of the secularists on certain
occasions when they went "too far" in desecrating the Torah, for instance, by not
observing the Sabbath or kosher laws. Kook also opposed the secular spirit of
the Hatikvah anthem and penned another anthem with a more religious theme
entitled “HaEmunah.”
Kook fathered three children through his two wives: two daughters and a son,
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. His nephew was Hillel Kook.
Some of his major beliefs:
• Zionism is the “first flowering of our redemption,” that is, the beginning of
the Messianic redemptive process. Through supporting Zionism, we
gradually bring the Messiah.
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XXI
“Cultural Zionism/Achad Ha’Am (Asher Ginsberg)”
Ahad Ha'am/Asher Hirsch Ginsberg (Hebrew: ‫ אחד העם‬1856 – 1927) was a
Hebrew essayist, and one of the greatest pre-state Zionist thinkers. With his
secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Palestine he confronted Theodor
Herzl. Unlike the founder of political Zionism he strived for "a Jewish state and
not merely a state of Jews."
Ginsberg was born in Skvyra, near Kiev in what was then Russia, to pious wellto-do Hasidic parents. As early as eight years old, he began to secretly teach
himself to read Russian. His father, Isaiah, sent him to heder until the age of 12.
When Isaiah became the administrator of a large estate in a village in the Kiev
district, he moved the family there and took private tutors for his son, who
excelled at his studies. Ginsberg was critical of the dogmatic nature of Orthodox
Judaism but remained loyal to his cultural heritage, and especially the ethical
ideals of Judaism.
Some of his major beliefs:
• The elite of Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora should make
Aliyah and become part of the Jewish cultural leadership of the nation.
• Jewish cultural life throughout the world can be revitalised through such a
process.
• The culture of this Jewish community in the Land of Israel will influence
Diaspora Jewry and become the culture of Diaspora Jews as well. (That
is, even though there will be a distinctive American Jewish literature and a
distinctive Australian Jewish literature, these will develop under the heavy
influence of Land of Israeli Jewish literature, which will come forth from the
Land of Israel Jewish community.)
• There is no absolute need for a Jewish majority in the Land of Israel or for
a Jewish State.
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XXII
“Humanistic Zionism”/Martin Buber”
Martin Buber (February 8 1878 –June 13 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli-Jewish
philosopher, translator, and educator, whose work centered on theistic ideals of
religious consciousness, interpersonal relations, and community. Buber's
evocative, sometimes poetic writing style has marked the major themes in his
work: the retelling of Hasidic tales, Biblical commentary, and metaphysical
dialogue. A cultural Zionist, Buber was active in the Jewish and educational
communities of Germany and Israel. He was also a staunch supporter of a binational solution in Palestine, instead of a two-state solution, and after the
establishment of the Jewish state of Israel, of a regional federation of Israel and
Arab states. His influence extends across the humanities, particularly in the fields
of social psychology, social philosophy, and religious existentialism.
His grandfather, Solomon Buber, in whose house in Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine)
Buber spent much of his childhood, worked as a renowned scholar in the field of
Jewish tradition and literature. Buber had a multilingual education: the household
spoke Yiddish and German, he picked up Hebrew and French in his childhood,
and Polish at secondary school.
In 1892, Buber returned to his father's house in Lemberg. A personal religious
crisis led him to break with Jewish religious customs: he started reading
Immanuel Kant, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The latter two, in
particular, inspired him to pursue studies in philosophy. In 1896, Buber went to
study in Vienna (philosophy, art history, German studies, and philology). In 1898,
he joined the Zionist movement, participating in congresses and organizational
work. In 1899, while studying in Zürich, Buber met Paula Winkler (a non-Jewish
Zionist writer who later converted to Judaism) from Munich, his future wife.
Approaching Zionism from his own personal viewpoint, Buber disagreed with
Theodor Herzl about the political and cultural direction of Zionism. Herzl
envisioned the goal of Zionism in a nation-state but did not consider Jewish
culture or religion necessary. In contrast, Buber believed the potential of Zionism
was for social and spiritual enrichment. Herzl and Buber would continue, in
mutual respect and disagreement, to work towards their respective goals for the
rest of their lives.
In 1903, Buber became involved with the Jewish Hasidism movement. Buber
admired how the Hasidic communities actualized their religion in daily life and
culture. In stark contrast to the busy Zionist organizations, which were always
mulling political concerns, the Hasidim were focused on the values which Buber
had long advocated for Zionism to adopt. In 1904, Buber withdrew from much of
his Zionist organizational work and devoted himself to study and writing. In that
year he published his thesis: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Individuationsproblems
(on Jakob Böhme and Nikolaus Cusanus).
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In 1906, Buber published Die Geschichten des Rabbi Nachman, a collection of
the tales of the Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a renowned Hasidic rebbe, as
interpreted and retold in a Neo-Hasidic fashion by Buber. Two years later, Buber
published Die Legende des Baalschem (stories of the Baal Shem Tov), the
founder of Hasidism.
In 1921 Buber began his close relationship with Franz Rosenzweig. In 1922
Buber and Rosenzweig co-operated in Rosenzweig's House of Jewish Learning,
known in Germany as Lehrhaus. In 1923 Buber wrote his famous essay on
existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou). In 1925 he
began, in conjunction with Rosenzweig, translating the Hebrew Bible into
German. He himself called this translation Verdeutschung ("Germanification"),
since it does not always use literary German language but attempts to find new
dynamic (often newly-invented) equivalent phrasing in order to respect the
multivalent Hebrew original.
In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, in British-occupied
Palestine. He received a professorship at Hebrew University there, lecturing in
anthropology and introductory sociology. He participated in the discussion of the
Jews' problems in Palestine and of the Arab question - working out of his Biblical,
philosophic and Hasidic work. He became a member of the group Ichud, which
aimed at a bi-national state for Arabs and Jews in Palestine. Such a bi-national
confederation was viewed by Buber as a more proper fulfilment of Zionism than a
solely Jewish state. In 1946 he published his work Paths in Utopia, in which he
detailed his communitarian socialist views and his theory of the "dialogical
community" founded upon interpersonal "dialogical relationships."
After World War II Buber began giving lecture-tours in Europe and the USA. In
1951 he received the Goethe award of the University of Hamburg and in 1953
the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. In 1958 Buber's wife Paula died, and
in the same year he won the Israel Prize. 1963 Buber won the Erasmus Award in
Amsterdam. On 13 June 1965 Buber died in his house in the Talbiyeh quarter of
Jerusalem. Until then he held friendly connections to old Prague friends like the
philosopher Felix Weltsch, who led the weekly paper Selbstwehr in Prague, Max
Brod and to Hugo Bergman.
Some of his major beliefs:
• There is no possible way to maintain Jewish humanistic values and
establish a Jewish State, considering the massive Arab population that
resides in the Land of Israel. If we establish a State it will very soon not be
Jewish or democratic.
• With this in mind, we should establish one state (for example, “Israstine”
or “Palesrael”), where Arab and Jew can live together as equals. This is
better for Jews than to live as a despised, powerless minority in other
states.
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Zionist Think Tank
Peulat Edah
Appendix XXIII
‫ב‬
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‫א‬
‫‪-52-‬‬
‫ א‬and ‫ ב‬Game Rules
If 4 ‫’א‬s are raised, each team
wins $5
If 3 ‫’א‬s and 1 ‫ ב‬are raised, ‫’א‬s
lose $5 and ‫ ב‬wins $15
If 2 ‫’א‬s and 2 ‫’ב‬s are raised,
nobody wins and nobody
loses
If 1 ‫ א‬and 3 ‫’ב‬s are raised, ‫א‬
wins $15 and ‫’ב‬s lose $5
If 4 ‫’ב‬s are raised, each team
loses $5
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Zionist Think Tank
D’var Torah
Mekorot for Divrei Tefilah to be utilized during the
Early Zionist Thinkers Unit
Compare and contrast three versions of the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of
Israel:
a) The “traditional” version, authored by former Chief Rabbis
Yitzhak Herzog and Ben Zion Uziel. (Others say Shai Agnon
composed it.)
b) The Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew
Congregations of the British Commonwealth of Nations (the
Singer's Siddur). (http://www.ibphoto.co.uk/israel/)
c) The Sim Shalom siddur version.
Issues to examine include the following:
1. What is the significance of the State of Israel being called “the
first flowering of our redemption” (i.e. the advent of the
Messianic era)? Should Conservative Jews be Messianic
Religious Zionists? Can we say this version of the prayer (or
add “the beginning of our redemption” to our Birkat HaMazon) if
we are not Messianic Religious Zionists?
2. Why would the British Rabbinate remove any reference to the
notion of “the first flowering of our redemption”? Can one be a
good Religious Zionist and say this version of the prayer? What
does it mean to be a non-Messianic Religious Zionist?
3. Why would the Conservative movement remove not only the
notion of “the first flowering of our redemption” from the prayer,
but also references to Messianic military triumphalism
(“Strengthen the hands of the defenders of our Holy Land,
deliver it to them, God the saviour, and crown them with a
crown of victory”) and “shelilat HaTefutzot” (negation of the
Diaspora) (“And visit all our Brethren of the house of Israel…
and bring them rapidly to Zion)? Are we right in doing so?
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Zionist Think Tank
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Zionist Think Tank
“Additional readings and resources for madrich/a content knowledge
enhancement”
Avineri, Shlomo, The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the
Jewish State, Basic Books, 1981.
Hazony, Yoram, The Jewish State : The Struggle for Israel's Soul, Basic Books,
2000.
Hertzberg, Arthur, The Zionist Idea, NYC, Atheneum, 1959.
Laquer, W. and Rubin, B., The Israel-Arab Reader, London, Penguin, 1995.
Laqueur, Walter, A History of Zionism, Fine Communications, 1997.
Ravitzky, Aviezer, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Sachar, Howard M., A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time,
Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.
Shapira, Anita, Land and Power: The Zionist Recourse to Force, 1881-1948,
New York, Oxford University Press, 1992.
Shimoni, Gideon, The Zionist Ideology (Tauber Institute for the Study of
European Jewry Series, No 21), NYC, Brandeis Univ. Press, 1997.
Sokolow, Nahum, History of Zionism: 1600-1918, London, Longmans, 1919.
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