...Running head: ZIONISM Zionism ******* *********** Religion and Philosophy HUM 400 Professor ******* Date Zionism According to the Fisher text, Zionism provides the Jews with a sense of entitlement regarding their rights to land in Palestine/Israel. Do you agree? Why/why not. Back up your answer with information taken from the textbook. After being exiled from Zion (location of the Jerusalem Temples) and persecuted for centuries, many in the Jewish faith believed it was time to return to their homeland in Israel and form a Jewish community where they could live in peace and be free from the increasing threat of anti-Semitism. Theodore Herzl founded the Zionist movement to enable Jews already living in settlements in the area, and to persuade others throughout the world, to relocate to Palestine and form their own nation there; however, a major problem with this was that the Palestinian Arabs already occupied much of the land. Even though it was obvious this had the potential to create major discord and conflict between the two groups, in 1917 Britain gave its support for Jewish settlement through the Balfour Declaration. Later, in 1947, the United Nations declared the division of Palestine into two areas, one for the Jews and the other for the Arabs to govern, with Jerusalem established as an international...
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...The Theological Background of Christian Zionism: Part I - Reflection By Mikael Knighton on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 11:39am The Theological Background of Christian Zionism Part I - Reflection By: Mikael Knighton Christians Standing with Israel, Founder The Theological Background of Christian Zionism is a three part series authored by Mikael Knighton, founder of Christians Standing with Israel. The series consists of three installments: Reflection, Reconciliation, and Reconsideration. The series has been published in both the US and in Israel, where it was translated to Hebrew and published in the NATIV, a Jewish magazine facilitated by the Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR). Synopsis Over the centuries, Christian support of the state of Israel has been looked upon with a suspicious and vigilant eye. In fact, history will clearly show that the essence of pure evil, operating under the guise of “Christianity”, has facilitated a complete and justifiable collapse in Judeo-Christian relations. Only recently has the relationship between the Jewish people and Christians become fruitful, and the "mending" process, albeit positive, continues to evolve. Even so, the question remains: “Why do Christians support the state of Israel?” Christian Zionism, a theological belief that identifies the restoration of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland as the literal fulfillment of biblical prophecies foretold thousands of years ago, may arguably exist as the most...
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...that anti-Semitism was not a rare occurrence unique to the Jews of the nineteenth century. Therefore, this whole idea of Zionism being created to retaliate against anti-Semitism gives out the wrong message to the world and especially to the Jewish community. The Zionist movement gave the movement “a chance to secure Theodore Herzl’s dream—international sanction of a Jewish homeland in Palestine” (p. 515). Thus, the discovery of the transformation of the Jewish world instead of the development of the modern world as we know it is crucial to the understanding of the maturity of Zionism and the Zionist conversion of Louis D. Brandeis. Ever since the Six-Day War of 1967 the support for the State of Israel became such an important factor. Yet, more important however to the American Jewish community, because ever since the 1900 until after World War I, the demand to Americanize was at an all time high. Therefore everyone, including Jews and non-Jews were expected and forced to abandon any ethnic alliances or traditions in order support and stand up for America. This therefore constructed more of a burden to the Jewish Americans since they were expected to support their Holy Land of Israel and at the same time America was forcing all American citizens to support America and leave their ethnicity behind. For that reason both Jews and non-Jews acknowledged Zionism and joined the Zionist movement at that point in time as a way of not only showing loyalty to...
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...regarding historic Palestine. Arab leaders were assured that the land would become independent; in the Balfour declaration, Britain indicated its support for a Jewish national home in Palestine; and secretly Britain arranged with its allies to divide up Ottoman territory, with Palestine becoming part of the British empire. Historians have engaged in detailed exegesis of the relevant texts and maps, but the fundamental point is that Britain had no moral right to assign Palestine to anyone. By right Palestine belonged to its inhabitants. In the late l9th century, anti-Semitism became especially virulent in Russia and re-emerged in France. Some Jews concluded that Jews would only be safe in a Jewish state and thus founded Zionism. Most Jews at the time rejected Zionism, preferring instead to address the problem of anti-Semitism through revolutionary or reformist politics or assimilation. For many orthodox Jews, especially the small Jewish community in Palestine, a Jewish state could only be established by God, not by humans. At first Zionists were willing to consider other sites for their Jewish state, but they eventually focused on Palestine for its biblical connections. The problem, however, was that although a Zionist slogan called Palestine "a land without people for a people without land," the land was not empty. Following World War I, Britain arranged for the League of Nations to make Palestine a British "mandate," that is, a colony to be administered by Britain and prepared...
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...Timerman was detained because he was charged with being a communist and was ultimately released when he demonstrated that he was not. The Argentine military did not like that he was Jewish, but this was not truly what put his life at risk." Timerman was being interrogated by the President of Argentina during the time he was accused of being a communist. The questions arose first from him being a Zionist. Zionism is national liberation, and is a Jewish political movement. This generally meant that the political movement had supported the self-determination of the Jewish people seen in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. This was seen since the establishment of the state of Israel where the Zionist movement continued due to the advocates on behalf of the remaining Jewish state; this addresses the threats which continued to be prominent in its existence as well as its security. A Zionist, can also be seen in a less political term, also; this is known as cultural Zionism. It was in 1975 when the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution which stated that Zionism is a form of racism as well as racial discrimination. This was only two years before the abduction of Timerman. Zionists can be seen as liberals, because of its ideology of being a national liberation. Timerman was abducted because he was seen as a communist through his liberal and leftist newspaper; however, he was kept detained because of being a Zionist, which was considered to be a racist movement. Communism...
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...The History of US-Israel Relations Against Our Better Judgment The hidden history of how the United States was used to create Israel Louis Brandeis, flanked by Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, founding secretary of the American Federation of Zionists (right) and Nathan Straus, co-owner of Macy’s (Source: Library of Congress) By Alison Weir April 18, 2013 Alison Weir is Executive Director If Americans Knew and President of the Council for the National Interest. She is available to give presentations on this topic and can be reached at contact@ ifamericansknew.org. How the U.S. “special relationship” with Israel came about W hile many people are led to believe that U.S. support for Israel is driven by the American establishment and U.S. national interests, the facts don't support this theory. The reality is that for decades U.S. foreign policy and defense experts opposed supporting the creation of Israel. They then similarly opposed the massive American funding and diplomatic support that sustained the forcibly established state and that provided a blank check for its aggressive expansion. They were simply outmaneuvered and eventually replaced. Like many American policies, U.S. Middle East policies are driven by a special interest lobby. However, the Israel Lobby, as it is called today in the U.S.[1], consists of vastly more than what most people envision in the word "lobby." As this article will demonstrate, the Israel Lobby is considerably more powerful and...
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...semi-urbanized country in its own right (Cleveland, 248). The ensuing struggle over Palestine, which claimed thousands of lives and spanned over half a century, is marked by two widely differing historical narratives. The Israeli historical narrative of this conflict is one of intense heroism against impossible odds, of catastrophic loss and tremendous suffering, difficult choices and terrible necessity, desperate hope and unending courage; this narrative is born not only to feed a sense nationalism and solidarity, but also as a means of promoting their cause to the global theater. Since its inception in 1896, the Zionist movement has been a strong support for the Jewish community through anti-Semitism and hate crimes (Cleveland, 240). Zionism did not espouse a doctrine which promoted the idea of societal assimilation as a means of combating anti-Semitism (Sheilds, Sep. 26). Rather, the Zionists held the view, Jews were...
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...THEODOR HERZL 1.Genesis of Political Zionism In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was unjustly accused of treason, mainly because of the prevailing anti-Semitic atmosphere and the only one solution for this is immigrating to a land for their own Jewish people. Thus, the Dreyfus Case became one of the deciding factorsfor the establishment of Political Zionism. Despite the ridicule from Jewish leaders, Herzl studied the idea of Jewish sovereignty and published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, 1896). “The Jews are one people, he said, and their plight could be transformed into a positive force by the establishment of a Jewish state with the consent of the great powers. He saw the Jewish question as an international political question to be dealt with in the arena of international politics”. 2. The Altneuland (Old New Land , 1902) In the Zionist novel, Altneuland (Old New Land) published in1902, Herzl pictured the Jewish state’s future as a utopia socialist where a new society rise in the land of Israel “on a cooperative basis utilizing science and technology in the development of the Land”.This book landed great impact on the Jews at that time and became a one of symbols of the Zionist vision in Israel * Plot introduction The Old New Land is a story about young Jewish Viennese intellectual Friedrich Löwenberg who was joined Kingscourt - an Americanized Prussian aristocrat when they retired to a Pacific island (near Raratonga) . Then, on...
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...AWARDS: FIVE SCHOLARSHIPS IN THE AMOUNTS OF: $1,000, $600, $400 and $250 (2X) ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be 14-19 years of age. Applicants must be members of a Conservative congregation. The scholarship will apply to any Conservative Movement sponsored Israel program (including Israel programs taking place from June 1, 2014 and on). THEME OF THIS YEAR’S ESSAY COMPETITION: “WOMEN IN ZIONISM: PAST AND PRESENT” This year’s contest celebrates the upcoming 30th anniversary of the ordination of women as Conservative Rabbis. ESSAY FORMAT: Choose one of the questions below, making sure you answer all parts of the question: 1) Jewish women have been involved in Zionism, and later the State of Israel, from its early years both in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora. Choose two women actively involved in Zionism or the Zionist movement: one from the pre-State years or the first three decades of the State of Israel (1935-1978, either from Eretz Yisrael or the Diaspora) and one involved today (2004-2014, again from either location). a. Give a short history of your chosen figures, explaining why you chose those two women. b. Compare and contrast the challenges faced by both women in their advancement towards leadership in the Zionist Movement and/or Israeli politics; what pathways were open to them, their experiences and successes. 2) Women in Israel have been guaranteed equality since the dawn of the State. The Israeli Declaration of Independence states, “The State of Israel… will ensure complete...
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...except Jewish labourers.’" This text explicitly states that the Zionists were actively oppressing the rights of Arabs in Palestine and causing reason for dissent. Notwithstanding, the British’s failure to even glance at the situation at hand proved that they were incapable of solving even the most easily fixable qualms. Overall, due to lack of supervision, the British indirectly played a role in creating the circumstances for initial conflict between the Jews and the Arabs Furthermore, British policy regarding the administration of palestine in particular was extremely neglectful to the political rights of the Arabs and exacerbated the already existing issues with discrimination. There is notable evidence of the British government was pro-zionism, but the extent to which they enforced this is shocking. "Britain now became determined to find ways of strengthening its own position in Palestine. One obvious way to achieve this was through the support of continued Jewish settlement in the country. It was suggested that if the British adopted such a pro-Zionist policy in regard to Palestine, the Jewish settlers would acquire a vested interest in the retention of British political influence there.” This is not just evidence of the British trying to maintain their control in the middle east, but because of the presence of other powers such as France and the abundance of resources in the region, it was especially apparent that Britain was not just passively ignoring the Arabs in favor of...
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...Lower East Side Memories : A Jewish Place in America By HASIA R. DINER The Lower East Side and American Jewish Memory I'm Jewish because love my family matzoh ball soup. I'm Jewish because my fathers mothers uncles grandmothers said "Jewish," all the way back to Vitebsk & Kaminetz-Podolska via Lvov. Jewish because reading Dostoyevsky at 13 I write poems at restaurant tables Lower East Side, perfect delicatessen intellectual. —Allen Ginsberg, "Yiddishe Kopf" The poet Allen Ginsberg, born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, returned in his later years to a narrative style of expression, shifting gears from the anger and fire of his early career. In this poem from 1991 he also touched down again, after a long hiatus spent exploring Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, upon some Jewish themes, as a way of remembering the world of his youth. He described that world in one poem, "Yiddishe Kopf," literally, a Jewish head, but more broadly, a highly distinctive Jewish way of thinking, based on insight, cleverness, and finesse. That world for him stood upon two zones of remembrance. The world of eastern Europe, of Vitebsk, Lvov, and Kamenets-Podolski gave him one anchor for his Jewishness. Thai space of memory gave him a focus for continuity and inherited identity, tied down by the weight of the past, by family in particular. The other, the Lower East Side, nurtured and...
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...To what extent was the West responsible for the creation of the state of Israel? INTRODUCTION: brief history of Palestine Ottoman Turk Empire, British mandate, consequences of WW1 and WW2. End introduction with: this essay will encompass all the different players and events leading to the creation of Israel and then evaluate them to see exactly how big a part did the West play in the establishment of the Jewish state. Brief explanation of the Zionist movement during the 19th century. Mention of Sir Moses Montefiore and the Persian Shah Naser Al-Din Qajar (ROLES AND INFLUENCES). Description of and analysis of the Balfour Declaration. Consequences of the Declaration and its highly influential impact. Figures of Jewish immigration into Palestine and analysis of the figures. Role and influence of the League of Nations in indirectly supporting a Jewish state. Description and analysis of the role of Britain in the creation of Israel. Analysis of their role as the mediator and being in control of the mandate. Mention role of Chaim Weizmann and Sir Herbert Samuel. Put forward a contradiction to the essay title: the White Paper restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine. Analysis of this contradiction and what were the general feelings resulting from this statement and how it impacted the creation of Israel. Mention the role of Ben-Guiron. Mention the role of the 4 million Jews in America and their ability to influence their government’s policies. Quote Harry Truman’s statement...
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...Carlos Sepulveda April 22, 2014 English III JEWISH CULTURE AND HISTORY In 1933 the largest Jewish population were concentrated in the Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Romania. Many of the Jews of Eastern Europe lived In predominantly Jewish towns or villages, called shtetls. Eastern European Jews lived in a separate life as a minority within the culture of the majority. Jews could be found in all walks of life, as farmers, tailors, seamstresses, factory hands, accountants, doctors, teachers, and small business owners. (Bachrach, Susan D.:BOOK) Cultural Judaism encourages individual thought and understanding in Judaism. It’s relation to Judaism is through the history, civilization, ethical values and shared experiences of Jewish people. Cultural Jews connect to their heritage through the languages, literature, art, dance, music, food, and celebrations of the Jewish people. (Malino, Jerome R.: ENCYCLOPEDIA) Judaism is a religious tradition with origins dating back nearly four thousand years, rooted in the ancient near Eastern region of Canaan (which is now Israel and Palestinian territorial). History is of the utmost importance in Judaism. Whereas the sacred texts of most ancient religions focus on myths and philosophical concepts, the Jewish Bible is centered around, historical narrative; and most Jewish holidays are intended to connect modern Jews with their historical ancestors and traditions...
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...The Anxiety of Nostalgia: The Jewish Writer in Pre-WW 2 Europe and North America Wednesday 05:50 pm-08:50 pm SW 329 Spring 2016 This course will focus on a constellation of Jewish writers who lived and worked in Europe and North America from the 1900s to the 1940s. By discussing the particular relationship between anxiety and melancholic nostalgia in authors such as Franz Kafka, Walter Benjamin, Joseph Roth, Henry Roth, Bruno Schulz, Martin Buber and Arthur Schnitzler, we will attempt to discern and/or further complicate the notion of “Jewish Literature” or “Jewish Thought.” By focusing on texts from a period of history that precedes the events of the Holocaust and the founding of the state of Israel, we will be able to better examine the literary identity of a stateless people that preceded the political identity that would fully emerge in the years following the war. C Credit Learning Outcomes: -Students will write a minimum of 20 pages of expository prose. -Students will develop the skill of revising their writing, with specific feedback from instructor. -Students will critically engage with texts, not just as passive consumers of literature, but as active participants in an ongoing dialogue. O Credit Requirement: -Each student must give two twenty minute oral presentations. Required Work Load: -As this course is registered as a C, and O (oral) 300 level course, each student will be required to keep up with the workload of the course. Students will read...
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... Palestine is considered an area in the Middle East bordered by Syria and Saudi Arabia located east of the Mediterranean Sea. It was under Turkish rule from the years of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century until the end of World War I in which the Turks were defeated and Palestine was handed over to the French and eventually to the British. The British Empire ruled over Palestine for approximately thirty years; from 1917 to 1948 and it began with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the League of Nations Mandate of 1922. The Balfour Declaration was a letter from the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour addressed to Walter Rothschild, a leader in the British Jewish Community expressing support of a national home for the Jewish people within Palestine. This led to the “The Mandate” set forth by the United Nations in-order-to prepare for an established Palestine, which would stand as a home for the Jews under British rule “until such time as they are able to stand alone”. Furthermore, it indicates that the indigenous Arabian people shall not be exiled and their civil and religious rights shall not be effected. The British Mandate granted personal freedoms to the people of Palestine that they had not experienced under the Ottoman Empire. The rule of the British positively affected Palestine in many ways as they stressed the importance of a civil society and civil service including political structure. They went on to name Jerusalem as the capital city, which is...
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