As we trace Zionism’s pulse throughout history, from Abraham to this vey point in time, we see that every generation had its Zionist expression.
In Genesis 13:17, Abraham is urged to קוּם הִתְהַלֵּךְ בָּאָרֶץ, “Arise and walk the land…”, literally to walk on it. Thousands of years later, pioneers of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s did the same.
In the book of Numbers 13:30, upon return from scouting the land, G-d reacts to Caleb’s positive account of the land in contrast to the negative reports. G-d says: “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him…him will I bring into the land…” The “other spirit” was the active expression of Zionism.
For those who experienced destruction and population transfer over 2,000 years ago, who lamented, in Psalm 137 “By the rivers of Babylon… we wept, when remembered Zion… If I forget thee, O Jerusalem…” Yearning to return home, overcoming dispersion, expulsion, inquisition, pogroms, genocide, and global apathy, in 1948, their dream became a reality. The State of Israel reflects Zionism as the active pursuant of Judaism’s collective drive, namely klal yisrael, and the ability to persevere beyond space and time.
Today a young assimilated Jew visits Israel for the first time, and as Ben Gurion once said of Moses, “something, he knows not what, pushes him to intervene.” – It is the spark of Zion from within.
Zionism is Assiyah, the active manifestation of the neshama yehudit, Judaism’s collective memory and spiritual identity.
– @ Sinai