#hebrew
“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”
–Old Yiddish proverb
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I studied Middle East studies and Arabic in college, so most of the narratives on the Israeli Palestinian conflict I learned were from an Arab, Palestinian, perspective. Before that, before I even knew anything about the conflict, I was raised by a very liberal American family who shunned Zionism outright as synonymous with:
- Colonialism
- Racism
- Implying that Palestine was worthless before Jewish settlement
Now that I’ve had some experience studying Zionism with Zionists on Kibbutzim, like Kibbutz Hukok in the Galilee, and urban Kibbutz Mishol in Nazareth, I come to the conclusion that Zionism is no different than anything else in the Middle East. It’s not a racist, colonialist political movement, nor is it the saving grace of the Jewish state: it’s complicated (insert expressions of shock and outrage here).
Even if Zionism once was what I’ve briefly outlined above (a product of a racist, colonial group of people with blatant disregard for the indigenous population of Palestine and the pressing urge to serve only their own needs), we see that Israel is now experiencing a resurge in Zionism and a call to redefine Zionism’s core qualities:
- Social, class, racial, and gender equality
- Communal responsibility
- Social Activism
- Basic humanity
Stav Shaffir is (other than “the coolest person in the world,” as my friends say) a member of the Labor Party, the youngest Knesset member, and one of the leaders of the protests last year in Israel surrounding the rising price of housing. In this video she calls out Israeli political leaders and voices her frustration with what the Zionist movement has become, and how she would like it to return to what many Zionist pioneers thought they were participating in. Check it out and wait for a minute for subtitles to come on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfyFlK5bkPU
While Shaffir might shy away from Zionist thinkers like Jabotinsky, characterized by an urgent need to settle in the land of Israel, regardless of the existence of an indigenous population, she would perhaps more closely relate to Zionist thinkers such as Asher Ginsberg, known as the founder of cultural Zionism (hands up if you never learned about more than one kind of Zionism! No? Just me?). He didn’t even believe in the founding of a political state before Judaism could “develop in a natural way, to bring its powers into play in every department of human culture, to broaden and perfect those national possessions which it has acquired up to now, and thus to contribute to the common stock of humanity… It does not need an independent State, but only the creation in its native land of conditions favorable to its development."
Ginsberg isn’t talking about a Jewish state, he isn’t even talking about a specifically Jewish civilization–he’s referring here to concepts of basic humanity. When and only when the spirit of Judaism, he writes, can radiate to the communities of the Diaspora and cultivate a sustainable, equitable lifestyle which can contribute to humanity at large, then can the Jewish nation evolve to a state. Zionism, in this cultural lens, is less black and white than I had thought, and more shockingly, something I can actually relate to- the girl who had previously related more to the poetry of Mahmood Darwish than to any Zionist text she had studied in college.
So, do young Israelis need to reclaim the term "Zionism,” or rename it altogether?
There are 500 different dialects of Arabic
Two different Ethiopian languages spoken in Israel
And Hebrew
What am I doing with my life and why did I not study Russian?
Altarpiece of the Wool Prophet Elijah and Elisha (1423-1426) by Stefano di Giovanni (Sassetta), Siena, Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana.
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Siddur Masorti - Egalitarian + Sefaradi
Announcing Siddur Masorti , a new Səfaradi egalitarian prayer book. Inside you’ll find the weekday prayer service with…
- A *full* transliteration
- A groundbreaking new gender-neutral translation
- A Hebrew text inclusive of all genders
- Breathtaking calligraphic artwork
- Options designed to include as many different Səfaradi traditions as possible.
Go to siddurmasorti.com or click the ‘Shop Now’ button on our page to pre-order your copy now.
*Pre-orders open 2 Oct and orders placed will ship after our launch on 3 November* *Free shipping in the UK*
