Zionism Class 02 The Return To Zion In Modern Times

For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still, till her righteousness goes forth as radiance, and her salvation, like a burning torch. Yesha’yahu 62:1

02. The Return to Zion in the Modern Era

POB 2534, Jerusalem 91024, Israel · Tel.+972-2-651-2610 · Fax +972-2-652-4968 · E-mail: [email protected]

Background and definitions 1.

One of the greatest challenges in discussing the modern Zionist movement is that of definition. Are questions like, “Was the Rambam a Zionist?” meaningful?

2.

Undoubtedly, love of Eretz Yisroel.is a fundamental Jewish value. Living in the Land has always been seen as desirable from a Torah perspective. Yet, if it is axiomatic that a Torah Jew must be a Zionist, why were some of the greatest Torah leaders of the last two centuries so opposed to it?

3.

For the purposes of this course we will define Zionism as a political program to realize the national rights of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

4.

As such, Zionism takes for granted the following assumptions:

5.

a)

That the Jews are a distinct people or nation, not merely a religious group.

b)

That the Land of Israel is their collective property.

c)

That they have the right to exercise sovereignty over the Land.

As we will see, although the particular events that lead to the creation of the modern State of Israel can be fairly stated to have begun in the 19th century, they would have gone nowhere if they had not had continuity with events and ideas that stretched back at least two thousand years.

Proto-Zionists 1.

Zionism would not have achieved the popularity it did had it not resonated with deeply held Jewish values. Some of these values, including love of the Land of Israel, were so deeply held that they survived (at least for a generation) the forgetting of the Torah concepts they were rooted in.

2.

Jewish yearning for physical return to the Land of Israel had been a constant since the beginning of the exile. Severe practical obstacles stood in the way of fulfilling this yearning, so that in the 1850s there were only about 10,000 Jews here (less than 0.05% of world Jewry). 8,000 of these were in Jerusalem, constituting the majority there. These were not “Zionist” in the sense of people pursuing a political program to establish a Jewish polity in the Land of Israel. 3.

Rav Yehudah Solomon Alkalai (Sphardi) (1798-1878) was Rav of Semlin, capital of Serbia when, in 1843 he published Shema Yisrael a pamphlet calling for Jews to return to the Land, with the consent of the Nations.

4.

Rav Zvi Hirsch Kalitzer (Ashkenazi) (1795-1874) was Rav of Thorn, Poland when, in 1862 he published Derishat Tziyyon, a pamphlet calling for Jews to organize to establish new, agricultural communities in Eretz Yisroel.

5.

Hovevei Zion were a mixed, religious-secular group based in Russia and Eastern Europe who, during the 1880s applied these principles to establishing communities in Eretz Yisroel, including Rishon LeZion. The Hovevei Zion were an eclectic group (the Warsaw group was headed by the inventor of Esperanto), of both Rav Yehudah Solomon Alkalai (1798-1878) religious and secular Jews, but it was the secular who came to dominate it. The BILU “Beit Ya’akov Lekhu Ve-nelkha” (“House of Jacob, let us go [up]” Yesha’yahu Rav Zvi Hirsch Kalitzer 2:5) was a wholly secular group that, together with the Hovevei Zion and some smaller groups, formed (1795-1874) the “First Aliyah” which brought 25,000 Jews from Eastern Europe to Eretz Yisroel between 1801 and 1903. (Independently, a wave of aliyah from Yemen occurred). The movement was supported by wealthy European philanthropists such as Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934).

Page • 2

6.

Moses Hess (1812–1875) was a formerly religious Jew from Germany, who, having realized that the drive for assimilation ran into the obstacle of antisemitism, wrote Rome and Jerusalem, in which he argued that hatred of Jews was a natural, and inescapable result of their anomalous situation as a landless, governmentless nation, that would always be a minority amongst other peoples. He argued for the geographical concentration of the Jews in their homeland with the support of the nations of the world. 7.

Leon Pinsker (born Yehudah Leib Pinsker) (1821-1891) in Tomaszow, Russian Poland was a maskil who decided that antisemitism would not yield to reason. He published Moses Hess (1812–1875) Autoemancipation in 1882, in which he argued for a Jewish homeland, either in Eretz Yisroel or elsewhere. He became one of the early leaders of Hovevei Zion.

The Zionist Movement 1.

Leon Pinsker (1821-1891)

Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) witnessed the rise to power of the antisemitic demagogue Karl Lueger in Vienna in 1895. This seems to have been what caused him to despair of antisemitism’s defeat or cure. From now on he felt that it could only be avoided, and that the best way to do that was through the establishment

of a Jewish state. A year later he published The Jewish State, in which he argued that an organization should be established to act as a custodian for the rights of the Jewish people. The organization should be granted a tract of land by the international community (in Eretz Yisroel, Argentina or East Africa) large enough to accommodate the whole people. Here the organization would build the infrastructure of the state, and bring Jews to live there. The key elements of his contribution were to emphasize the need for diplomatic recognition of Jewish national rights, and the establishments of a permanent, representative organization to lobby for those rights and implement them.

Theodor Herzl (1860–1904)

2.

He organized an imposing conference in Basle, Switzerland in 1897 attracting delegates from fifteen countries. The First Zionist Congress established a “Zionist Organization” (later the World Zionist Organization) to implement its program to “establish a Jewish National Home, secure in public law”. Seven further congresses were held in the next eight years.

3.

Herzl lobbied untiringly for political declarations in support of Jewish national rights. Amongst others he met with the Pope, the Kaiser and representatives of the Khalif.

4.

In 1903 a massive pogrom was carried out in Kishinev resulting in the murder of about 70 Jews, and the wounding of over 550. The riots were at least tolerated by the Russian authorities, and were probably instigated by them. At the sixth Zionist Congress that year, Hertzl called for the acceptance of a British offer of land in East Africa (what is today Kenya) as an emergency measure to save the Jews of Russia. The Congress accepted Hertzl’s suggestion, over the objections of the Kisinev delegation, and despite the fact that the entire Russian delegation walked out in protest. The next year Hertzl died, and with him any interest by the Zionist movement in a homeland outside Eretz Yisroel.

Page • 3

Further waves of Aliyah 1.

Zionist historians distinguish modern immigration to Eretz Yisroel from older aliyot (such as those of the talmidei HaGrah and the talmidei Ba’al Shem Tov. Since they number these later waves it can be said that, from their perspective, earlier aliyot literally don’t count.

2.

They categorize these modern immigrations into a series of waves that they distinguish on the basis of origin and motivation. We have already encountered the “First aliyah”. The pre-State Jewish community absorbed a further five series.

Second aliyah

Second aliyah pioneers breakfast at the settlement of Migdal

1.

In the wake of the Kishinev Pogrom antisemitism mounted in Russia with further pogroms in the Pale of Settlement notably the Pogroms that attended the 1905 Russian Revolution.

2.

These pressures, along with continual Zionist advocacy lead to the Second Aliyah; arguably the most important and influential inflow of Jews into Ertez Yisoel. Between 1904 and 1914, approximately 40,000 Jews immigrated into Ottoman Palestine, mostly from Russia and Poland, some from Yemen.

3.

Despite the fact that nearly half of these immigrants had left Palestine by the time World War I started, this aliyah contributed to Jewish settlement in Palestine in many ways. Their achievements included the foundation of Tel Aviv, the revival of spoken Hebrew and the establishment of the HaShomer Jewish self defense organization.

Third aliyah 1.

Between the years 1919 and 1923 a second wave of ideologically driven immigrants arrived in Eretz Yisroel. During this period about 35,000 new immigrants settled, mainly from Eastern European countries.

2.

Factors motivating these immigrants, in addition to ideology, were: a)

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 inspired hope and opened the way to officially sanctioned colonization in Israel.

b)

The social concussions in Europe - after World War I a national awakening began amongst the eastern European nations following the birth of nine new countries. Many of these new countries faced the “problem of the minorities”—i.e. small ethnic groups with national aspirations within their borders. These groups’ attempts to find national solutions to their quandary inspired some Jews as well.

c)

The revolution and Russian civil war led to a wave of pogroms. An estimated 100,000 Jews were killed and 500,000 left homeless. The Bolsheviks followed Marxist thinking on the

Page • 4

“Jewish Question” and acted against organized Jewish life including Zionist organizations. d)

The economic crisis in Europe provided an additional motivating factor for Jews leaving with the hope of starting a new life in Israel.

e)

The closing of gates of the United States for new immigrants.

f)

The relative success of the absorption of the second immigration wave to Israel and the socialist ideologies of this wave made the kibbutzim an attractive target for settlement.

Fourth aliyah 1.

Between 1924 and 1928 a further 80,000 immigrants came to the Land of Israel, mainly from the countries of Eastern Europe. Half came from Poland and the rest from USSR, Romania and Lithuania.

2.

In addition over 9,500 immigrants came from Asia, mainly Yemen and Iraq.

3.

From the rest of Europe and America there were only a few immigrants.

4.

The period in question was one of economic crisis resulting in 23,000 immigrants leaving the Land of Israel. The net increase of nearly 67,000 the immigrants in those years would prove important decisive in later demographic arguments.

5.

The founding of Tel Aviv

In contrast to many earlier waves of immigrants those of the fourth aliyah were attracted to towns and brought about rapid urban development, particularly in Tel Aviv.

Fifth aliyah 1.

From 1929 to 1939 immigration once more renewed after the decline of the economic crisis. During this period more than a quarter of a million immigrants arrived from all parts of Europe, including Western and Central Europe.

Der Sturmer models the relationship between Jews and Aryans

2.

The Fifth Aliyah began in 1929 with small numbers of immigrants who chose to immigrate for ideological reasons. However, beginning with the rise of Hitler in 1933, greater numbers began to immigrate, pushed out of Germany and other European countries by antisemitism and fear.

3.

In August 1933 a “Transfer Agreement” was signed between the Jewish Agency and the Nazi authorities. Under its terms Jews leaving Germany avoided the forfeiture of their property. In exchange German products were imported to the Land of Israel. The agreement serving interests on both sides helped the immigration to continue.

4. The majority of the Fifth Aliyah immigrants settled in the cities, mainly in Tel Aviv, stimulating further urban development. There were large numbers of academics, doctors, and other professionals, as well as musicians who founded the Philharmonic Orchestra. A small number chose agricultural settlement and founded new moshavim and kibbutzim.

Page • 5