A thought about the word, 'Zionism' and its meaning.
Misunderstood and misused today, esp. by the 'woke', I think many uneducated, yet deeply opinionated people (the so called Dunning-Kruger effect) think it means: Jew or Jews who want to occupy 'Palestinian land' or 'settlers' or far right-wing and religious people who want to steal land or Netanyahu and his evil cronies etc.
The truth however is different:
A fair definition of a Zionist is:
Someone who belongs to or supports a political movement that had as its original aim the creation of a country for Jewish people, and that now supports the state of Israel.
Now the incredible people mentioned by Jason such as Moses Hess, Rabbi Alkalai and of course the father of political Zionism, Theodore Herzl certainly identified with the first part of the definition (ie minus 'now supports the state of Israel' because there was no such state until 1948.)
Now here is my point: Hess certainly associated Zionism with Israel (see his brief masterpiece, Rome and Jerusalem) but crucially Herzl did NOT. The most famous picture of Herzl on the balcony in Basle (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Herzl-balcony.jpg)comes from the 6th Zionist conference in 1903. That was probably the most controversial Zionist conference ever because it mooted the possibility of Zion in the Uganda of the time and Kenya of today. Herzl, a Zionist if ever there was one, was in a minority which supported Uganda as being the place that Zionists settle in! This was never adopted but it might have been and then Zion would have been in Uganda/Kenya!
Therefore Zionism meant a designated homeland for all Jews and that could have been in Uganda or anywhere on Earth. Since 1948 when such a homeland became Israel, then most Zionists have agreed that Israel became Zion. ie the marked place for a Jewish homeland.
So anyone, even a lifelong antisemite, who actually believes that Jews should have a homeland in Israel, is by definition, a Zionist. Thus anyone trashing Zionism should be simply asked: Do you believe that Jews should have any form of homeland in Israel since one was established there in 1948?
If they say no, then they are indeed an anti-Zionist
If they say yes (or even 'yes, but...'): then they are Zionists by definition and should be told so in no uncertain terms.
Nobody has the right to change the meaning of the word, Zionism. The only change that was legitimate was in 1948 when Israel was officially designated as a homeland for the Jewish people. From then on ZION unequivocally = Israel)
Jews everywhere must know the true definition of Zionism and simply explain its meaning to as many people as they can.
Words do change meaning (eg 'gay' and 'jealous')but we Jews cannot allow non-Jews to redefine the word Zionism and then use it for their own pernicious reasons.
"Masonic lodges are established all over the world to help us achieve our independence. Those pigs, the non-Jewish Masons, will never understand the final objects of Masonry." -- Theodor Herzel
I'm not sure. I did read a book about Masons once called 'The Brotherhood' by Stephen Knight and I've met a few Jewish Masons but of course they are a secret society with secret handshakes etc. Not sure they are any threat to Jews.
I deal with the movement of Russian Jews to America at length in my novel, Eternal People. The group, called Am Olam, created communities throughout the West and counted among its members Abraham Cahan, editor of the Forward.
A thought about the word, 'Zionism' and its meaning.
Misunderstood and misused today, esp. by the 'woke', I think many uneducated, yet deeply opinionated people (the so called Dunning-Kruger effect) think it means: Jew or Jews who want to occupy 'Palestinian land' or 'settlers' or far right-wing and religious people who want to steal land or Netanyahu and his evil cronies etc.
The truth however is different:
A fair definition of a Zionist is:
Someone who belongs to or supports a political movement that had as its original aim the creation of a country for Jewish people, and that now supports the state of Israel.
Now the incredible people mentioned by Jason such as Moses Hess, Rabbi Alkalai and of course the father of political Zionism, Theodore Herzl certainly identified with the first part of the definition (ie minus 'now supports the state of Israel' because there was no such state until 1948.)
Now here is my point: Hess certainly associated Zionism with Israel (see his brief masterpiece, Rome and Jerusalem) but crucially Herzl did NOT. The most famous picture of Herzl on the balcony in Basle (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Herzl-balcony.jpg)comes from the 6th Zionist conference in 1903. That was probably the most controversial Zionist conference ever because it mooted the possibility of Zion in the Uganda of the time and Kenya of today. Herzl, a Zionist if ever there was one, was in a minority which supported Uganda as being the place that Zionists settle in! This was never adopted but it might have been and then Zion would have been in Uganda/Kenya!
Therefore Zionism meant a designated homeland for all Jews and that could have been in Uganda or anywhere on Earth. Since 1948 when such a homeland became Israel, then most Zionists have agreed that Israel became Zion. ie the marked place for a Jewish homeland.
So anyone, even a lifelong antisemite, who actually believes that Jews should have a homeland in Israel, is by definition, a Zionist. Thus anyone trashing Zionism should be simply asked: Do you believe that Jews should have any form of homeland in Israel since one was established there in 1948?
If they say no, then they are indeed an anti-Zionist
If they say yes (or even 'yes, but...'): then they are Zionists by definition and should be told so in no uncertain terms.
Nobody has the right to change the meaning of the word, Zionism. The only change that was legitimate was in 1948 when Israel was officially designated as a homeland for the Jewish people. From then on ZION unequivocally = Israel)
Jews everywhere must know the true definition of Zionism and simply explain its meaning to as many people as they can.
Words do change meaning (eg 'gay' and 'jealous')but we Jews cannot allow non-Jews to redefine the word Zionism and then use it for their own pernicious reasons.
What did Herzel mean by this?
"Masonic lodges are established all over the world to help us achieve our independence. Those pigs, the non-Jewish Masons, will never understand the final objects of Masonry." -- Theodor Herzel
I'm not sure. I did read a book about Masons once called 'The Brotherhood' by Stephen Knight and I've met a few Jewish Masons but of course they are a secret society with secret handshakes etc. Not sure they are any threat to Jews.
I deal with the movement of Russian Jews to America at length in my novel, Eternal People. The group, called Am Olam, created communities throughout the West and counted among its members Abraham Cahan, editor of the Forward.