Religious Zionism


Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Adherents are also referred to as Dati Leumi . The community is sometimes called כִּפָּה סְרוּגָה Kippah seruga, literally, "knitted skullcap", the typical head-covering worn by the men.
Before the establishment of the State of Israel, Religious Zionists were mainly observant Jews who supported Zionist efforts to build a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.
After the Six-Day War, and the capture of the West Bank, a territory referred to in Jewish terms as Judea and Samaria, right-wing components of the Religious Zionist movement integrated nationalist revindication and evolved into Neo-Zionism. Their ideology revolves around three pillars: the Land of Israel, the People of Israel, and the Torah of Israel.
The Hardal are a sub-community; stricter in observance, and more "statist" in their politics.

History

In 1862, German Orthodox Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer published his tractate Derishat Zion, positing that the salvation of the Jews, promised by the Prophets, can come about only by self-help. Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner was another prominent rabbi who supported Zionism. The main ideologue of modern Religious Zionism was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who justified Zionism according to Jewish law, and urged young religious Jews to support efforts to settle the land, and the secular Labour Zionists to give more consideration to Judaism. Kook saw Zionism as a part of a divine scheme which would result in the resettlement of the Jewish people in its homeland. This would bring salvation to Jews, and then to the entire world. After world harmony is achieved by the refoundation of the Jewish homeland, the Messiah will come. Although this has not yet happened, Kook emphasized that it would take time, and that the ultimate redemption happens in stages, often not apparent while happening. In 1924, when Kook became the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, he tried to reconcile Zionism with Orthodox Judaism.

Ideology

Religious Zionists believe that "Eretz Yisrael" was promised to the ancient Israelites by God. Furthermore, modern Jews have the obligation to possess and defend the land in ways that comport with the Torah's high standards of justice. To generations of diaspora Jews, Jerusalem has been a symbol of the Holy Land and of their return to it, as promised by God in numerous Biblical prophecies. Despite this, many Jews did not embrace Zionism before the 1930s, and certain religious groups opposed it then, as some groups still do now, on the grounds that an attempt to re-establish Jewish rule in Israel by human agency was blasphemous. Hastening salvation and the coming of the Messiah was considered religiously forbidden, and Zionism was seen as a sign of disbelief in God's power, and therefore, a rebellion against God.
Rabbi Kook developed a theological answer to that claim, which gave Zionism a religious legitimation: "Zionism was not merely a political movement by secular Jews. It was actually a tool of God to promote His divine scheme, and to initiate the return of the Jews to their homeland – the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God wants the children of Israel to return to their home in order to establish a Jewish sovereign state in which Jews could live according to the laws of Torah and Halakha, and commit the Mitzvot of Eretz Israel. Moreover, to cultivate the Land of Israel was a Mitzvah by itself, and it should be carried out. Therefore, settling Israel is an obligation of the religious Jews, and helping Zionism is actually following God's will."
Religious Jews also disapproved of the Zionists because many were secular Jews or atheists, taking their cue from Marxism. Socialist Zionism envisaged the movement as a tool for building an advanced socialist society in the land of Israel, while solving the problem of antisemitism. The early kibbutz was a communal settlement that focused on national goals, unencumbered by religion and precepts of Jewish law such as kashrut. Socialist Zionists were one of the results of a long process of modernization within the Jewish communities of Europe, known as the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Rabbi Kook's answer was as follows:
Shlomo Avineri explained the last part of Kook's answer: "... and the end of those pioneers, who scout into the blindness of secularism and atheism, but the treasured light inside them leads them into the path of salvation – their end is that from doing Mitzva without purpose, they will do Mitzva with a purpose."

Organizations

The first rabbis to support Zionism were Yehuda Shlomo Alkalai and Zvi Hirsch Kalischer. They argued that the change in the status of Western Europe's Jews following emancipation was the first step toward redemption, and that, therefore, one must hasten the messianic salvation by a natural salvation – whose main pillars are the Kibbutz Galuyot, the return to Eretz Israel, agricultural work, and the revival of the everyday use of the Hebrew language.
The Mizrachi organization was established in 1902 in Vilna at a world conference of Religious Zionists. It operates a youth movement, Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929. Mizrachi believes that the Torah should be at the centre of Zionism, a sentiment expressed in the Mizrachi Zionist slogan Am Yisrael B'Eretz Yisrael al pi Torat Yisrael. It also sees Jewish nationalism as a tool for achieving religious objectives. Mizrachi was the first official Religious Zionist party. It also built a network of religious schools that exist to this day.
In 1937-1948, the Religious Kibbutz Movement established three settlement blocs of three kibbutzim each. The first was in the Beit Shean Valley, the second was in the Hebron mountains south of Bethlehem, and the third was in the western Negev. Kibbutz Yavne was founded in the center of the country as the core of a fourth bloc that came into being after the establishment of the state.

Political parties

The Labor Movement wing of Religious Zionism, founded in 1921 under the Zionist slogan "Torah va'Avodah", was called Hapoel HaMizrachi. It represented religiously traditional Labour Zionists, both in Europe and in the Land of Israel, where it represented religious Jews in the Histadrut. In 1956, Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, and other religious Zionists formed the National Religious Party to advance the rights of religious Zionist Jews in Israel. The National Religious Party operated as an independent political party until the 2003 elections. In the 2006 election the NRP merged with the National Union. In the 2009 elections the Jewish Home was formed in place of the NRP. Other parties and groups affiliated with religious Zionism are Gush Emunim, Tkuma, and Meimad. Kahanism, a radical branch of religious Zionism, was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose party, Kach, was eventually banned for racism. Today, Otzma Yehudit is the leading wing of this school of thought.

Educational institutions

, Jerusalem
The flagship religious institution of the Religious Zionist movement is the yeshiva founded by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in 1924, called in his honor "Mercaz haRav".
Other Religious Zionist yeshivot include Ateret Cohanim, Beit El yeshiva, and Yeshivat Or Etzion, founded by Rabbi Haim Druckman, a foremost disciple of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook.
Machon Meir is specifically outreach-focused.
There are also approximately 90 Hesder yeshivot, allowing students to continue Torah study during their National Service.
The first was Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, established in 1954; the largest is the Hesder Yeshiva of Sderot with over 800 students.
Others well known include Yeshivat Machon Meir, Yeshivat Har Etzion, Yeshivat HaKotel, Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim, Yeshivat Har Bracha, and Yeshivat Har Hamor.
These institutions usually offer a kollel for Semikha, or Rabbinic ordination. Students generally prepare for the Semikha test of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel; often for that of the posek R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.
Training as a Dayan in this community is usually through :he:מכון אריאל|Machon Ariel, also founded by Rav Kook, or :he:ארץ_חמדה_ |Kollel Eretz Hemda.
Women study in institutions known as Midrashot - examples are Midreshet Ein HaNetziv and Migdal Oz. These are usually attended for one year before or following sherut leumi.
Various midrashot offer parallel degree coursework, and may then be known as a machon.
The Midrashot focus on Tanakh and Machshavah ; some offer specialized training in Halakha:
Nishmat certifies women as Yoatzot Halacha, Midreshet Lindenbaum as to'anot;
Lindenbaum, Matan and Ein HaNetziv offer Talmud-intensive programs in rabbinic-level halakha.
For degree studies, many attend Bar Ilan University, which allows students to combine Torah studies with university study;
Jerusalem College of Technology similarly.
There are also several colleges of education associated with Hesder and the Midrashot, such as Herzog College and the Lifshitz College of Education. These often allow specializations in Tanakh and Machshava.
High school students study at Mamlachti Dati schools,
often associated with Bnei Akiva.
These offer intensive Torah study alongside the matriculation syllabus, and emphasize tradition and observance.
The first of these was at Kfar Haroeh established by Moshe-Zvi Neria in 1939;
“Yashlatz”, associated with Mercaz HaRav, was founded in 1964.
There are today 60 such institutions with more than 20,000 students.
A Dati Leumi girls' high school is referred to as an Ulpana.
See Education in Israel #Educational tracks.
Some institutions are aligned with the Hardal community, with an ideology that is somewhat more "statist".
The leading Yeshiva here is Har Hamor;
several high schools also operate.

Politics

Most Religious Zionists embrace right-wing politics, especially the religious right-wing Jewish Home party, but also support the mainstream right-wing Likud. There are also some left-wing Religious Zionists, such as Rabbi Michael Melchior, whose views were represented by the Meimad party. Many Israeli settlers in the West Bank are Religious Zionists, along with most of the settlers forcibly expelled from the Gaza Strip in August and September 2005.

Military service

All adult Jewish males in Israel are obligated to serve in the IDF. Certain segments of Orthodoxy defer their service in order to engage in full-time Torah study. Religious Zionist belief advocates that both are critical to Jewish survival and prosperity.
For this reason, many Religious Zionist men take part in the Hesder program, which allows military service to be combined with yeshiva studies. Some others attend a pre-army Mechina educational program, delaying their service by one year. 88% of Hesder students belong to combat units, compared to a national average of [|below] 30%.
Students at Mercaz HaRav, and some Hardal yeshivot, undertake their Service through a modified form of Hesder.
While some Religious Zionist women serve in the army, most choose national service, known as Sherut Leumi, instead.
In November 2010, the IDF held a special conference which was attended by the heads of Religious Zionism in order to encourage female Religious Zionists to join the IDF. The IDF undertook that all modesty and kosher issues will be handled in order to make female Religious Zionists comfortable.

Dress

Religious Zionists are often called Kippot sruggot, or "sruggim", referring to the knitted or crocheted kippot worn by the men.
Their dress, otherwise, is largely the same as for secular Israelis; beards are uncommon, although mustaches are often seen in the older generations.
Women usually wear skirts, and often cover their hair.
See under Tzniut: #Dress and #Hair covering.
In the Hardal community, the dress is generally more formal, with an emphasis on appearing neat.
The kippot, also knitted, are significantly larger, and it is common for tzitzit to be worn visibly, as is the Haredi practice; payot are similarly common, as is an beard.
Women invariably cover their hair - usually with a snood, or a mitpachat - and often wear sandals; their skirts are longer.
At prayer, members of the community typically use the Koren Siddur or Rinat Yisrael.
Homes often have on their bookshelves a set of the Steinsaltz Talmud, Mishnah with Kehati, Rambam La'Am, Peninei Halachah, and/or Tzurba M’Rabanan;
as well as various of the numerous popular-books by leading Dati Leumi figures on the weekly parsha, the festivals, and hashkafa.
Similar to Haredi families, more religious homes will have all of "The Traditional Jewish Bookshelf".

Notable figures