What exactly is Zionism?

Question

Please explain because I would like to learn. I am Jewish, but, I really don't know what this other sect of Judaism is that is called Zionism.

Please, no nasty answers from either side (pro Israel or pro Palestine), and support your answers please!

Answer 1

This is actually a belief that is common in many different religions that is a desire to establish a "homeland" of sorts promised in scriptures and ancient writings.

in the case with the Jewish faith some groups believe that the land given to them now called Israel is the fulfillment of these writings mentioned above.

Answer 2

It is a political movement, not the sect. It is the belief in a Jewish homeland. Recently, it has become belief that Israel (at times this means the occupied territories, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip as well as the country granted to Jews by the UN resolution) belongs entirely to Jews.

Answer 3

" Curious2 "...How can you call   Rabbi  Teitelbaum a Zionist  ?"

     True he lived in Israel for a while in his youth , but before  establishment of the state .

   Praying for the return of the Moshiach to Israel ,  in no way makes him a Zionist !!  Shouldn't  all Jews pray for this ?

     So he founded institutions in Bnei Brak. This was to aid the Haredi Jews of which he was a part.  Mostly  they don't join the Israeli army , participate in the Knesset nor even speak the Hebrew the Zionist invented.

     curios2.....please go read Vayoel Moshe &  stop " cut & pasting" nonsense.

Answer 4

The Zionists were people involved in the creation of the state of Israel. Zion is a biblical name for Israel. The first Zionist was Theodor Herzl. He proposed to have a nation for Jewish people because of anti Semitism that has existed throughout the ages. Now that Israel exists, it is a safe haven for all Jewish people in case history should ever repeat itself.

Zionism is a term still used today primarily by uneducated people and people who do not recognize Israel's right to exist. This is a way of hiding their anti Semitic view - though it does not work, as it is quite transparent to Jewish people.

For Jewish people Zionism is a term very much like "the pioneers" in reference to the first Americans. We do not use that term anymore since Israel is very much a real country.

Sincerely,

Ms. Miche ; })

Answer 5

Zionism: One Jew convincing another Jew to move to Israel on the money of a third.

Answer 6

Zionism is an international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”), and continues primarily as support for the modern state of Israel.The word "Zionism" itself is derived from the word "Zion" (Hebrew: ציון, Tzi-yon), one of the names of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, as mentioned in the Bible:

and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.(Isaiah 35:10)

According to this literal definition,[which?] the most famous Anti-Zionist leader Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar should be regarded as a more prominent Zionist than anybody else, since he prayed so much for the return to Israel by Moshiach and himself settled in Israel for a couple of years. He also built and supported religious institutes there and founded several settlements in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak bearing his name. The real definition of Zionism is the political movement which led to the establishment of the State of Israel, and to convert the definition of a Jew to one who resides in, and helps the establishment of the state. This party[which?] was opposed by all the Jewish religious leaders except the Mizrachi leaders.

"Zionism" was coined as a term for Jewish nationalism by Austrian Jewish publisher Nathan Birnbaum, founder of the first nationalist Jewish students' movement Kadimah, in his journal Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation) in 1890. (Birnbaum eventually turned against political Zionism and became the first secretary-general of the anti-Zionist Haredi movement Agudat Israel.)[8]

Certain individuals and groups have used the term "Zionism" as a pejorative to justify attacks on Jews. According to historians Walter Laqueur, Howard Sachar and Jack Fischel among others, the label "Zionist" is in some cases also used as a euphemism for Jews in general by apologists for antisemitism.[9]

Zionism can be distinguished from Territorialism, a Jewish nationalist movement calling for a Jewish homeland not necessarily in Palestine. During the early history of Zionism, a number of proposals were made for settling Jews outside of Europe, but ultimately all of these were rejected or failed. The debate over these proposals helped to define the nature and focus of the Zionist movement.

brought to you by...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism

hope this helps

Answer 7

Zionist is a colonial movement existed only in the 1800 in the colonial era.

Judaism is a respected religion in the world for the last 3000 years.

Zionist misused Judaism to create a Zionist colony.

Zionist contradicts Judaism morality on every issue starting with colonial policies to the treatment of the native people of Palestine.

It is the colonist vs. the rest of humanity including Judaism.

Is DR. Noam Chomsky anti-Semitic too?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vpw-h6WY8As&f...

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/...

http://www.nkusa.org/

Answer 8

In a nutshell--to RETURN to the Jewish homeland and be a free people! Shuvat Tzion.

Answer 9

Zionism is the desire to establish, foster and defend a Jewish state in the land of Israel.

Answer 10

if you are really a jewish person that you claim to be, you would know that zionism is not a sect of judaism.

you can be jewish, christian and yes muslim and still be a zionist.Zionism, the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained. The term “Zionism” was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum.