Zionism and the Hebrew Bible

From religious holiness to national sanctity

Bibliographic Data

ID10279878
AuthorsYitzḥak Conforti (Bar-Ilan University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume60
Issue3
Pages483-497
Publication date2023-04-26
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMiddle Eastern Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-3206 • E-ISSN: 1743-7881
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00263206.2023.2204516
OpenAlexW4367050065
LanguageEN
Citations received1

The Bible’s central position in the Zionist movement is well-known. Most previous studies on this topic have focused on Israeli society following the establishment of the State of Israel. By contrast, this article focuses on the role of the Hebrew Bible in Jewish nationalism and early Zionist thought from the 1880s to 1948. This article examines the connection between Zionism and the Bible in the context of modern nationalism research from a cultural approach. The focus on the Bible gave Zionism the components it lacked: territory and language. Unlike other ancient Jewish texts in which national aspects were marginalized, the Bible set a model for the creation of a modern nation-state. To the Zionists, the Bible was a guide to forming the ‘New Jew’. This article shows that examining the relationship between Zionism and the Bible enables better understanding of the pre-modern cultural foundations of the Jewish national movement

Anti-Zionism · Archaeology · Biblical studies · Context (archaeology · Hebrew Bible · Jewish state · Jewish studies · Judaism · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Theology · Zionism · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Religious studies · Religious Studies

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