Israel as a post-Zionist society

Zionism is not a monolithic ideology. In fact, the divergencies between different conceptions of the Zionist idea and the policies based on them have largely determined the dynamics of Jewish settlement in Israel, particularly during the early period of statehood.! On a deeper level, however, two fundamental syntheses endow all the varieties of Zionism with a common basic physiognomy, despite all the differences: 2 1) Secular Salvation: Zionism was essentially a secular ideology, though it has been embraced by large segments of religious Jewry and religious Zionist movements were eventually formed after considerable debate and soul-searching. Zionism’s basic secularity is determined by the separation between the aims of national salvation and those of religious redemption - a separation condemned by many sectors in the Orthodox Jewish community. Religious Jews who joined the Zionist movement saw in Zionism mainly a means to resolve the urgent problems of Jewish existence in the modern world, without thereby forsaking the expectation and hope for an ultimate divine redemption. Only a minority of religious Zionists saw in Zionism a manifestation of “the beginning of Redemption” (at’halta d’geula), a theological position that at a later stage, took on a previously unsuspected importance.