Zionism and Zionists

ZIONISM AND ZIONISTS In the years just after World War II, Zionism (the desire to rebuild a Jewish national presence in the Promised Land) became a popular Jewish cause all around the world. Many Jews who were not practicing Judaism at all with religion became involved with the establishment of the State of Israel. Even today, many years after the successful founding of the State of Israel, there are Jews whose only real tie to …

…The Hasidic movement is the smallest Jewish religious group in the world Like many other radical, rightwing movements in the history of Judaism, Hasidic Judaism is probably vestigial——the last gasp of a movement which once brought new vigor to the Jewish world. Ironically, early Hasidism was the exact opposite of present day Hasidism——it set out to be a liberalizing influence in a Jewish world that was itself moving toward the radical religious right.