The Zionist Ideology (review)

This is a very welcome publication. At a time when Zionism is being misrepresented in various quarters, its nature distorted by the school of "new historians," it is refreshing to read a book that is motivated by genuine scholarship. Indeed, it is a model of scholarship, based on massive research (primarily of published material) and presented in a dispassionate and analytical manner. Though Shimoni's vocabulary is exceedingly rich and interspersed with stylistic embellishments, the narrative is lucid and comprehensible.

Heretofore, with the exception of Arthur Herzberg's anthology, The Zionist Idea, most studies have dealt with the history of the Movement. Shimoni's is the first systematic and comprehensive study of the ideological aspect in all of its ramifications, nuances, and transformations. As such, it will long remain the standard work on this subject.

On the face of it, it looks as though the book is mistitled, since there was no uniform Zionist ideology, but a plethora of ideologies: General Zionism, National-Religious Zionism, Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism, etc.—all of which Shimoni deals with competently and comprehensively. The justification for the title The Zionist Idea is that, in spite of the variety of strands, prognostications, and prescriptions, there existed among the parties a common denominator: the claim to Eretz Israel as the national homeland of the Jews and as the legitimate focus for the national self-determination of the Jews.

There is no limit to perfection, and in a book of such scope, there are bound to be some flaws and misconceptions that creep in. It is only because I value this work so much that I venture to point out some errors in the hope that the author will take my comments into his consideration when, hopefully, he prepares a second edition of this outstanding volume.

In his chapter dealing with the origins of Zionist ideology, Shimoni relies heavily on the theory of Anthony D. Smith. Smith argues that the matrix of nationalism is traceable to the ethnic (he uses the French term ethnie) composition of a given society. Nationalism matured in the modern period, and its standard bearer was the intelligentsia. In Smith's own words: "Nationalism is born among the intelligentsia, when the 'messianic' assimilationists try to realize their former vision by adopting the ethnicity solution of the defensive reforming 'revivalists'." This fusion produces "the ideological spark of the rationalist movement." ¹

Taking a cue from Smith, Shimoni attributes the same role to the nineteenth-century haskala movement. However, there is a snag. Smith's theory is based primarily on the European experience; it hardly sits well with the development of nationalism in Africa and Asia, ² and, to my mind, is inapplicable to the historical experience of the Jews. With due respect, Jewish nationalism is not Smith's forte. A glaring example of his lack of familiarity with Jewish thought and history clearly transpires in his article ³ in which he considers nineteenth-century Reform Judaism in Germany as the progenitor of Jewish nationalism. This assertion is palpably fallacious, for, if anything, the Reform Movement was the antithesis of Jewish nationalism. Its ideologues deliberately expunged national elements from Judaism in order to make Jews eligible for emancipation and equality of civic rights. Hence their redefinition of Jewish identity as "Germans of Jewish faith," which became a model for the Jewish communities at large.

Jewish nationalism is not a product of modern times. If we were to use Smith's model, we ought rather to shift the tribal-religious identity of the Jews to the period of the patriarchs. It was only the momentous event of the Exodus from Egypt and the subsequent revelation at Mount Sinai [ma'mad Har Sinai] that molded them into a nation. However, no distinction was made between "nation" and "religious community." The concept of Jewish identity was synthetic. From Biblical times they had regarded themselves as an am, umma, goy, leom [nation, people], though not with its exclusively secular connotation. They considered themselves to...