This Handbook, the first of its kind, provides an in- depth examination of the evolution, ideology, history and culture of Zionism and its various movements.
Distancing itself from the slogans and cliches of advocacy, the volume provides much-needed context and background on the emergence of Zionism. The Handbook is divided into eight parts – with contributions from some forty of the world’s leading scholars on Zionism –to elucidate its various strands. These include underrepresented areas such as Zionism in the Arab World before the establishment of the State of Israel, Zionism and Marxism, the emergence of the Zionist Right, the language war between Hebrew and Yiddish, the struggle for Jewish women’s suffrage, the poetry of Lea Goldberg, and Zionism in emerging new Jewish communities in locations like Papua New Guinea, Guatemala and Zimbabwe. Another section on Zionism in repressive states stretches from an examination of Zionism in Hitler’s Germany to the Ayatollahs’ Iran today; from subterranean Zionism in Stalin’s Russia to apartheid South Africa. The volume concludes by examining current issues, including the relationship between evangelicals and Zionism in the US, and the representation of Zionism in the age of the internet.
Providing a sweeping overview of Zionism in its many forms, the volume will appeal to students, researchers and general readers interested in Jewish studies in the Middle East and beyond, as well as those seeking to understand the roots of contemporary Israel.
Introduction
Colin Shindler
The Genesis of the Zionist Idea
1. The Pangs of Exile and the Birth of the Zionist Idea
Arieh Saposnik
Part One: Understanding Zionism
2. Zionism in the Arab World before 1948
Tom Würdemann
3. The Meaning of Zionism after 1948: An American Zionist Understanding
4. The Ben-Gurion Perspective: The Diaspora and the Meaning of Zionism during Israel's First Decade
Adi Sherzer and Ofer Schiff
Jewishness: Between Religion and Secularism
5. Jewish Secular Zionist Identity: Ahad Ha’am the Polemicist
Gideon Katz
6. Religious Zionism: Tradition, History and Identity
Avi Sagi and Dov Schwartz
The Ascent of Socialism-Zionism
7. David Ben-Gurion’s Leadership and Zionist Fulfillment
8. The Kibbutz: The Interplay of Ideological Concepts and Historical Circumstances
Aviva Halamish
Nationalism, Liberalism and Authoritarianism
9. Rightward Bound: Jabotinsky, Ahimeir, Stern and the Leadership of Zionism’s Right during the Mandate
Brian Horowitz
10. The Zionist Right: From a Centrifugal to a Centripetal Movement, 1925 – 1965
Amir Goldstein
Part Three: Ideological Rivals
11. Marxism and Zionism: Entangled Roads
Tom Navon
12. Bundism and Zionism before World War II: Divergent Alternatives
Roni Gechtman
13. The Origins and Evolution of Haredi anti-Zionism
Motti Inbari
14. Yonatan Ratosh, Adya Horon and Canaanism
Roman Vater
15. Jewish Territorialism and ‘Other Zions’
Laura Almagor
Part Four: Building a Cultural Zion
16. The Cultural Origins of Zionism
Yitzhak Conforti
17. Hebrew and Yiddish: The Language War
Naomi Brenner
18. Hebrew Poets and Poetry of Zion: From the Bible to 1948
David Aberbach
19. Film, Zionism, and the Early Pioneers of Cinema
Rachel S. Harris
20. With Her Head Held High: Ada Fishman Maimon, A Relentless Labor-Zionist Feminist Bat-Sheva Margalit Stern
21. Gender Paradoxes: The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in pre-State Israel (1917 – 1926)
Margalit Shilo
22. From the Songs of Zion: Lea Goldberg
Ofra Yeglin
Part Six: Zionism in Repressive States
Nazism and Fascism
23. The Reaction to Zionism in Mussolini’s Italy: The Case of Left-Wing Political Parties
24. A National Movement under Persecution: Zionism in Nazi Germany
Guy Miron
The USSR and the Soviet Bloc
25. Subterranean Zionism in Stalin's Soviet Union
Boris Morozov
26. The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland after 1967
Marcin Szydzisz
The Muslim World
27. Zionism in the Ayatollahs' Iran
Meir Litvak
28. Zionism in Iraq 1920-1951: From Jewish Nationalism to Mass Immigration
Esther Meir-Glitzenstein
South Africa
29. Zionism between Afrikaner Nationalism and Apartheid
Milton Shain and Richard Mendelsohn
Part Seven: Old Christianity and New Judaism
Christian Zionism
30. ‘What can resist the will of England in Palestine?’: Christian Zionism in Britain before the Balfour Declaration
Peter Bergamin
31. Prophecy, Jews, and Politics: US Evangelicals and Christian Zionism
Yaakov Ariel
New Jews and Zionism
32. Zionism and the New Jews
Tudor Parfitt
Part Eight: Twenty-First Century Episodes
33. Hegemony Struggles in Israel
Uri Ram
34. Images of Zionism in the Age of the Internet
Matthias J. Becker and Matthew Bolton
35. “We are a Traditional People”: The Zionist (Counter-) Revolution of National Conservative Populism
Gayil Talshir
Biography
Colin Shindler is Emeritus Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He became the first Professor of Israel Studies in the UK in 2008 and was the founding chairman of the European Association of Israeli Studies (EAIS) in 2009. He is the author of thirteen books, including Israel: A History in 100 Cartoons (2023).
"This is an extraordinarily rich collection of essays on Zionism in all its known aspects and its little-known dimensions as well. It should be in the library of anyone with an interest in a movement that stands out as one of the transformative forces of recent history."
Alan Dowty, Past President, Association for Israel Studies
"In the volume edited by Colin Shindler, the authors skilfully navigate the intricacies of Zionism. They offer a fresh and insightful characterization of its different facets, internal tensions, and disputes with other ideological currents of Jewish thought. The Handbook may serve as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and anyone seeking a nuanced understanding of Zionism's foundations, evolution, and contemporary relevance."
Artur Skorek, Chair, European Association of Israel Studies and Adjunct Professor, Jagiellonian University, Kraków
"Colin Shindler’s Routledge Handbook on Zionism features both established and new authors writing original essays on familiar and neglected but significant issues. This is a welcome and innovative contribution that unfailingly enlightens even those who have read deeply into the subject."
S. Ilan Troen, Lopin Chair of Modern History, emeritus, Ben-Gurion University and Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies, emeritus, Brandeis University
"A ground-breaking work which shines a light on the many faces of Zionism, providing context to the current Israel/Palestine debates."
Suzanne D. Rutland, OAM, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney
