Tzipiyah.com

Israel, on the most basic level, is the homeland of the Jewish People. The Torah, or Hebrew Bible, records God’s pledge in which He promises Eretz Israel to the descendants of the Jewish forefathers. While there was always a Jewish representation residing in Israel, often they were not the majority nor did they retain political sovereignty. Following the destruction of the Jewish Temple, the majority of the Jewish population lived in the Galut, or the diaspora; and yet Eretz Israel retained a prominent position in the life of the Jew: the liturgy as well as Halacha, mitzvoth and ideology all encouraged a maintained relationship with the Promised Land.

The advent of Zionism, however, forever changed the relationship of the Jew with his homeland. A political movement intended to create a homeland for the Jewish people, Zionism was founded in the late 1800’s by Theodor Herzl; and eventually led to the formal establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

While the opinions regarding the nature of Zionism and the State of Israel are as varied as those who express those views, the present state of Israel remains the homeland to a melting-pot of Jews as well a state which allows for Jewish sovereignty.

Zionism, in its pure from was intended as a secular movement. In the early 20^th century however, the Religious Zionist movement formed in attempt to marry the ideals of Zionistic values with those of the Torah. Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook, the proponent of the movement understood the creation of the state to be the beginning of the ultimate redemption. The Divine plan necessitates the formation of such a state, a Jewish homeland, in order to assure the eventual geula, redemption.