From “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” through “Return to Zion” to “Conquest of the Land”: Paradigm shifts and sanctified reenactments in building the Jewish state

• Published in: International journal of intercultural relations Vol. 43; pp. 87 - 99
• Main Author: Klar, Yechiel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Brunswick Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2014; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Critical junctures theory; Desire; Diaspora; Immigration; Jewish people; Jews; Judaic studies; Love; Metaphors; Ontology; Palestine; Political Defection; Rights; Sovereignty; Territorial issues; Zionism; Palestinian territory; Israel; Critical junctures theory
• ISSN: 0147-1767; 1873-7552
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2014.08.007

Critical historical junctures sometimes cause religious or national groups to shift from one ontological and behavioral paradigm to qualitatively different ones. This paper describes a persuasive tool used to justify these shifts: The new policy is portrayed as a reenactment of an event from the group's sanctified past. Three such reenactments advocating three very different types of relations between Halachic Jews and the Land of Israel/Palestine, the nations of the world and the non-Jewish groups residing in the land are examined: The Diaspora “Do not arouse or awaken love” which warns Jews against antagonistic en-masse Jewish immigration to the land; “Shivat Zion,” the classical Zionistic approach, which is inspired by the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon under Emperor Cyrus (6th century BCE); and the Conquest of the Land reenactment, the post-1967 religious Zionism approach which is inspired by Joshua's mythical campaign against the idolatrous Canaanite nations and which advocates exclusive Jewish rights to the land and intolerance of non-Jews. The symbologies, group identities and policies deriving from these reenactment metaphors in the process of Israeli state building are described.