Nationalizing Judaism : Zionism as a theological ideology / David Ohana.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ohana, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zionism--History.

Zionism.

History.

Israel--History.

Israel.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

vii, 215 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Lexington Books, [2017]

Summary:

Nationalizing Judaism: Zionism as a Theological Ideology by historian David Ohana analyzes Zionism and the Israeli state as a theological ideology. This book pursues this provocative end by showing the dialectical tension between Judaism and Zionism. How has Zionism molded perceptions and images that were formed in the Jewish past, and to what extent were these Jewish themes reflected, modified, and crystallized in the national culture of the State of Israel? Nationalizing Judaism covers constituent topics such as messianism, utopianism, territorialism, collective memory, and political myths, along with the critics that threatened to undermine Zionist appropriations and constructs. Thus, in addition to the 1942 "Million Plan" and territorial redemptionist views, this book discusses fundamental critiques of messianism penned by the historians Gershom Scholem and Jacob Talmon and de-territorial perceptions of the levant by the writer and essayist Jacqueline Kahanoff. Nationalizing Judaism closes with the nationalization of the desert, the vision of David Ben-Gurion ("the old man"), who proclaimed statehood in 1948, as shown by his funeral and the symbolic memory of his grave: In its attempt to acquire historical legitimacy, Zionism appropriated themes and myths from the Jewish past, yet these appropriations were differentiated, as they had selectively culled elements that suited the national ethos. This book opens with Ben-Gurion's messianic vision and comes full circle with his death in 1973. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Nationalizing Utopia: Theological Vision and the Salvation Plan / Ari Bareli Bareli, Ari 13

2 Nationalizing Messianism: How Was Messianism Secularized? 37

3 Nationalizing Myths: Israeli, All Too Israeli: Akkedah, Nimrod, Herod 61

4 Nationalizing Trauma: The Restorative Memory of the Bar Kokhba Revolt 79

5 Nationalizing Land: Gershom Scholem's Children and the "Canaanite Messianism" 95

6 Nationalizing Space: Anti-Messiah: Toward a Levantine Space 131

7 Nationalizing Memory: National Funeral, Sacred Grave / Michael Feige Feige, Michael 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-204) and index.

ISBN:

9781498543606

149854360X

OCLC:

973920229