Theodor herzl

Zionism succeeded beyond its founders’ dreams - so why is it dividing Jews? - analysis

From Jewish liberation movement to contested ideology, Zionism’s meaning has changed for Jews around the world

|ByBATSHEVA NEUER
Campus protests over Israel have brought renewed attention to Zionism, with the movement increasingly debated through the language of colonialism and national self-determination.Premium
Worshipers pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, a symbol of the Jewish people’s centuries-old connection to Zion, long before it became a modern political movement.PremiumPremium

Is Zionism still necessary? What it means to a generation born after Israel's founding

Once a movement for Jewish self-determination, Zionism has become a contested idea, even among the Jews it sought to unite

|ByCHANI KAPLAN
Three years after October 7, remembrance remains central to Jewish life, but the writer argues that honoring the past must also mean taking responsibility for the future.PremiumPremium

‘Never Again’ is what we build for the living, not just what we say for the dead - opinion

Jewish life must be built on more than survival, with security, cultural confidence, and responsibility for the future

|ByADAM SCOTT BELLOS
David Milstein, former Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador of Israel, speaks during the general session at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, U.S., August 4, 2022.

From Dreyfus to David Milstein: The enduring accusation of Jewish dual loyalty - opinion

Jews have always been the canary in the coal mine. This fight concerns the West itself: democracy, freedom, the idea that people can build better societies through faith, family, and responsibility.

|BySTEVEN BURG

Can applying Jewish values save the Earth from a climate catastrophe? - opinion

Animal-based agriculture is the main cause of climate change, and using it violates at least six fundamental Jewish teachings.

DECEMBER 2, 2023ByRICHARD H. SCHWARTZ
Can Jewish values help save the Earth from climate change? (Illustrative, composite image)

Next generation of Zionists must rise - opinion

We are never going back into hiding.

NOVEMBER 19, 2023ByJUDAH WAXELBAUM
NEARLY 300,000 pro-Israel activists take to the Capitol Mall in Washington, last Tuesday. While this moment should bring pride to the Jewish community, it cannot be where our activism ends, says the writer.

The Uganda proposal - short story

A short story marks 120 years of the ‘road not taken’ in the history of Zionism.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023ByNACHSHON MEIR SPIEGELMAN
In background R, a Jewish community burns; at upper L, US president Theodore Roosevelt asks the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, ‘Now that you have peace without, why not remove his burden and have peace within your borders?’

The crucial strength of diaspora Zionism - opinion

Zionism’s foundation was built on the dream of returning to the land of Israel and never forgetting Israel, a sentiment that is uniquely Diaspora-centered. 

JULY 23, 2023ByURI PILICHOWSKI
A pro-Israel demonstration in the US.

How can Israel strengthen aliyah, Jewish identity? - opinion

Maybe Herzl would have been impressed by the state we established, but we in the World Zionist Organization know that the work is far from over.

JULY 12, 2023ByYAAKOV HAGOEL
THE WRITER attends a ceremony in memory of Theodor Herzl, on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, in 2021.

Creating joy from 'oy': The Zionist approach to overcoming challenges - opinion

Zionism’s old-new centripetal liberalism is still open, democratic, tolerant, individualistic. But it is also communitarian, traditional, family-oriented, meaning-making and soul-stretching.

JUNE 21, 2023ByGIL TROY
ISRAELI BASKETBALL legend Tal Brody (left) and the writer imagine turning this wasteland into a World Zionist Village.

Our teenagers take Israel for granted - opinion

Over the past 2,000 years, Jews have suffered through exile and desolation. From the Romans to the Holocaust, they faced enemies and antisemites who tried to annihilate them.

MAY 28, 2023ByURI PILICHOWSKI
ISRAEL’S FIRST prime minister David Ben-Gurion sits under a portrait of Theodor Herzl before the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948.

‘Theodor’ puts Jewish fate on stage - review

The dual tragedy of Theodor, that of the young man and his older self, is how both promises turned to dross under the harsh sunlight of reality.

MAY 19, 2023ByHAGAY HACOHEN
A PARISIAN MOB scene in ‘Theodor.’

Theodor Herzl: The solution to Israel’s modern problems?

Writer, thinker, and Herzl admirer Gol Kalev believes the Zionist leader’s ideology and strategies are still relevant to current issues.

MAY 5, 2023ByCRYSTAL JONES/THE MEDIA LINE, FELICE FRIEDSON/THE MEDIA LINE
Theodor Herzl on the Hotel Les Trois in Basel, Switzerland. (The Bettman Archive)

Judaism and democracy - enemies or friends? - opinion

The time has come to abandon old rivalries in order to offer interpretations of Judaism consistent with democracy so that Israeli voters can vote for a Jewish and democratic state.

MAY 1, 2023ByHANAN ALEXANDER
A PROTESTER holds a sign that reads: ‘I want democracy,’ at a demonstration in Herzliya, earlier this year.