What is Zionism?

It's certainly a word that provokes deep emotions, both from its supporters and its opponents.

Is it a political movement, is it a philosophy, is it something new, or is it something old?

Actually, it's all of these things.

But to summarize it in one sentence, Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have

a right to a homeland, and that that homeland is the land of Israel, where the Jewish people

came into being.

This goes back to the most influential book ever written, the Bible.

The book that brought the Ten Commandments to the world is the same book that brought

Zionism to the world.

In the word Zion, by the way, appears in the Bible as a synonym or nickname for both Jerusalem

and Israel.

It's not more complicated than that.

In the book of Genesis, God makes an extraordinary promise to the first Jew, Abraham.

I assign the land in which you sojourn to you and your offspring to come, as an everlasting

possession.

And for 3,000 years, Jews have held fast to that possession.

In fact, over those three millennia, there have only been three independent states on

that land, and they have all been Jewish states.

But to put it mildly, it has not been an easy road.

The Romans thought they had finally kicked the Jews out in 70 AD, and they destroyed the

Great Temple and leveled Jerusalem to the ground.

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