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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/opinion/zionism-jewish-israel.html
What Zionism Is and What It Is Not
(New York Times) Rabbi Ari D. Berman - In parts of America and Europe, the word "Zionism" has become little more than a slogan shouted by opposing sides at protests. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people possess the right to live freely in their ancestral homeland, to shape their future, defend their dignity, preserve their civilization and contribute their values and wisdom to humanity. A Jewish homeland is understood as the primary vehicle for Jews to build a flourishing society, with all its residents, non-Jews and Jews alike, that manifests and broadcasts the core Torah values of human dignity, justice and compassion. The term predates the modern state of Israel by decades. In the Book of Genesis, we are told how God blessed Abraham and his descendants with a land from which they would be a blessing to "all the families of the earth." The longing for the land translated into continued Jewish presence throughout its long history of foreign rulers, including a significant increase in Jewish communities in the 19th century. At this point, the modern Zionist vision began to take root. Anti-Zionism rejects the idea of Jewish self-determination entirely. Those who would deny the Jews the right to a Jewish state, in a world that comfortably accepts Muslim and Christian states, are discriminating against Jews. It is here that anti-Zionism crosses over to antisemitism. Zionism always aspired to be more than simply an answer to or refuge from antisemitism. It was a means of allowing Jews to live to their greatest potential, unfettered by the restrictive, often brutal, experiences of living in foreign lands. From its biblical beginnings until today, Zionism has carried one of humanity's most enduring ideas: that a people, rooted in its values and returned to its homeland, can build a society that honors faith, dignity, responsibility and hope. The writer is president of Yeshiva University.