The Mizrachim

 11 Kislev 5785

Zionism & It's Relationship to Judaism:
Mizrachi - Religious Zionism

Rabbi Yossi Michalowicz @ TorahAnytime.com

 

Quoting the World Mizrachi Movement website...

... an outstanding educator and leader, paving the way for Orthodoxy in modernity, as a trailblazing leader in Jewish education and Religious Zionism.

Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines studied in the yeshivot of Volozhin and Eishishok, where he excelled as a Talmudic scholar. He married the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Reizin, the rabbi of Telz and later Slonim, and in 1867 was appointed the Rabbi of Saukenai (Shukian) in Lithuania and soon afterward the Rabbi of Svencionys (Shvintzian). There he began to write and publicize a highly original approach to the study of traditional Jewish texts. This curriculum included general-knowledge topics extrapolated from Talmudic material and other rabbinic sources. But although many of his colleagues welcomed this original approach, some opposed it because it crossed the self-imposed red lines of traditional Orthodoxy.

Undeterred, in 1884, Rabbi Reines opened a yeshivah based on his innovative system. He called the yeshivah Torah VeDaat (“Torah and Knowledge”), and introduced a groundbreaking integrated curriculum which included Tanach, Talmud, halacha and general studies – all aimed at training rabbis who would be firmly rooted in tradition while also able to operate in the rapidly assimilating Russian-Jewish community. But vigorous opposition forced the yeshivah’s closure after four years, and it wasn’t until 1905 that Rabbi Reines was able to reopen his yeshivah, this time in Lida.

In Lida, Rabbi Reines first promoted the idea of embracing political Zionism, a movement led by secular Jewish nationalists actively working towards creating a sovereign Jewish state for the first time in almost 2,000 years. Rabbi Reines had previously been involved with the Chovevei Tzion movement, which promoted Jewish settlement in Palestine. But with the advent of Zionism in the mid-1890s, many rabbis who had eagerly supported Chovevei Tzion became horrified by the prospect of an irreligious Jewish state and openly criticized Zionism and its secular leadership.

Initially, Rabbi Reines remained neutral, and he did not attend the first two Zionist Congresses of 1897 and 1898. But in 1899, Rabbi Reines decided that the issue of Jewish hegemony over Eretz Yisrael was too important to be set aside for any other considerations. He attended the Third Zionist Congress in Basel. Overwhelmed by the experience, he became a devoted and determined proponent of the Zionist cause.

He later wrote that after returning home, a group of his anti-Zionist colleagues came to see him to persuade him to leave the Zionist movement. But Rabbi Reines firmly believed that Zionism was the only way forward for Torah-observant Jews. He was determined to lead an Orthodox group within the Zionist movement that would become a beacon of Religious Zionism. Even the Chofetz Chaim – one of his closest friends – was unable to change his mind, and in 1902 Rabbi Reines formally launched the Mizrachi movement. With Rabbi Reines at the helm, Mizrachi immediately became the exclusive organizational home for Religious Zionists and one of the strongest membership groups within the Zionist movement.

Rabbi Reines passed away in 1915 at the age of 76, but his legacy is broad and deep. Orthodox Judaism was only able to participate in the Zionist project due to his deep commitment to political Zionism. His visionary leadership ensured that at every stage leading up to and then after the creation of the State of Israel, as a direct result of the Mizrachi movement he created, Israel would be a “Jewish” state rather than just a state for Jews.

[This is the end of my discussion on this topic.  Thanks for reading and I hope you have learned something from it, as I have.]