Sept 26-Dec 12
Instructor: Arie Zmora
Cost per class: $54 Member / $100 Public (scholarships available)
Zionism was not born in the 19th century but a new political movement was.
After the Romans exiled the Jews from Jerusalem in 70 CE and many continued a dispersion around the world, over the next two millennia only small numbers of Jews remained and returned to eretz Yisrael. There was a major influx of Jews in the 1500s after the Spanish Expulsion, but for the most part, most diaspora Jews trusted in a divinely sent Messiah to one day return them to Zion, keeping Zion alive in daily prayer and in religious, cultural expression.
Then, in the 19th century, Western political and intellectual revolutions awakened a new political awareness among European Jews. Persecution and nationalism in many countries also made life untenable for Jewish life. Some banded together to form a nationalist political movement—Zionism–to regain political independence in a common homeland. This course delves into the emergence, development, and expansion of Zionism during the 1800s.
