The messianic-minded settler movement was not born when the State of Israel was founded in 1948. Rather, it developed after the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967.
Until the liberation of the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria in the Six-Day War, Israel’s religious population lived in the midst of Israeli society, but had no significant influence on political and social processes. In Jerusalem at this time the Torah school and yeshiva Merkaz HaRav (מרכז הרב) was growing under the leadership of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook (1889-1982), and later became the flagship of religious Zionism. Rabbi Kook identified Zionism with the beginning of salvation and saw the founding of the state as a significant step in the process of redemption for the people of Israel.
The rabbi was concerned not only with the study of Torah, but also with working and settling the land. When Israel celebrated its 19th Independence Day in May 1967, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, Rabbi Kook, in his sermon to the yeshiva...
Become a Member
-
Read all member content
Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel.
-
Get exclusive in-depth reports from Israel
Connect with Israel, right from your home.
-
Lift up the voice of truth and hope
Support Jerusalem-based Zionist journalism.
Already a member? Login here.
Israel Today Membership
Monthly Membership
Yearly Membership
Save 18% Per Month.
Six Months Membership
Save 9% Per Month.
One response to “Israel’s Redemption and the Bloc of Believers”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thank you for your article prompting my thoughts of God’s redemption: Abraham worshiped God at Shechem (Gen. 12:6-7); Joshua gathered the Israelites at Shechem to worship God. Also significant in Joshua 24, is the burial of Joseph’s bones at Shechem, for near this piece of ground, at Jacob’s well, Jesus met the Samaritan woman and proclaimed He is the Messiah (John 4). Later, two heartbroken men walking home to Emmaus are met by a Stranger who begins with Moses and all the prophets to tell them things concerning Himself–then they knew Him to be the Christ! Rising early, they returned to Jerusalem proclaiming, “The Lord is risen indeed…”; and Jesus, appearing again, to those gathered in Jerusalem, said, “Thus it is written…and was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day..that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” (Luke 24)