Introduction to Zionism and Israel pdf

Dan Mark Cohn-Sherbok è un rabbino del giudaismo riformato e un teologo ebreo. È professore emerito di giudaismo all'Università del Galles. Nato a Denver, in Colorado, si è diplomato alla East High School (Denver) ed è stato studente al Williams College, Massachusetts, trascorrendo un anno all'estero ad Atene, in Grecia.
Fu ordinato rabbino riformato presso l'Ebraico Union College di Cincinnati. Era un cappellano della Camera dei rappresentanti del Colorado e colonnello onorario aiutante di campo del New Mexico. Ha servito come rabbino negli Stati Uniti, Inghilterra, Australia e Sud Africa. Era uno studente al Wolfson College di Cambridge e remava sulla barca del Wolfson College. Ha conseguito un dottorato in filosofia presso l'Università di Cambridge in Inghilterra. In seguito, ha ricevuto un dottorato onorario in divinità dall'Ebraico Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City. Insegnò teologia all'Università del Kent e servì come Direttore del Center for the Study of Religion and Society, ed è stato professore di ebraismo all'Università del Galles. È stato professore in visita presso l'Università di Essex, Middlesex University, St. Andrews University, Durham University, University of Vilnius, Lituania, Charles University, Praga, York St John University, Trinity University College, St Mary's University, Twickenham, St Andrews Biblical Theological College, Mosca e Professore Onorario all'Università Aberystwyth. È stato visiting fellow al Wolfson College, Cambridge, e all'Harris Manchester College, Oxford, Fellow della Royal Asiatic Society, Fellow della Royal Society of Arts, Corrispondente Fellow dell'Academy of Jewish Philosophy, Visiting Research Fellow dell'Heythrop College, Università di Londra, membro a vita del Wolfson College, Cambridge, membro anziano onorario del Darwin College, Università del Kent, membro associato dell'SCR Christ Church, Oxford, membro dell'SCR Harris Manchester College, Oxford e membro della London Society for the Study of Religion e dell'Arts and Humanities Peer Review College. Ha anche lavorato come Visiting Scholar al Mansfield College di Oxford, all'Oxford Center for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies e al Sarum College. È stato finalista del Times Preacher of the Year e vincitore del concorso di design Royal Academy Friends. È sposato con Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok.

Introduction to Zionism and Israel pdf da Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Introduction to Zionism and Israel: From Ideology to History

With the conversion of Shabbatai Zevi in the seventeenth century, Jewish preoccupation with messianic calculation diminished. Many Jews became disillusioned with centuries of messianic anticipation and disappointment: the longing for the Messiah who would lead the Jewish people to the Holy Land and bring about the end of history seemed a distant hope. Instead eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Jewry hailed the breaking down of the ghetto walls and the elimination of social barriers between Jews and Christians. In this milieu the belief in the Kingdom of God inaugurated by the Messiah-king receded in importance. In this milieu there emerged a number of leading secularists who were preoccupied with the problem of antisemitism rather than messianic deliverance. Moses Hess, for example, argued that anti-Jewish sentiment is unavoidable. No reform of Judaism can eliminate Jew- hatred from Western society. According to Hess, the only solution to the Jewish problem is the creation of a Jewish state which will enable world Jewry to undergo a renaissance and serve as a spiritual centre for all of humanity. Similarly, Leo Pinsker contended that Judeophobia is an extricable part of Western society – the only remedy for antisemitism is for Jewry to reconstitute themselves as a separate people in their own land. Echoing such sentiments Theodor Herzl espoused the creation of a Jewish homeland and undertook political steps to bring about its realization. Among Jewish activists who joined this quest to deliver the Jewish nation from their wanderings was Ber Borochov who attempted to integrate Jewish nationalism with Marxist ideology. For Borochov, the national struggle will liberate Jewry from its dependence on non-Jewish economic structures and enable Jews to be integrated with the universal revolutionary movement. Another major thinker of this period was Vladimir Jabotinsky who stressed the importance of armed struggle in the quest for national autonomy. Although these various figures departed radically from traditional patterns of Jewish thought about Jewish redemption, like their religious and spiritual counterparts they foresaw the need for a Jewish state in contemporary society. Their desire for a return to Israel was a modern expression of a deep longing within the Jewish soul.