We bring two great thinkers to one of the Jewish people’s biggest challenges and opportunities: reclaiming Zionism. Danny Gordis’ excellent and thoughtful piece shows how, shockingly, Zionism has become a dirty word among certain segments of the American Jewish community. There are American synagogues today who are ideologically opposed to Zionism. There are rabbinical students today who are neutral or negative on Zionism. How is it possible that Zionism, which gave birth to the Jewish state, is a source of negative energy among some American Jews? Please read or reread Danny’s piece. What is his diagnosis, what is his prescription, and do you agree with him?

Our second thinker is Yehuda Kurtzer. We will examine the sources and how he framed them in his lecture called The Zionist Idea delivered at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem this past summer. While Yehuda does not mention Danny Gordis or the issue of anti-Zionism, his lecture and his sources are an incredibly persuasive response to both. Yehuda talks about the idea of an idea that is a North Star, that is a compass for a system. Such an idea has to be (a) short, sweet and to the point (in Yehuda’s words, “essentialized”); and (b) it has to be so powerful that it galvanizes action. We will examine Yehuda’s treatment of the Rabbinic Idea and the American Idea as a prelude to his treatment of the Zionist Idea. What is Yehuda’s wisdom here, and does it allow us to reclaim Zionism in Israel’s 75th year for people who love Israel and are troubled by significant questions and doubts?

In this special year of Israel’s 75th, let’s recommit to a conversation about Israel, and Zionism which made Israel possible, that welcomes diverse points of view and that deepens all of our love for the miracle that is our Jewish homeland reborn after 2,000 years.