The Messianic Idea and Zionist Ideologies

Abstract

It is commonplace to note the close relationship between the messianic idea and Zionist thought. Still missing is a clarification of the essential distinctions between messianism and Zionism. For example, in his classic essay on the Zionist idea, Arthur Hertzberg describes the differences in the broadest of terms:Hertzberg characterizes this transformation as the “secularization of the messianic ideal.’’ Jacob Katz also does little more than assert the this-worldly turn of religious belief: ‘‘In [modern Zionism] Jewish messianic belief was, so to speak, purged of its miraculous elements, and retained only its political, social and some of its spiritual objectives.