Zionism

Theodor Herzl, Advocate of Zionism

Zionism is a nationalist movement dedicated to the establishment of a Jewish state in the ancestral land of Palestine. Emerging in the late nineteenth century in parts of Europe, it became a powerful unifying cause for Jewish communities worldwide, especially following the devastation of the world wars. In 1948, the founding of the independent State of Israel in Palestine marked the fulfillment of Zionism’s central aspiration.

In Scripture, Zion signifies not only a geographical location but also a spiritual dwelling place where God abides and bestows eternal life. In this light, the enduring hope of the Jewish people for the restoration of their state serves as a profound illustration for believers who, by keeping God’s feasts, seek to build the spiritual Zion—the community where God’s presence and salvation dwell eternally.

Etymology of Zionism

The term Zionism embodies the Jewish nationalistic aspiration for Palestine, the land of ancient Israel.

The word Zion originally referred to one of the hills in Jerusalem, yet in Scripture it is often used more broadly to represent the entire city of Jerusalem or even the whole land of Israel. Over time, Zion also came to symbolize the sacred dwelling place of God, the center of His presence and rule. For the Israelites who had lost their nation, Zion came to signify their longed-for homeland and the promised land where the Savior would come to restore them.

In Israel’s history, there were two notable occasions when the people, having been scattered among foreign nations, returned to their homeland in Canaan.

During the period of the divided kingdoms, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered around 586 BC by Babylon, the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The people were taken captive to Babylon, where they wept as they remembered the desolation of Zion. Yet, in fulfillment of God’s promise to deliver them after seventy years of captivity, the people of Judah were allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild Zion.

The second restoration occurred after the time of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. In AD 70, Jerusalem fell under the assault of the Roman army, and both the temple and the city walls were completely destroyed—just as Jesus had foretold: “Not one stone here will be left on another” (Matthew 24:2). The Jewish people were then scattered across the nations, living as exiles without a homeland. Those who remained in the land endured severe oppression under foreign rule. Driven from their ancestral home and dispersed throughout the world, the longing for Zion only deepened in their hearts. This enduring hope for national restoration became known as Zionism. At last, in 1948, that centuries-old hope was realized when the Jewish people miraculously established the independent State of Israel.

The term Zionism was first introduced by Nathan Birnbaum, an Austrian Jew, in the April 1890 issue of his periodical Selbstemanzipation (Self-Emancipation). Birnbaum defined Zionism (Zionismus) as a movement of Jews—Zionists—aspiring to return to Eretz Israel (אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל), meaning “the Land of Israel,” the historic homeland of the ancient Israelites. Among those who later gave the movement its greatest momentum was Theodor Herzl, whose leadership and vision transformed Zionism from an emerging idea into an international movement for the restoration of a Jewish state.

History

Background of the Birth of Zionism

Antisemitism in European Society
After the destruction of Israel by Rome in AD 70, the Jewish people were dispersed across Europe. However, they encountered widespread hostility in the societies where they settled. As Christianity spread throughout the continent, Jews were often persecuted as the people who had rejected Jesus. Their strong sense of being God’s chosen people, along with their commitment to preserving their distinct culture and traditions, further fueled resentment among surrounding nations. Moreover, the success of many Jews in trade and finance led to the unfair stereotype that they were excessively attached to money.

From the Middle Ages onward, Jews were confined to segregated districts known as ghettos, where their freedom of movement and residence was strictly limited. During the Black Death that swept through Europe, they were falsely accused of spreading the plague and were brutally executed, with rumors circulating that Jews had poisoned wells. Under such relentless persecution and oppression, some Jews sought to assimilate into European culture or abandoned their Jewish identity altogether, unable to withstand the burden of discrimination and exclusion.

Jews Longed for Zion While Keeping the Passover
Amid sorrow and persecution, there were Jews who remained steadfast in their faith, holding firmly to God’s covenant. Though they lived as strangers in many nations and endured great hardship, they never forgot their homeland. With unwavering devotion, they continued to cry out for the restoration of Zion, trusting in the prophetic promises that foretold its renewal. Each year, they faithfully kept the Passover, expressing their hope for the day when they would once again celebrate it in Zion.

Originally, the Israelites observed the Passover in Zion, that is, in Jerusalem. After the temple’s destruction, however, they kept it in their homes, their hearts filled with longing for their homeland. Their devotion mirrored that of Daniel, who prayed toward Jerusalem with his window open while in Babylonian captivity, and of the exiled people of Judah who wept by the rivers of Babylon as they remembered Zion.

Late 19th Century: The Emergence of Zionism

Formation of Hovevei Zion and the First Aliyah
By the late 19th century, discrimination and hostility toward Jews had grown increasingly severe. During this time, within Jewish society, a movement began to take concrete form—one that sought to realize the long-held hope of restoring their homeland, Zion.

In 1881, Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated, and the Russian government falsely claimed that the Jews had conspired to overthrow the empire. This accusation triggered widespread looting and massacres of Jewish communities across Russia. The tragedy awakened Russian Jews to the painful reality that their efforts to assimilate into European society had been in vain. In response, Jewish leaders established Hovevei Zion (חובבי ציון, Lovers of Zion), an organization that encouraged Jewish immigration to Palestine. They believed that Jews must create their own state in the Land of Israel. Between 1882 and 1903, approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine—a movement known as the First Aliyah. The Hebrew word Aliyah originally meant “to go up” (עָלָה) to the Holy Land in ancient times, but today it refers to the immigration of Jews from other countries to Israel.

The Dreyfus Affair and the Spread of Zionism

The First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland

The person who transformed Zionism into a modern Jewish nationalist movement was Theodor Herzl (1860–1904). Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, Herzl later worked as a journalist in Austria. While serving as a correspondent in Paris, he witnessed the Dreyfus Affair, a shocking event that profoundly influenced his views.

In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was accused of selling military secrets to the German Embassy. Despite the lack of credible evidence, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment—solely because he was Jewish. The trial ignited a wave of antisemitic fervor in France, and crowds in Paris jeered the protesting Dreyfus, shouting, “Death to the Jews!”
Herzl was deeply shaken by the incident and concluded that antisemitism could never be eradicated through Jewish assimilation into European society. He came to believe that Jews would never be accepted as equals, no matter how integrated they became. In 1896, Herzl published his influential book Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), in which he asserted that the only solution to the Jewish problem was the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state. He argued that only through political independence could the Jewish people escape centuries of persecution and secure a safe homeland for themselves.

“	“The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is an ancient one: It is the restoration of the Jewish State. The world resounds with outcries against the Jews, and these outcries have awakened the slumbering idea.”	“
— The JEWISH STATE, Theodor Herzl

The Full-Scale Development of the Zionist Movement
Herzl’s book sparked a powerful reaction within Jewish communities around the world. In 1897, the First Zionist Congress was convened in Basel, Switzerland, marking the official launch of the Zionist movement. At this historic gathering, delegates adopted a program that called for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, to be secured under international law. The Zionist Congress subsequently became the political and organizational foundation for the eventual creation of the State of Israel. In 1960, the organization was renamed the World Zionist Organization (WZO), continuing Herzl’s vision of uniting Jews worldwide toward the realization and preservation of their national homeland.

The Zionists, led by Herzl and other Jewish leaders, sought to establish a Jewish state through diplomatic negotiations. In 1901, Herzl appealed to the Ottoman Empire, which then governed the region of Palestine (modern-day Türkiye), requesting autonomy for Jewish settlement there. However, his proposal was firmly rejected.

Undeterred, Herzl turned to Britain the following year to discuss the possibility of Jewish immigration. In 1903, the British government offered a plan that would allow Jews to establish an independent state in an uninhabited region of Uganda in East Africa. Although this proposal appeared to be a rare and promising opportunity, Herzl declined. He insisted that Uganda was not Zion—the Jewish state must be founded in Palestine, the land of their ancestors.

Carrying with him a deep longing to return to the land of his ancestors, Herzl continued his tireless efforts to realize a Jewish state. However, his health gradually deteriorated, and on July 3, 1904, he passed away at the young age of 44. After his death, the Zionist movement appeared to lose its central leadership for a time, but it was soon revitalized under the guidance of a small group of Jewish leaders from Russia. In 1905, following the failure of the Russian Revolution, Jews were unjustly blamed for the uprising, and widespread pogroms—violent massacres targeting Jewish communities—erupted across the Russian Empire. Fleeing these persecutions, many Jews immigrated to Palestine.

1914–1918: World War I and the Balfour Declaration

Arthur James Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, and the Balfour Declaration

With the outbreak of World War I (1914–1918), the Zionist movement expanded rapidly and began to wield significant political influence. Among its leading figures was Chaim Weizmann, who would later become the first president of Israel. Through persistent diplomatic efforts, Weizmann secured Britain’s support in 1917 for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. On November 2, 1917, Arthur J. Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, issued the Balfour Declaration, announcing Britain’s support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Although the declaration was largely driven by Britain’s strategic interests in securing influence over the Middle East, for the Jewish people it carried immense symbolic weight. It represented the first official recognition by a major world power of the Zionist movement—and a renewed hope that the Promised Land, lost for nearly two thousand years, might at last be restored.

“	Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917 Dear Lord Rothschild, I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:   “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.	“
— Yours sincerely, Arthur James Balfour

1920s–1930s: The Full-Scale Movement of Return to Palestine

Jewish immigrants returning to the land of Palestine

Jewish immigrants returning to the land of Palestine

Proportion of Jewish Immigrants to Palestine by Country of Origin (1922–1944)

The return-to-Palestine movement, known as Aliyah, continued steadily.

The Second Aliyah (1904–1914), which took place after Herzl’s death, was composed mainly of young men and women from Russia, with approximately 40,000 Jews immigrating to Palestine. Although the outbreak of World War I temporarily halted Aliyah, it resumed in 1919, and by 1923 around 35,000 Jews from Eastern European countries had immigrated—this period is known as the Third Aliyah. The Fourth Aliyah (1924–1928) brought about 67,000 returnees, though many later left Palestine. The large-scale return movement known as the Fifth Aliyah occurred between 1929 and 1939, during which more than 250,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine.

Those who returned settled in both urban and rural areas, building yishuvim (settlements), health clinics, roads, and ports, thereby laying the foundations for Jewish self-governing organizations. They also established educational institutions to promote Jewish culture and the teaching of the Hebrew language. As noted earlier, after World War I, the number of immigrants rose sharply, leading to a rapid expansion of Jewish settlements. Within a decade, the Jewish population grew to 160,000. According to the official census of March 1925, there were about 108,000 Jews living in Palestine; by around 1933, that number had increased to approximately 238,000. Immigration surged even more during the 1930s, and by 1939, the Jewish population in Palestinian settlements had reached about 500,000.
As Jews gathered in Palestine, the Arabs who were living there began to strongly oppose their presence. During the Ottoman period, Jewish immigration had been prohibited, but after Britain took control of Palestine, it initially permitted Jewish immigration freely. However, as tensions between Jews and Arabs intensified, Britain began restricting the number of Jewish immigrants in 1939.

Despite these repeated setbacks, the Jewish people continued to long for the establishment of their own state, holding firmly to the hope that the prophecies spoken by the prophets of the Bible would be fulfilled.

In the Old Testament era, when the people of Judah were taken captive to Babylon, the prophets foretold that after the appointed time of punishment, Zion would be restored and God’s people would return to their homeland.

But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come . . . For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. . . . “. . . to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.

Psalms 102:12–22

The prophets’ words were first fulfilled when the Jews were freed from Babylon in the 6th century BC and returned to Zion. From this, the Jewish people learned that even if they sinned against God and were scattered among the nations, in due time God would show them mercy and allow them to return to their homeland. In the 20th century, they firmly believed that this prophecy would again be fulfilled and longed earnestly for the restoration of Zion. Through their tireless efforts—despite hardship and persecution—the miraculous restoration of the state of Israel in the land of their ancestors finally came to pass. Yet the process was by no means smooth.

1939–1945: World War II and the Holocaust

Jewish survivors from the Buchenwald Concentration Camp returning to Israel

Around 1500 BC, when Moses asked Pharaoh of Egypt to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh hardened his heart and increased their labor, oppressing them even more. In a similar way, when the Jewish people—scattered across Europe for 1,900 years and long oppressed—strove to restore their nation, they faced a comparable hardship. Just before the establishment of their independence, the Jews suffered the greatest massacre in human history—the Holocaust.

In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, became Chancellor of Germany—a nation humiliated by its defeat in World War I. Hitler and the Nazis stirred up extreme antisemitism and implemented systematic policies of Jewish persecution. They portrayed Jews as vermin carrying disease—an inferior race that had to be exterminated.

After the outbreak of World War II (1939–1945), Jews in Germany and in the German-occupied regions of Central and Eastern Europe were forced to carry identification cards marking them as Jewish. Their basic freedoms were stripped away through forced labor, conscription, and confinement in ghettos. Eventually, they were arrested wherever they were found and sent to concentration camps such as Auschwitz.

From 1933 until the end of the war in 1945, more than half of the approximately eleven million Jews living in Europe—around six million people, including 1.5 million children—were murdered. Women, regardless of age, were dragged away naked, and countless Jews were killed through forced labor, starvation, disease, or mass executions in gas chambers. Some were hanged or shot in front of large crowds.

“ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,’ . . . This is what the LORD says: ‘Cries of fear are heard-- terror, not peace. Ask and see: Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale? How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.’ ”

Jeremiah 30:3–7

“Jacob’s trouble” refers to the event in the Old Testament when Jacob, the ancestor of Israel, returned to his homeland. After sending his family and possessions across the Jabbok River, Jacob was left alone, filled with fear and distress, and wrestled with a man all night. During the struggle, his hip was dislocated, yet he held on and pleaded for a blessing. In the end, he received God’s blessing and was able to return safely to his homeland. In the same way, the Jewish people, who had been scattered among the nations, endured great suffering and sacrifice as they were about to regain their homeland. Yet, in the end, they too received their blessing—the restoration of their nation.

1948: The Independence of Israel

After enduring the horrors of the Holocaust, the Jewish people longed more than ever for the land of their ancestors—Palestine.

Not only Jews in Europe but also those living in the United States joined the Zionist movement, and many immigrated to Palestine. As a result, tensions between Arabs and Jews grew increasingly severe, leading Britain to refer the issue to the United Nations (UN). In 1947, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to partition Palestine into two states—one Arab and one Jewish—and to place Jerusalem under international administration.

On May 14, 1948, Israel proclaimed its Declaration of Independence—the first time in 1,900 years since the fall of Jerusalem. At 4 p.m., approximately 650,000 Jews scattered across the land of Palestine heard David Ben-Gurion’s voice broadcast over the radio.

“	“Accordingly we, members of the People’s Council, representatives of the Jewish community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist movement, are here assembled . . . and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.” Note: “Eretz-Israel” is a transliteration of “אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל”.	“
— Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, 14 May 1948

After enduring countless hardships and restoring their nation, the Jewish people have continued to devote themselves to their homeland with the firm conviction that a state must exist for its people to live.

They also established the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum near Jerusalem to ensure that the suffering of the past would never be forgotten. The name Yad Vashem means “a memorial and a name,” and the museum commemorates the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis in Europe. The photographs and artifacts displayed there vividly portray the persecution and humiliation the Jewish people endured while being scattered throughout the world.

Their unwavering yearning for the restoration of Zion is powerfully expressed in Israel’s national anthem.

“	As long as in the heart, within, A Jewish soul still yearns, And onward, towards the ends of the east, An eye still gazes toward Zion; Our hope is not yet lost, The hope that is two thousand years old, To be a free nation in our land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.	“
— Hatikvah (The Hope)

Modern Zionism

Jewish Immigration to Israel from 1948 to 2007

The territory of Israel as of 2012: The ultimate goal of the Zionist movement was the establishment of a Jewish state within Palestine.

The Zionist movement’s ultimate goal—Israel’s independence—was finally realized. However, this achievement also gave rise to ongoing conflicts between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations in the Middle East. Today, the term Zionism generally refers to the efforts of the Jewish people to protect and strengthen their nation, but over time it has also become associated with violent conflicts, acts of terrorism both inside and outside Israel, and territorial disputes with Arab states.

In 1968, at the 27th Zionist Congress held in Jerusalem, the following five articles were adopted as the official program of Zionism:

① Unite the Jewish people and make Israel the center of Jewish life.

② Gather Jews from all nations of dispersion back to their historic homeland.

③ Build the Jewish state firmly upon justice and peace.

④ Preserve Jewish identity and character by teaching all Jews Hebrew, Jewish culture, and Jewish spirit.

⑤ Protect the rights of the Jewish people.

However, the hardline Zionist view that Jews living outside Israel are effectively in exile—and that only in Israel can they truly live as Jews—has become a source of division even among the Jewish people.

Lesson

In the Bible, Zion does not merely refer to the physical nation of Israel. It is described as the holy dwelling place of God, where He grants the forgiveness of sins and bestows the blessing of eternal life. Therefore, the history of the people of Israel and the restoration of the city of Zion serve as a spiritual mirror, reflecting what will take place with the spiritual Israelites and the spiritual Zion.

Spiritual Zion is the place where God’s feasts are observed. Jesus Himself kept these feasts and established the spiritual Zion as the dwelling place of salvation for His people. However, after all the apostles passed away, the work of lawlessness spread within the church, and one by one, the truths that Jesus had established were altered. In AD 321, the Sabbath was abolished, and a decree was issued designating Sunday as the official day of worship. In AD 325, the Feast of the Passover was completely abolished. Just as the physical Zion once became desolate, the new covenant feasts that Jesus had carefully established to build Zion were destroyed, leaving the spiritual Zion utterly desolate. Those who tried to uphold the truth were branded as heretics and even put to death, ushering in the period known as the Dark Ages.

Even during nearly two thousand years of exile and wandering, the nation of Israel never lost hope of rebuilding their homeland and worked tirelessly for its independence. In the same way, the forefathers of faith longed earnestly to return to their spiritual homeland—the kingdom of heaven—and held firmly to the feasts of the new covenant until the very end. This unwavering spirit serves as a model for believers today, who keep and proclaim God’s feasts and devote themselves to building spiritual Zion throughout the world, leading all people to the kingdom of heaven.

See also

• Zion
• Spiritual Zion
• Zion’s Restoration

Bibliography

• Choi Chang-mo, History of Israel, Daehan Textbook, 2007.