Judaism, Zionism

Methodologically, before interpreting the Jewish religious attitudes towards modem Zionism, we regard Kultur as an expression for human existence disclosing the innate qualities of cognition and creation acquired by mankind. As the essence of human existence, it is virtually an existing substance deeply intertwined within an the contents of human life. Hence, In narrow sense, hereby we consider that the notion of civilization emphasizes the outward or materialistic aspects reflected hi the outcome brought about or methods adopted by human transcending efforts, while mat of Kultur prefers to give its priority to the intrinsic cognitive and creative qualities of such human behavior from its inward spiritual perspective.Religion, as a unique form or expression of human Kutur, differentiated from other cultural forms (such as philosophy, arts, science, and so on) since its inceptive process of cognition, which commenced with the initial unseparated monistic thinking paradigm before its dualistic approach relatively developed. Nevertheless, in the sense of human independent existence, which indicates the fundamental orientatoin of human Kultur, the essential orientation of religion in the respect of epistemology is somewhat misguided and deviated.As a primitive cultural form nearly dominant in human society, religion penetrated deeply into the different fields of social and personal lives and played its unique role in those fields' regulation and integration. By this means, religion is, to some extent, Kultur or civilization, but Kultur or civilization does not equate religion. Religion is just a kind of remarkable component among many expressive forms within the entirety of Kultur. Comparing the diverse integrating patterns or oritations between religious and other cultural expressions (regarding their intrinsic qualities for cognition and creativity), the self-awareness or subjective status of human independence would be better reflected than otherwhere.As such, Judaism or Yahadut per se is still a cultural form. Since its historical peculiarities, its regulative and integrational influence has thus permeated extensively into the body of Jewish culture for so long a time as to make people misregard the totality of its cultural integration as the entirety of Jewish culture or civilization overshadowing the comparatively independent roles by other Jewish cultural forms during its cultural progress. (Such case can be illustrated in the definition of Judaism as a civilization). As the Jewish religious interpretations about traditional resources were both pluralistic and flexible inresponse to modern Zionism, for the so-called Jewish destiny in their history, from a religio-cultural view, the emphasis shift between Jewish nationalism and universalism simply manifested both the positive and negative characteristics within Jewish religion during its cultural advance.Historically, inherent tension between the opposite resorts of natural and unrealistic salvations in Jewish Messianism, to which the Kabbalistic mysticism had contributed a great deal during its orientating shift, became an unavoidable legacy by history for Judaism to face the challege of modernity. Hence, we see Rav Kook's redemptive theology made modern Zionist practice an indispensible requisite for the aspired devine redemption, while the Liberals or Orthodox Jews in western Europe concentated on how to transform the traditional Kabbalistic or Hallachic resources hi support of their inward impulse towards further assimilation. In contrast, the Jews in America subconsciously hi favor of their special Americanism encountered a cultural dilemma between America and Zion, which eventually brought about an idealized theory about what is Judaism by Mordecai M. Kaplan. Meantime, although the so-called "Spiritual Zionism" propogated by Ahad Haam intended to insure continuous stability of Jewish transformation in Kultur during return to Zion, this doctrine's foundation is unadvertently located on secularist identity in the name of "National Spirit"...