Is Zionism Antisemitic?
Orthodox Judaism levels a dire accusation
Wait!
Don’t things usually work the other way around: People accuse anti-Zionists of being antisemitic…?
Let’s start with first principles: What is a Jew?
… the Torah—and only the Torah—is what makes us a nation.
Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, The Empty Wagon.
The Jews became a people in the shadow of Mount Sinai when given the Torah by God. It contained law, halacha, and specific commandments, mitzvos, that would guide Jewish life for the next three millennia. Not surprisingly, residing in the holy land greatly facilitates performing these mitzvos, and nearly all Jewish scholars agree that one ought to strive to live there.
Zionism expedites the ability of any Jew anywhere in the world to come to Israel (i.e. make aliyah), to live there and become a citizen.
So how can Zionism possibly be regarded as antisemitic?
The Talmud, in Gemera Ketubot 111a expresses three oaths, two of which apply to the Jewish people, am Yisroel, and one to the gentile nations, goyim:
- The Jews must not enter the Holy Land as a wall, i.e. forcefully, en masse
