Campuses with the Most Anti-Semitism

JHS
Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:43:09 +0000

In fact, ultra-Orthodox are not Zionists.

While that was true a generation (and more) ago, it’s clearly no longer true. For a long time, many/most ultra-orthodox Jews questioned the validity of Zionism, believing that re-establishing a Jewish state in Palestine could only happen in a messianic era. It was the height of hubris for humans alone to undertake that project themselves.

That attitude eroded as a generation that had grown up after Israel’s founding (and that had grown up with full details of the Holocaust) came into leadership. Ultra-orthodox communities in Israel (and tragically, occupied Palestinian areas) grew, prospered, and acquired real political power thanks to their ability to make or break coalition governments. Their affiliates in the diaspora became much more closely tied to the State of Israel. Very few, if any, maintain their historical opposition to Zionism. The largest Hasidic sect reconciled itself to Zionism by deciding that it was a messianic era.