Zionism
Pronunciations
| Zionism | (ZYE-uh-nizm) | listen |
Definitions
n. A political movement focused on re-establishing and (now) protecting the Jewish people's right to self-determination in their historic homeland, the Land of Israel.
Example Sentences
"Zionism was also a cultural and national renaissance movement which sought to enable the Jewish people to revive their language, Hebrew, and reestablish self-determination over their traditions, culture, religion and education." (source)
"Herzl’s Zionism was purely political in theory and practice: the Jews as a nation did not need a new culture, language, or concept of the messianic era, but only a national polity of their own, whose creation would solve the problem of anti-Semitism both for the Jews themselves and for Europe as a whole." (source)
Languages of Origin
- English
Etymology
Zion 'a hill on which ancient Jerusalem was partly built' + -ism
- Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
- Israel: Diaspora Jews who feel connected to Israel and have spent time there
- Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)
- North America
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- Australia / New Zealand
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Notes
See also Zionist.
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