What is the difference between the Zionist faith and traditional Judaism?

Question

I once sat next to a very nice elderly man on a plane and we discussed the Catholic faith. He told me he was a Zionist and I got the feeling he did not believe in the afterlife. Do Zionist believe in a hereafter? Thanks.

Answer 1

Zionism is not actually a religious belief, but rather a political affiliation that is concerned with The Jewish people. There are many Christians who are Zionists. Zionism is the belief that the Jews are God's chosen people and therefore have a spiritual right to the holy land. This has caused allot of the conflict that we have in the middle east, since Zionism is the whole reason for the creation of the Israeli government, which took land from the Palestinians.

To answer your question about an afterlife, many Jews don't believe in an afterlife. They believe that this is your life, you live in God's good graces, and he will reward you here. You die, and that's it. But that's not the belief of all Jews. Some believe we die if we don't live in God's good graces, and live eternally in heaven if we do. Others believe you live, you die, you spend a short period of time in what Christians would consider hell, but then you become pure and are allowed to go to heaven. There really are allot of different opinions on the matter.

Answer 2

'Zionism' is a political ideology with roots in the 19th century that says, at base, the Jews have a right to live in their ancestral homeland.

What follows from this basic definition is that non-Jews can be Zionists and Jew non-Zionists. Not all religious Jews are Zionists. The 'N'turia Karta' in Israel; are in fact actively anti-Zionists.

The religion of Judaism reaches all the way back to the Bronze Age. While there may be certain aspect in common the modern political movement was mostly distinctly non-religious.

Answer 3

Zionism is not a religion, it is a political ideology.

In fact, it was started by largely secular Jews.

Although it is true there is such a thing as a "religious Zionist" one can argue that that is something akin to being religious and having, for example, a conservative political ideology.

I actually find it odd that he identified himself as such instead of simply stating he was Jewish. It is quite possible, if not probable, that he was not religious at all.

So, for the record, Judaism does believe in the afterlife though naturally it is a bit different than the Christian view (both Protestant and Catholic).

Answer 4

Zionism, a word coined by an Austrian journalist, Nathan Birnbaum in 1886, derives from the word "Zion," the original name of the Jebusite stronghold in Jerusalem. Zion became a symbol for Jerusalem during the reign of King David. THe goal of Zionism is the political and spiritual renewal of the Jewish people in its ancestral homeland, and a Zionist is someone who supports this objective.

Answer 5

Zionism is not a faith. It is a belief in the State of Israel and it's right to exist. Not all Zionists are Jews, and not all Jews are Zionists.

Answer 6

zionism is simply the belief that jews should live in the land of israel. It is not an exclusively religious, or jewish, idea.