Theses Doctoral

Orthodoxy in the Age of Nationalism: Agudat Yisrael and the Religious Zionist Movement in Germany, Poland and Palestine 1912-1952

Mahla, Daniel

While it is widely recognized that Zionism was inspired and shaped by modern European nationalism, Orthodox responses to Zionism (whether nationalist or anti-nationalist) are typically viewed as internal Jewish affairs. This dissertation argues that these responses, like Zionism itself, must be understood in their Eastern and Central European contexts. When appropriately contextualized, the anti-Zionist Agudat Yisrael and the Zionist Mizrahi movement take on a different meaning than that assigned them in the conventional narrative. In particular, these movements were not the natural and inevitable results of preexisting ideological differences but, rather, were a product of power struggles that, themselves, shaped and consolidated differing ideological positions.

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More About This Work

Academic Units
History
Thesis Advisors
Stanislawski, Michael
Degree
Ph.D., Columbia University
Published Here
September 8, 2014