Zionism’s self-definition required rejecting parts of Jewish religious history too

Evidence

Thus, in spite of the repeated insistence on the “continuous presence of Jews in Palestine,” it is important to note Zionism’s denial of important aspects of even the country’s Jewish past. While the omission of the memories of the Arabs’ existence on the land is quite obvious (and is a cornerstone in the construction of Israeli national perception of the territory), we should also notice the Jewish aspects that were rejected. The opposition to the Old Yishuv was a crucial aspect of Zionist self-definition, and one of the ways all these aspects are linked. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 360

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: nationalist movements often erase inconvenient elements of the very continuity they claim to restore — the fabrication extends to their own ‘ancestral’ tradition.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: precisely which Jewish pasts did various strains of Zionism erase, and does this self-erasure weaken the claim of primordial continuity?
• XREF: connects to: Secular Zionism internalized Christian anti-Talmudic polemics by splitting Bible from law — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 341; Zionist nationalism required denying its own kabbalistic and exile heritage — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 370; Zionism countered the earlier invention of Judaism as a religion — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 748 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Zionist nationalism required denying its own kabbalistic and exile heritage #expands (0.92) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 370
• Zionism countered the earlier invention of Judaism as a religion #expands (0.80) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 748
• Secular Zionism reinterpreted theology rather than departing from it #complicates (0.75)
• Zionist secularization nationalized messianic myth rather than replacing it #complicates (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 315
• Jewish communities deliberately rejected historiography for over a millennium #corroborates (0.70)