Zionist nationalism required denying its own kabbalistic and exile heritage
Evidence
The legacy of Safed inspired during the centuries many future religious movements, like Hassidism in Europe and modern trends of Jews in the Muslim world. It also inspired, indirectly, non-Orthodox Jewish intellectuals, like Walter Benjamin, who elaborated on the notions of exile and rupture and employed those notions in contrast to Western perceptions of progress and secularity. The denial of its legacy in Zionist discourse clarifies the concrete attributes of the national. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 370
Categorization
- XREF: Echoes the reader’s general interest in how nationalist movements police internal memory — building a national ‘self’ requires suppressing rival constructions of the same people. — connects to: Zionism’s self-definition required rejecting parts of Jewish religious history too — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 360; Zionism’s negation of exile caused the Palestinian exile and denial of homeland — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 376; Zionist secularization nationalized messianic myth rather than replacing it — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 315 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Zionism’s negation of exile caused the Palestinian exile and denial of homeland
#expands(0.85) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 376 - Zionist secularization nationalized messianic myth rather than replacing it
#expands(0.80) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 315 - Zionism required religious myth because it lacked the land and language pillars of nationalism.
#complicates(0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 2373