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 The Political Philosophy of Zionism
Trading Jewish Words for a Hebraic Land

Zionism emerged at the end of the nineteenth century in response

to a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe, to a deteriorating economic
­predicament for Jews in Eastern Europe, and to the crisis of modern
Jewish identity. This novel, national revolution aimed to unite a scat-
tered community defined mainly by shared texts and literary ­tradition
into a vibrant political entity destined for the Holy Land. As this
remarkable book demonstrates, however, Zionism was about much
more than a national political ideology and practice. This movement
pictured time as wholly open and aesthetic in nature, attempted to
humanize space through collective action, and enlivened the Hebrew
language but stripped it of its privileged ontological status in Judaism.
By tracing the origins of Zionism in the context of a European history
of ideas, and by considering the writings of key Jewish and Hebrew
writers and thinkers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this
book offers an entirely new philosophical perspective on Zionism as a
unique movement based on intellectual boldness and belief in human
action. In counterdistinction to the studies of history and ideology
that dominate the field, this book also offers a new way of reflecting
on contemporary Israeli politics.

Eyal Chowers is a Senior Lecturer of Political Science at Tel Aviv

University in Israel, where he also serves as the co-head of the graduate
program in political leadership. He is the author of The Modern Self
in the Labyrinth: Politics and the Entrapment Imagination (2004).
A poster by the Histadrut, The General Federation of Labor in Israel, calling
upon new immigrants that came to Israel in the 1950s to take part in the mass
campaign “hanchalat halashon” (fostering the language) and register for Hebrew
classes provided by the Histadrut and other organizations all over the ­country. The
poster was created by Eliyahu Vardimon (the exact year is unknown). Courtesy of
The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem.
The Political Philosophy of Zionism
Trading Jewish Words for a Hebraic Land

Eyal Chowers
Tel Aviv University
 cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press

32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107005945

© Eyal Chowers 2012

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2012

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

Chowers, Eyal.
The political philosophy of Zionism : trading Jewish words for a Hebraic
land / by Eyal Chowers.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-107-00594-5 (hardback)
1. Zionism. 2. Zionism – Philosophy. 3. Hebrew
language – Political aspects. 4. Hebrew language – Social
aspects. I. Title.
ds149.c446 2011
320.54095694–dc22    2011006214

isbn 978-1-107-00594-5 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not
guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
 Contents

List of Illustrations page vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1
1. Jews and the Temporal Imaginations of Modernity 19
I. Kant and the Future Integration of Human Space 24
II. Semicyclicality and the Poetic Redemption of Time 36
III. Spatial Mobility, Self-Interest, and the Ascent
of Present-Centeredness 60
2. The Zionist Temporal Revolution 72
I. Judaism and Revolution 76
II. The Skeleton of History 82
III. Zionism and Sundered History 94
IV. From Sundered History to Building 109
3. The End of Building 115
I. Building as an End in Itself 121
II. Zionism, Discontinuity, and Modernist Architecture 128
III. Belonging and the World of Matter 133
IV. Belonging and the Humanization of Space 136
V. Community of Builders 142
VI. Telishut 148
4. Hebrew and Politics 153
I. Can Man be the Measure of All Things in Hebrew? 157
II. Language, Collective Sprit, and Teleological Time:
Ahad Ha’am 171
III. Language, Time, and Revolution: Chaim Nachman
Bialik 189

v
vi Contents

5. Democratic Language and Zionism 215

I. Language and Revealment 218
II. Democratic Language and Tradition 226
Conclusion 241

Bibliography 257
Index 271
 List of Illustrations

1. Israel and Rivka Pollack upon their arrival at the

moshav Ein Ayala, Israel (1951). Photo by Zoltan
Kluger, courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives,
Jerusalem. page 18
2. A mosaic floor with Hebrew-Aramaic inscription in a
fifth-century synagogue in Jericho. Photo by Milner
Moshe, May 19, 1968. Courtesy of the Government Press
Office, Israel. 36
3. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Photo by Moshe
Milner, July 24, 1969. Courtesy of the Government Press
Office, Israel. 71
4. A poster announcing a boxing competition (1943).
Photo courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 108
5. Jewish laborers on the shore near Tel Aviv loading
camels with sand for building. Photo by Zoltan Kluger,
August 1, 1939. Courtesy of the Government
Press Office, Israel. 114
6. A construction worker, Rothschild Boulevard, Tel
Aviv. Photo by Ze’ev Aleksandrowicz, 1933. 120
7. A worker at a brick manufacturing factory in Tel Aviv.
Photo by Hans Pinn, June 1, 1946. Courtesy of the
Government Press Office, Israel. 128

vii
viii List of Illustrations

8. Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin speaking at the Mount Scopus

Amphitheatre after receiving an honorary doctorate from
the Hebrew University at the end of the Six Day War. Photo
by Ilan Bruner, June 28, 1967. Courtesy of the Government
Press Office, Israel. 147
9. Lord Arthur Balfour addressing the audience at the
opening ceremony of the Hebrew University (1925).
Unknown photographer; photo courtesy of The Central
Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 151
10. Notrim (or Gafirim, members of the Jewish police force set
up by the British administration in Mandatory Palestine)
guarding the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus (1947).
Photo by Ya’akov Ben-Dov, courtesy of The Central Zionist
Archives, Jerusalem. 151
11. A donkey carrying books for the National Library at the
Hebrew University. Unknown photographer and year;
photo courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 152
12. A “youth Aliya” girl on guard duty at the “Ayanot”
agriculture school. Photo by Zoltan Kluger, April 4,
1948. Courtesy of the Government Press Office, Israel. 170
13. David Ben-Gurion and the late poet Chaim Nachman
Bialik aboard the S.S. Martha Washington on a cruise.
Unknown photographer, October 1, 1933. Courtesy of the
Government Press Office, Israel. 190
14. Chaim Nachman Bialik (1925). Unknown photographer;
photo courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 191
15. A poster issued during the 1950s by Haifa’s city council
as part of a national effort to teach the new Jewish
immigrants Hebrew. Poster courtesy of The Central
Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 213
16. A poster issued by the Ministry of Education during
the 1950s explaining basic concepts regarding
transportation and travel to new immigrants.
Poster courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem. 214
17. Jewish and Arab workers marching in the May Day
parade in Ramle. Photo by Zoltan Kluger, May 1, 1949.
Courtesy of the Government Press Office, Israel. 240
 Acknowledgments

I started working on this project a long time ago, erroneously believing

it would take me just a few years to complete. But the more I delved into
the subject of Zionism and its relation to modernity, the more subtle and
fascinating this subject became, in my opinion at least.
There are certainly many downsides to writing a book over an extended
period of time, but one of the advantages is that one can consult with and
benefit from many friends, colleagues, and students.
I would like to thank Janet Benton, Leora Bilsky, Eppie Kreitner, David
Myers, Natalie Oman, Yoav Peled, Nancy Schwartz, Idith Zertal, and
Yael Zerubavel for reading parts of this manuscript and helping me to
improve it substantially. Thanks, especially, to Charles Blattberg and
Aharon Klieman for their many useful comments and for being gener-
ous with their time. I also benefited from illuminating discussions with
Revital Amiran, Seyla Benhabib, Eva Illouz Yaron Ezrahi, Azar Gat, Ariel
Hirschfeld, Steven Smith, Bernard Yack, and Ronald Zweig. Thanks also
to Lior Erez, Dimitry Kortukov, and Yonatan Preminger from Tel Aviv
University for their help at different stages, as well as to Anat Banin and
Nechma Kanner from the Zionist Archives.
I would also like to thank the Shalem Center in Jerusalem for support-
ing the early parts of my research and for its hospitality, and the Van Leer
Jerusalem Institute for allowing me to use its splendid library for many
years.
My students at Tel Aviv University (and, during one semester, at Yale
University) have been extremely helpful in the formation of this book.
They have tolerated my half-baked ideas during many classes, challenged
me, and enriched my thought immensely; I am very grateful to them.

ix
x Acknowledgments

I am beholden to Eliyahu Vardimon (1912–81), the creator of the beau-

tiful poster reprinted on the cover of this book. Mr. Vardimon, a chalutz,
artist, designer, and author of archaeology books, came to Mandatory
Palestine from Dresden, Germany, in 1934. He created many posters
for various Zionist organizations such as the Jewish National Fund and
Keren Hayesod, and he was a chief designer of numerous international
exhibitions representing the government of Israel and others. Vardimon’s
poster conveys the attempt of Zionists to displace foreign languages with
Hebrew, not to trade Jewish words for a Hebraic land – but as we shall
see, these ideas are akin.
Many thanks also to my editor, Marigold Acland, for her trust, insight-
ful guidance, and very substantial help along the way. I have also benefited
much from the comments of the anonymous readers for Cambridge
University Press.
In the production of this book, I was very fortunate to receive excellent
professional assistance and a friendly attitude from Phyllis Berk, Mark
Fox, and Regina Paleski. Thanks also to Joy Mizan for her patience and
for facilitating the communication among all those involved.
I am especially grateful to Yael Agam, who encouraged me along the
way.
I would like to dedicate this book to two young and extraordinary
persons I loved who died during their military service: Michal Amit
(1961–80) and my cousin Ephraim Chowers (1960–82).
Earlier versions of some parts of this book have been published else-
where. I would like to thank the following publishers for kindly allow-
ing me to make use of the following materials: “The End of Building:
Zionism and the Politics of the Concrete,” by Eyal Chowers, The Review
of Politics, Vol. 64 (no. 4), Sept. 2002, pp. 599–626, © 2002 University
of Notre Dame. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University
Press; Eyal Chowers, “Language and Democracy in the Thought of
Hannah Arendt,” in Hannah Arendt: A Half-Century of Polemics, Idith
Zertal and Moshe Zuckermann (eds.), pp. 33–48 (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz
Hameuchad, 2005), © 2005 Hakibbutz Hameuchad. Reprinted with the
permission of Hakibbutz Hameuchad; Eyal Chowers, “The Marriage of
Time and Identity: Kant, Benjamin, and the Nation-State,” Philosophy
and Social Criticism, May 1999, Vol. 25 (no. 3), pp. 55–80, © 1999, Sage
Publications. Reprinted with the permission of Sage Publications; Eyal
Chowers, “Gushing Time: Modernity and the Multiplicity of Temporal
Homes,” Time and Society, Sept. 2002, Vol. 11 (nos. 2 & 3), pp. 235–
249, © 2002, Sage Publications. Reprinted with the permission of Sage
 Acknowledgments xi

Publications; Eyal Chowers, “Time in Zionism: The Life and Afterlife

of a Temporal Revolution,” Political Theory, Vol. 26 (no. 5), Oct. 1998,
pp. 652–85, © 1998, Sage Publications. Reprinted with the permission of
Sage Publications; Eyal Chowers, “Ahad Ha’am and the Jewish Volkgeist,”
in Global Politics: Essays in the Honour of David Vital, A. Ben-Zvi and
A. Kleiman (eds.), pp. 267–82 (London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2001), ©
2001, Taylor & Francis. Reprinted with the permission of the Taylor &
Francis Group.
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