Jewish political movements refer to the organized efforts of
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s to build their own
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
or otherwise represent their interest in politics outside the
Jewish community
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. From the time of the
siege of Jerusalem by the Romans to the foundation of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
the Jewish people had no territory, and, until the 19th century they by-and-large were also denied equal rights in the countries in which they lived. Thus, until the 19th century effort for the
emancipation of the Jews
Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, e.g. Jewish quotas, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It i ...
, almost all Jewish political struggles were internal, and dealt primarily with either religious issues or issues of a particular Jewish community. (See
Judaism and politics.)
Birth of Jewish political movements
Since Jews were excluded as outsiders throughout Europe, they were mostly shut out of politics or any sort of participation in the wider political and social sphere of the nations in which they were involved until the Enlightenment, and its Jewish counterpart,
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...
, made popular movements possible. As long as the Jews lived in
segregated communities, and as long as all avenues of social intercourse with their
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...
neighbors were closed to them, the
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
was the most influential member of the Jewish community. In addition to being a religious scholar and clergy, a rabbi also acted as a civil
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
in all cases in which both parties were Jews. Rabbis sometimes had other important administrative powers, together with the community elders. The rabbinate was the highest aim of many Jewish boys, and the study of the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
(first five books of the Bible) and the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
was the means of obtaining that coveted position, or one of many other important communal distinctions. Haskalah followers advocated "coming out of the
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...
", not just physically but also mentally and spiritually. The example of
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the '' Haskalah'', or ...
(1729–1786), a
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
n Jew and grandfather of the composer
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
, served to lead this movement. Mendelssohn's extraordinary success as a popular philosopher and
man of letters
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, ei ...
revealed hitherto unsuspected possibilities of integration and acceptance of Jews among non-Jews.
The changes caused by the Haskalah movement coincided with rising revolutionary movements throughout Europe. Despite these movements, only France, Britain, and the Netherlands had granted the Jews in their countries equal rights with gentiles after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
in 1796. Elsewhere in Europe, especially where Jews were most concentrated in Central and Eastern Europe, Jews were not granted equal rights. It was in the revolutionary atmosphere of the mid-19th century that the first true Jewish political movements would take place.
Emancipation movements
During the early stages of
Jewish emancipation movements, Jews were simply part of the general effort to achieve freedom and rights that drove popular uprisings like the
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...
. Jewish statesmen and intellectuals like
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
,
Johann Jacoby
Johann Jacoby (1 May 1805 – 6 March 1877) was a Left-wing German-Jewish politician.
Biography
The son of a Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) merchant, Gerson Jacoby, and his wife, Lea Jonas, Jacoby studied medicine at the Albertina University of ...
,
Gabriel Riesser
Gabriel Riesser (2 April 1806 – 22 April 1863) was a German politician and lawyer.
Life
Both of Riesser's grandfathers were rabbis; his paternal grandfather was Jakob Pinchas Katzenellenbogen, rabbi in Lemberg and later Oettingen, and hi ...
,
Berr Isaac Berr
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and was itself disbanded ...
, and
Lionel Nathan Rothschild
Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (22 November 1808 – 3 June 1879) was a British Jewish banker, politician and philanthropist who was a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England. He became the first practising Jew to sit ...
were active with the general movement towards liberty and political freedom.
Still, in the face of persistent
anti-semitic incidents like the
Damascus Blood Libel of 1840, and the failure of many states to emancipate the Jews, Jewish organizations started to form in order to push for the emancipation and protection of Jews. The
Board of Deputies of British Jews under
Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, aft ...
, the
Central Consistory of Paris, and the
Alliance Israelite Universelle
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
founded by
Adolphe Crémieux
Isaac-Jacob Adolphe Crémieux (; 30 April 1796 – 10 February 1880) was a French lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Justice under the Second Republic (1848) and Government of National Defense (1870–1871). He served as presiden ...
, all began working to assure the freedom of the Jews throughout the middle of the 19th century.
Socialist and Labor movements
Frustration with the slow pace of Jewish acceptance into European society, and a revolutionary
utopianism
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
, led to a growing interest in proto-
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and
communist movements, especially as early socialist leaders, like
Saint-Simon, preached the emancipation of the Jews.
Moses Hess
Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early communist and Zionist thinker. His socialist theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zi ...
played a role in introducing
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
(who was descended from a long line of rabbis) and
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' historical materialism
Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
. The Jewish
Ferdinand Lassalle, founded the first actual workers' party in Germany, the
General German Workers' Association
The General German Workers' Association (german: Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiter-Verein, ADAV) was a German political party founded on 23 May 1863 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony by Ferdinand Lassalle. It was the first organized mass working-class ...
(which ultimately merged with other parties to become the
Social Democratic Party of Germany) and made Jewish emancipation one of his goals.
The more intellectual socialist movements of the Jews in Western Europe never gathered steam as emancipation took hold. In Eastern Europe and Russia, however, the ''Bund''the
General Jewish Labor Unionfounded in 1897, became a key force in organizing Jews, and, at least initially, the major opponent of another Jewish political movement of the time,
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
. There were other Jewish socialist parties in Russia, like the (
territorialist)
Zionist Socialist Workers Party
Zionist-Socialist Workers Party (russian: Сионистско-социалистическая рабочая партия), often referred to simply as Zionist-Socialists or S.S. by their Russian initials, was a Jewish territorialist and social ...
and the
Jewish Socialist Workers Party, which united their destinies in 1917 as the
United Jewish Socialist Workers Party
United Jewish Socialist Workers Party ( yi, פֿאַראײניקטע ייִדישע סאָציאַליסטישע אַרבעטער־פּאַרטיי, ''fareynikte yidishe sotsialistishe arbeter-partey'') was a political party that emerged in Russia ...
. Another left-wing Russian Jewish party was the
Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion)
The Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion) was a Zionist socialist political party in the Russian Empire and Ukraine. The party was founded in 1906 in Poltava. Members of the party participated in the government of Ukraine in 1917-20. ...
.
Zionist movements
The aim of Zionism was to set up a secular state in the vicinity of the Biblical
Land of Israel. Zionism, or the idea of a restored national homeland and common identity for the Jews, had already started to take shape by the mid-19th century, with Jewish thinkers such as
Moses Hess
Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early communist and Zionist thinker. His socialist theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zi ...
whose 1862 work ''Rome and Jerusalem; The Last National Question'' argued for the Jews to settle in
Palestine as a means of settling the
national question. Hess proposed a socialist state in which the Jews would become
agrarianised through a process of "redemption of the soil" which would transform the Jewish community into a "true" nation, in that Jews would occupy the productive layers of society rather than being an intermediary non-productive merchant class, which is how he perceived Jews in Europe. Hess, along with later thinkers such as
Nahum Syrkin and
Ber Borochov, is considered a founder of ''Socialist Zionism'' and
Labour Zionism
Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...
and one of the intellectual forebears of the
kibbutz movement. Others like Rabbi Zvi Kalischer viewed a return to the Jewish homeland as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy through natural means.
As the 19th century wore on, the persecution of the Jews in Eastern Europe where emancipation had not occurred to the extent it did in Western Europe (or at all) increased. Starting with the state-sponsored massive
anti-Jewish
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
pogroms following the assassination of
Tsar Alexander II
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin ...
, through the bloody pogroms of 1903 to 1906 who left thousands of Jews dead and many more wounded, continuing with the
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
in 1894, Jews were profoundly shocked to see the continuing extent of
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
from Russia to France, a country which they thought of as the home of enlightenment and liberty.
In reaction to the first,
Judah Leib Pinsker published the pamphlet
Auto-Emancipation
upThe book "Auto-Emancipation" by Pinsker, 1882
''Auto-Emancipation'' (''Selbstemanzipation'') is a pamphlet written in German by Russian-Polish Jewish doctor and activist Leo Pinsker in 1882. It is considered a founding document of modern Jewis ...
on January 1, 1882. The pamphlet became influential for the ''Political Zionism'' movement. The movement was to achieve momentum under the leadership of an Austrian-Jewish journalist,
Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern po ...
, who published his pamphlet ''
Der Judenstaat
''Der Judenstaat'' (German, literally ''The State of the Jews'', commonly rendered as ''The Jewish State'') is a pamphlet written by Theodor Herzl and published in February 1896 in Leipzig and Vienna by M. Breitenstein's Verlags-Buchhandlung. It ...
'' ("The Jewish State") in 1896. Prior to the Dreyfus Affair, Herzl had been an assimilationist, but after seeing how France treated its loyal Jewish subjects, he proposed building a separate Jewish state. In 1897 Herzl organized the
First Zionist Congress
The First Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני הראשון) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attende ...
in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
,
Switzerland, which founded the
World Zionist Organization
The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...
(WZO) and elected Herzl as its first President. After the state's establishment Zionism, in its various forms, would become the largest Jewish political movement, although more Jews would participate in the national politics of the countries in which they resided.
Folkists
In the aftermath of the 1905
pogroms in Russia, the historian
Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow (alternatively spelled Dubnov, rus, Семён Ма́ркович Ду́бнов, Semyon Markovich Dubnov, sʲɪˈmʲɵn ˈmarkəvʲɪtɕ ˈdubnəf; yi, שמעון דובנאָװ, ''Shimen Dubnov''; 10 September 1860 – 8 Dece ...
founded the
Folkspartei
The Folkspartei ( yi, ייִדישע פֿאָלקספּאַרטײַ, , Jewish People's Party) was founded after the 1905 pogroms in the Russian Empire by Simon Dubnow and Israel Efrojkin. The party took part in several elections in Poland and ...
(Yiddishe Folkspartay) which had some intellectual audience in Russia, then, in independent
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
and
Lithuania in the 1920–1930s where it was represented as well in the Parliaments (
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...
,
Seimas
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendme ...
) as in numerous municipal councils (incl.
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
) till in the late 1930s. The party did not survive the Shoah, the Holocaust.
Territorialists
The territorialists, who had split from the Zionists after the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905, called for creation of a sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory (or territories), not necessarily in the
Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous. Some territorialist leaders, such as
Nachman Syrkin
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
, death_date =
, death_place = New York City, U.S.
, spouse = Bassya Syrkin (née Osnos)
, partner =
, party =
, ...
, supported the
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
versions of
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
, while some others, such as
Lucien Wolf
Lucien Wolf (1857 in London1930) was an English Jewish journalist, diplomat, historian, and advocate of rights for Jews and other minorities. While Wolf was devoted to minority rights, he opposed Jewish nationalism as expressed in Zionism, which ...
, actively opposed
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
and promoted anti-nationalist ideas.
Isaac Nachman Steinberg
Isaac Nachman Steinberg (russian: Исаак Нахман Штейнберг; 13 July 1888 – 2 January 1957) was a lawyer, Socialist Revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in ex ...
, one of the founders of the
Freeland League
The Jewish Territorial Organisation, known as the ITO, was a Jewish political movement which first arose in 1903 in response to the British Uganda Offer, but which was institutionalized in 1905. Its main goal was to find an alternative territory ...
, held anti-authoritarian socialist views, as well as his close friend
Erich Fromm, who supported Steinberg's territorialist ideas.
Anarchists
While the Jews in general played an important role in the international anarchist movements, many Jewish anarchists actively promoted
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
language and culture, focused on specifically Jewish issues. While most Jewish anarchists were irreligious or even vehemently anti-religious, some Jewish anarchist and anti-authoritarian thinkers, such as
Martin Buber
Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 –
June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism ...
, rabbi
Yehuda Ashlag
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag (1885–1954) or Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag ( he, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה לֵיבּ הַלֵּוִי אַשְׁלַג), also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam (Hebrew: , "Author of The Ladder") in reference to his magnum ...
,
Isaac Nachman Steinberg
Isaac Nachman Steinberg (russian: Исаак Нахман Штейнберг; 13 July 1888 – 2 January 1957) was a lawyer, Socialist Revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in ex ...
and
Gustav Landauer
Gustav Landauer (7 April 1870 – 2 May 1919) was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of social anarchism and an avowed pacifist.
In 1919, he ...
, were religious or religiously inclined and often referred to the Torah, Talmud and other traditional Judaic sources, claiming that anarchist ideas are deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition. The Jewish anarchists believe that in the stateless, free and diverse anarchist society the Jews would have more opportunities to express their individual and cultural autonomy. Many Jewish anarchists, while promoting universal
internationalist
Internationalist may refer to:
* Internationalism (politics), a movement to increase cooperation across national borders
* Liberal internationalism, a doctrine in international relations
* Internationalist/Defencist Schism, socialists opposed to ...
values, had actively participated in the development of the Yiddish culture and Jewish community life.
There was some intersection between the Jewish anarchist,
Folkist and
Territorialist movements. For example,
Isaac Nachman Steinberg
Isaac Nachman Steinberg (russian: Исаак Нахман Штейнберг; 13 July 1888 – 2 January 1957) was a lawyer, Socialist Revolutionary, politician, a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in Soviet Russia and in ex ...
, a renowned Territorialist leader, held anarchist views. Most Jewish anarchists supported
anarcho-syndicalism and
communist anarchism, while a few were individualist anarchists. The small contemporary
anarchist movement in Israel is very active in
peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and Palestinian solidarity actions.
Modern Jewish political movements
Zionism continues to be the central trans-national political movement of most Jews, although it has split into a variety of branches and philosophies that span the political spectrum from left-wing to right-wing. Jews are also active in government in many of the countries in which they live, as well as in Jewish community organizations that often take political positions.
In Israel
Outside Israel
In the 20th century, Jews in Europe and the Americas traditionally tended towards the
political left
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
, and played key roles in the birth of the
labor movement as well as
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
. While Diaspora Jews have also been represented in the
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
side of the political spectrum, even politically conservative Jews have tended to support
pluralism more consistently than many other elements of the
political right
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, auth ...
. Daniel J. Elazar connects this pluralist tendency to the fact that Jews are not expected to proselytize, and argues that whereas
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and
Islam anticipate a single world-state, Judaism does no
This lack of a universalizing religion is combined with the fact that most Jews live as minorities in their countries, and that no central Jewish religious authority has existed for over 2,000 years. ''(See
List of Jews#Politics, list of Jews in politics, which illustrates the diversity of Jewish political thought and of the roles Jews have played in politics.)''
There are also a number of Jewish secular organizations at the local, national, and international levels. These organizations often play an important part in the Jewish community. Most of the largest groups, such as
Hadassah and th
United Jewish Communities have an elected leadership. No one secular group represents the entire Jewish community, and there is often significant internal debate among Jews about the stances these organizations take on affairs dealing with the Jewish community as a whole, such as antisemitism and Israeli policies. In the United States and Canada today, the mainly secular
United Jewish Communities
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization representing 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities across North America, which rais ...
(UJC), formerly known as the
United Jewish Appeal
The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Co ...
(UJA), represents over 150
Jewish Federations
The Jewish Federation (JFED), is generally a secular Jewish non-profit organization, found within many metropolitan areas across the United States with a significant Jewish community. They provide supportive and human services, philanthropy, fina ...
and 400 independent communities across North America. Every major American city has its local "Jewish Federation", and many have sophisticated community centers and provide services, mainly health care-related. They raise record sums of money for
philanthropic
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
and
humanitarian causes in North America and Israel. Other organizations such as the
Anti-Defamation League,
American Jewish Congress,
American Jewish Committee,
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a safe Israel,
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peo ...
and
Agudath Israel represent different segments of the American Jewish community on a variety of issues.
The 21st century has brought changes in the political leanings of Jewish communities in the diaspora. In the U.S. and Canada, the two largest Jewish diaspora communities, voters are shifting from liberal to more conservative leanings. in 2011 an Ipsos Reid exit poll of voters in the federal election of Canada found that 52 per cent of Jewish voters supported the Conservatives, 24 per cent the Liberals and 16 per cent the NDP, reflecting " an enormous shift in voter preference among Canadian Jews." The shift appears to reflect an alignment with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government and its views on Israel's security. The Jewish community in Great Britain is also leaning conservative in the 21st century as a poll published by the Jewish Chronicle in early 2015 shows. Of British Jews polled, 69% would vote for the Conservative Party, while 22% would vote for the Labour Party. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the voter population, which according to a BBC poll had Conservatives and Labor almost tied at about a third each. Jews have typically been a part of the British middle class, traditional home of the Conservative Party, though the number of Jews in working class communities of London is in decline. The main voting bloc of poorer Jews in Britain now, made up primarily of ultra-Orthodox, votes "en masse" for the Conservatives. Attitudes toward
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
influence the vote of three out of four of British Jews.
How Ed Miliband Lost Britain's Jewish Voters
The Jewish Daily Forward, 8 April 2015
See also
* Judaism and politics
* Jewish left - Jewish right
* Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
* Cosmopolitanism
* Jewish Question
The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other " national ...
* Union Organizer
A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers.
In some unions, the orga ...
References
*David Vital, A People Apart: A Political History of the Jews in Europe 1789-1939, Oxford University Press, 2001.
* A special issue of the journa
''Labyrinthe. Atelier interdisciplinaire''
(in French) has been devoted to the issue
ews Against Emancipation: From Babylon to Benny Lévy(2007)
Editorial
available online.
External links
Israel's Judaic Politics: Profiling the Predominantly Religious Jewish Parties
'IslamOnline.net'', retrieved on 19-03-2009.
URJ Emancipation information
by Walter Leon, June 25, 2009
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*
Jewish society
Political movements
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...
Judaism and politics
Secular Jewish culture