Modernity and the hybridization of nationalism and religion: Zionism and the Jews of the Middle East as a heuristic case

Abstract

This article looks at nationalism and religion, analyzing the sociological mechanisms by which their intersection is simultaneously produced and obscured. I propose that the construction of modern nationalism follows two contradictory principles that operate simultaneously: hybridization and purification. Hybridization refers to the mixing of "religious" and "secular" practices; purification refers to the separation between "religion" and "nationalism" as two distinct ontological zones. I test these arguments empirically using the case of Zionist nationalism. As a movement that was born in Europe but traveled to the Middle East, Zionism exhibits traits of both of these seemingly contradictory principles, of hybridization and purification, and pushes them to their limits. The article concludes by pointing to an epistemological asymmetry in the literature by which the fusion of nationalism and religion tends to be underplayed in studies of the West and overplayed in studies of the East/global South.

Legitimising populist education in Israel: The role of religion

“…For Illouz (2014), this narrative legitimises the ethnic and religious superiority of Jews over non-Jews, and justifies the seizure of land by merging and framing both the past and the future in a self-righteous, ethnocentric narrative showered with common statements such as 'We were chosen by God, we were given the territory by God, and we will redeem the land and bring the Messiah'. Shenhav (2007), in contrast, does not see a sharp break or shift in Zionism but rather describes Zionism as quintessentially hybrid. 'It is originally European, yet Populist education in Israel 319 materializes in the Middle East; arguably secular, yet imbued with theology; modern, yet relying on ancient roots' (p. 4).…”

The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy

“…In the 18th and 19th centuries and well into the 20th century, money from the Diaspora flowed to the Holy Land through the work of numerous fundraising rabbinical emissaries (known in Hebrew as shadarim), who traveled between Diasporic Jewish communities in Europe, the United States and the Middle East to raise funds for the religious communities in Palestine/Eretz Yisrael (Yaari, 1951;Eliav, 1978;Lehmann, 2007;Shenhav, 2007). Diaspora Jews considered it a religious and moral obligation to support individuals, groups and organizations in the Holy Land (Jaffe, 1993;Gidron, 1997).…”

“…The custom of sending fund-raising emissaries to Jewish communities overseas was adopted by the Zionist movement (Shenhav, 2007), which over time institutionalized, centralized, expanded and coordinated the practice by establishing large fund-raising units within the central institutions of the Zionist movement -through National Funds, Jewish federations and magbiot (fund-raising campaigns) (Haski-Leventhal & Kabalo, 2009). This nationalgovernmental fund-raising establishment dominated the Israeli scene well into the 1980s.…”

Hybridization and Purification: The Experiences of Mizrachi Middle-Class Adolescents in Israel

“…These scholars emphasize the centrality of ethnicity in the construction of the internal and external boundaries of Israeli society (Shenhav 2007). By demonstrating the ways in which ethnic discourses and practices continually create hierarchies between Mizrachi and Ashkenazi Jews, these scholars highlight the fact that the previous approaches, which ignored cultural mechanisms, failed to uncover a key dimension of ethnicity that reproduces the hierarchical social order and were thus unable to expose fully the power relations that exist between Mizrachi and Ashkenazi Jews.…”