Cultural Zionism

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Cultural Zionism (Hebrew: ציונות רוחנית is a strain of the concept of Zionism that values Jewish culture and history, including language and historical roots, rather than other Zionist ideas such as Political Zionism. The man considered to have founded the concept of cultural Zionism is Asher Ginsberg, better known as Ahad HaAm.

Originally, HaAm saw problems in Judaism and sought out ways to revitalize the religious community and the religion itself to regenerate interest in Judaism's adherents, especially its youth. He saw nationalism as a way to reconnect Jews to Judaism, putting forth ideas of creating settlements in territory then known as Palestine filled with well-versed Hebrew-speakers and a core adherence to Judaism. He saw Palestine and the Hebrew language as integral parts of the Jewish national heritage, and not necessarily of religious significance.

He viewed Theodor Herzl, an Austrian-Jewish journalist who was a proponent of political Zionism as naive to suggest creating a Jewish state in any other area of the world. Neither did HaAm trust other countries to help realize the Zionist goal of creating a Jewish state in Palestine, nor anywhere else for that matter. HaAm emphasized "Jewish self-reliance" over any other precept, as well as careful planning in infrastructure and construction of a Jewish footing in the Holy Land.

The idea took hold in adherents to the school of political Zionism and became a main focus f the World Zionist Organization following its sixth congress in 1903. Following Herzl's death, haAm became the main leader of the WZO along with Chaim Weizmann, who easily energized the Zionist movement with ideas for a regeneration of the Hebrew language, establishment of Jewish settlements in Palestine, and resurrecting nationalism with Jews in the Jewish Diaspora.