Mizrakhi (Religious Zionism)

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This article deals with the organisation of the Religious Zionist Movement. For the article on the Jewish communities indigenous to the Middle East, please see Mizrahi Jew.

The Mizrakhi (acronym for Merkaz Rukhani or "religious centre") is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrakhi.

Mizrakhi believes that the Torah should be at the centre of Zionism and also sees Jewish nationalism as a tool for achieving religious objectives. The Mizrakhi Party was the first official religious Zionist party and founded the Ministry of Religions in Israel and pushed for laws enforcing kashrut and the observance of the sabbath. It also played a role prior to the creation of the state of Israel, building a network of religious schools that exist to this day, and took part in the 1951 elections.

Major figures in the Religious Zionist Movement include Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook who became the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1924 and tried to reconcile Zionism with Orthodox Judaism.

Mizrakhi had a separate trade union wing, founded in 1921, Mizrakhi Workers, which represented religious Jews in the Histadrut and tried to attract religious Labor Zionists. It also operated as a political party in the early days of Israel's existence, becoming the fourth largest party in the 1951 elections.

In 1956, the Mizrakhi Party and the Mizrakhi Workers merged to form the National Religious Party to advance the rights of religious Jews in Israel, having fought the 1955 election together as the National Religious Front. The party was an ever-present government coalition member until 1992.