We went over articles brought in by you to identify author bias, lack of context or lacking or mistakes. We then went through a recent text pulled from CNN that day about the tomb of Rachel being granted mosque status by the UN. Together we identified several instances of bias, incomplete ideas and lack of context.
We also revisited the Enlightenment and while it opened up areas for Jews more than ever before socially, educationally and politically it also helped create a fall of religion as well as a backlash against Jews w ho were the main beneficiaries of Enlightenment policies which, when mixed with the rising feelings of nationalism created the most potent and deadly form of antisemitism ever seen.
UN says West Bank site a mosque.
For the second hour Miss Braude, a visiting teacher of history, spoke to use about the start of Zionism and our longing for a state of our own that started much before the rise of the post Enlightenment Zionism
She spoke about:
What does Zionism mean? What were the motivations of the early Zionists?
Biblical Zionism – Where does it begin? The promise to Abraham, After the Exodus – entering the land etc.
The beginning of Modern Zionism – Religious Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, Jews leaving Eastern Europe in small groups.
1897 – Herzl calls the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland – motivated by a fear of anti-Semitism and the rise of Nationalism.
Second Aliyah – Jews from Eastern Europe – the chalutzin in the Yishuv – the beginning of the Kibbutz movement – working the land, self defence – HaShomer – Eliezer Ben-Yehudah and modern Hebrew.
WW1 – The decline of the Ottoman Empire. British promise to the Jews – the Balfour Declaration
