ABSTRACT

The most poignant expression of the resulting flux of identity is perhaps the quest for self-definition as acted out in the political arena, and particularly as it affects the younger generation of oriental origin. The place of religion in life, which is largely shaped if not entirely determined by education, is the very crux of the quest. When the Zionists began to settle in Palestine they aimed to reconstruct Jewry to befit it for survival and success in the modern world. The impact of secularization and modernity in Europe created a separation between believing and belonging in such a way that Jewish identity was recast and new choices were presented to Jews. Zionism was avowedly a secular and secularist movement which abandoned the religion and stressed the belonging. The socialist Zionists who built the foundations of Israel came to see that Jewish traditions were extremely important as a social cement for a population drawn from a tremendous variety of cultures.