ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the contribution of each of these groups to national movements in general and to Jewish nationalism in particular. Simon Dubnow was aware that this new conception of Jewish historiography was itself nourished by the development of nationalism in Europe. The emphasis on cultural revival had been considered the distinctive feature of nineteenth-century nationalism. Nationalism involves the mobilization of masses to a new idea, and the scholar elaborates and presents that idea. The Hebrew Bible contains fewer than 6,000 different words and biblical Hebrew could hardly be relied on to formulate the concepts and phenomena of the modern world. Tchernichovsky was a renaissance-type poet who put his faith in man and nature. Linguistic differentiation and literary uniqueness enhance the claim of national movements to sociocultural or political independence. One of the unique features of Jewish nationalism was that it evolved among people who lacked a territorial base and were dispersed all over the world.
