ABSTRACT
The most dramatic effect recorded in religious-Zionism in the wake of the Six-Day War is a deep upheaval in the perception of history evident not only in the historical perspective and the meaning and significance of the State of Israel but in a decisive theological and metaphysical turnabout. Chapter 2 describes this turnabout through a distinction between “sacred” and “real” history. Sacred history implies that events are only an external cover for deep divine moves – God navigates history in order to realize divine plans. Real history is focused on the present rather than on a metaphysical or cosmic end and, most significantly, it is a human endeavor. The sacred history interpretation that followed the war relied on the thought of R. Abraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook to endow events with meaning. The exhilaration in the religious-Zionist public imposed the messianic interpretation of the war and endorsed sacred history as a dominant trend that has begun to recede only in recent years.
