ABSTRACT
The success of zionism in solving the central Jewish problems of the modern age also creates new dilemmas for the Judaic religious tradition. Since Zionism functions for Jewry in much the same way as religions do for other peoples, role and function of Judaism — the complex of myths, rituals, social and cultural forms by which classical Jews experienced and interpreted reality — prove exceptionally ambiguous. The underlying problem, which faces both Israeli and American Jews, is understanding what the ambiguous adjective Jewish is supposed to mean when the noun Judaism has been abandoned. The diaspora Jew addresses himself to the nations and in their own language, but in doing so he speaks as a Jew. Zionism provides much of vigor and excitement of contemporary Jewish affairs, but so far as Jews live and suffer, are born and die, reflect and doubt, raise children and worry over them, love and work so far as Jews are human, they require Judaism.
