ABSTRACT
The secular-sacred tension within Zionism, as well as in the State of Israel to this day, has deep ideological roots. Already the Herzlian dream of establishing a Judentaat raised pressing questions. Would the state be the homeland of a mainly secular Jewish people, or would it be a ‘Holy Land’ in which the commandments of the Torah would be carried out? Was it legitimate to anticipate the divine initiative and use secular tools to establish a national homeland, against the prevailing trend within Jewish eschatology? Would not secular, political auto-redemption lead inevitably to total estrangement from the religious tradition?
