xiv From the Margins to the Fore ? Religious Zionism and Israeli Society This is also the reason for our special interest in the story of religious Zionism . The fundamental element in the story of religious Zionism is the gulf between where its adherents thought they should be and where they actually found themselves . Religious Zionism was born as part of a Zionist movement that had a distinctly secular leadership and character ; its founders saw themselves as full partners with that leadership ( while posing demands to guarantee their followers’ rights ) and willingly accepted their own subordinate status . But the key question continued to gnaw at them : how could it be that the idea of the Return to Zion—the vision of the prophets, the vision that had survived two thousand years in exile only thanks to the prayers and customs that linked believing Jews to the Land of Israel—how could that idea be realized by those who had discarded religious observance ? Over the years, religious ...
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