A New Zionism
A New Zionism
“4. In those days, and in that time, saith YHWH, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek YHWH their God.
5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to YHWH in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”
Jeremiah 50
“19. Say unto them, Thus saith YHWH; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
22. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”
Ezekiel 37
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“1. At the same time, saith YHWH, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. “
Jeremiah 31
Clearly, the God of Israel has a great love for the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the Children of Israel, the Israelites who he vowed to return to the land he gave as an inheritance. Theodore Herzl had a vision of a permanent home for the Jewish people; only after his death was the land then known as Palestine chosen as the object of Jewish aspirations for a homeland. Perhaps Herzl's choice of Uganda would eventually have been overturned, we will never know, but one thing is certain; the choice of Palestine/Israel was the correct decision.
"Zionism (Hebrew: ×¦×™×•× ×•×ª, Tsiyonut; Arabic: صهيونية, á¹¢ahyÅ«niyya) is the national movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the creation of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the Land of Yisrael.[1] A religious variety of Zionism supports Jews upholding their Jewish identity, opposes the assimilation of Jews into other societies and has advocated the return of Jews to Yisrael as a means for Jews to be a majority in their own nation, and to be liberated from anti-Semitic discrimination, exclusion, and persecution that had historically occurred in the diaspora.[1]"
Wikipedia
The Jewish people had a collective desire for a land they could call their own and in which they would be free to establish and live according to their own cultural and traditional values. They possessed generations of records of their history as a people, with the Torah as its foundational center piece. That they would one day return to Zion/Israel is a promise contained within the prophetic writings of the sages of the people of the Torah. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 by United Nations mandate, was, in the words of Rabbi Ben Ammi, "An act of Providence".
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Israel's Declaration of Independence
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But, what about the other sons of Jacob? What about their fate as a people?
“1. Hear the word of YHWH, ye children of Israel: for YHWH hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
15. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, YHWH liveth.
16. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now YHWH will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
17. Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. “
Hoshea 4
Ephraim and the rest of Israel were left alone by YHWH and their children were forgotten until YHWH showed mercy to His people and stretched forth His hand to redeem them from the lands to which He had scattered them. They were "joined to idols, and had lost all knowledge of their God; they were very dry indeed.
“1. The hand of YHWH was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of YHWH, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith YHWH God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.
13. And ye shall know that I am YHWH, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14. And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I YHWH have spoken it, and performed it, saith YHWH.”
Ezekiel 37
Ephraim and Israel had sought after and clung to other gods, forgetting YHWH and His ways. But, YHWH vowed to return them, in spite of their iniquity in rejecting Him and His laws, to their own land, where He would be their God and they, His people.
We bear testimony to the fulfilling of that promise, for we stand in representation of Ephraim and the house of Israel, his companions, returned by YHWH's grace to the land of our fathers. We give witness to the greatest of our God, who despite our total unworthiness, has blessed us to know Him and who we are as a people once again!
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"22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel: Thus saith YHWH GOD: I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye came.
23 And I will sanctify My great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am YHWH, saith YHWH GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Ezekiel 36
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“7 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall they return hither.
8 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born. “
Yeremiah 31
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