Religious Zionism sees its moment to make Israel the truly ‘Jewish’ state it believes it was intended to be. Has the movement misjudged its power?
“We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state.” Most readers have likely never heard of either Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira or the Ramat Gan Yeshiva, which he heads. But in the most conservative wing of the religious-Zionist movement, he is a central rabbi, and one of the closest to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the ultra-right wing Religious Zionism party. At the conclusion of Independence Day this year, in one of the largest demonstrations seen in Jerusalem for years, Rabbi Shapira had the honor of being the final speaker. As he strode to the podium, the audience welcomed him by singing “Add days to the days of the king!” (taken from the verse in Psalms 61) – the custom in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) yeshivas, and lately also in their Hardali (nationalist Haredi) counterparts, when a great rabbi enters.
