Herzl's ‘The Jewish State’: nationalism and homeland in ‘Western‘ Ashkenazi Diasporic Jewishness

Abstract

This paper is a theoretical examination of Theodor Herzl’s ‘The Jewish State’ as a response to the Jewish Question, and its consequences and implications on the subsequent conception of homeland in ‘Western’ Ashkenazi Diasporic Jewishness. It conceptualises Herzl’s work as a nationalist narrative through Bhabha, and conjoins it in homeland as constitutive of diaspora and diasporic collectiveness. Within this context, Jewishness is understood as a multi-directional, multifaceted, and representative of the various ways in which it can constitute itself within different contexts. It argues that inherent in the nationalist narrative is an antagonism between the Diaspora and the State of Israel. Through an exploration of ‘The Jewish State’ in the context of Political Zionism, it outlines the theoretical and practical implications of constructing the Diaspora as antithetical to the State of Israel. Thereby, it is argued that the narrative itself seeks to construct a Jewishness wherein Political Zionism is constitutional to understanding the self. This is then critiqued in looking at the fixedness of temporalities that neglects the sociospatial dimension of Diaspora and Eretz Yisrael. It further argues that homeland is a temporality and shared heritage in Diasporic Jewishness, a conception necessary to understand a Jewishness beyond the State of Israel.