Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies

Editor's Note EDITOR'S NOTE 1 Fifty years after the founding of the U.N., the morning after the worst catastrophic night in jewish history, the cause of peace not only in Bosnia and Rwanda but in other parts of the world cries out for an organization capable of administering law and justice on a global level. Twenty years ago, when there was no lasting peace to go along with the cease-fire between combatants of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Norman Cousins observed that the longer the United Nations failed "to make and keep peace with justice ... the closer we get to the ultimate default of sense and sanity" (Saturday Review, March 22, 1975). But tiny Israel has prevailed against the challenge of attrition and over the test of survival; it has lived up to its namesake: ki sarita 'im elokim ve-'im 'anashim vatuchal ("You have striven with God and men and have triumphed"). In the Fall of '94, one hundred years after the Dreyfus Affair, the existence of Israel is secure and its predominant presence disavows despair. And in this success, Israel calls for a resuscitation of its natal trust, Zionism. Why so and how so is the focus of this special issue of Shofar: "Perspectives on Zionism." the eight essays included in this issue uncover a mosaic'of Zionist meaning and implementation-ranging from ideology arid methodology to Praktikum, practical nationalism, and nationalist idealism. Providing the reader with historiography and historiosophy necessary fo.... decoding Zionism as an act of national self-interest, the essayists make the point that the text of Zionism, within the purview of ordinary people, must be seen through its political, religious, and social contexts, blemish and perfection alike. Our hope is that these articies shed new light on Zion in film and literature, as a matrix around which jewish and Christian memories are spun and a harbinger of good will and promise of the moment in the Middle East. It is also our intention to place Zionism on the agenda of jewish Studies and provide a defining turn on the road to the centennial celebration of the birth of modern Zionism (1997). A fin:l1 word. We wish to proclaim "with the blast of the shofar" our gratitude and thanks to Nancy Lein for assistance provided in making this issue of Shofar a more pleasant read. ...