Jews and Israel: An Educational Overview

Quick answer: Jewish tradition and history connect Jews to the Land of Israel through religion, culture, and peoplehood, while Zionism — the modern movement for Jewish self-determination there — became a central strand of Jewish life over the past century. Jews today hold a genuinely wide range of views on Israel’s government and policies, and this guide presents that range neutrally rather than advocating for any one position.

A Historic and Religious Connection

Long before modern political movements existed, Jewish tradition understood the Jewish people as a nation with a specific ancestral homeland, not merely a religious community without a geographic center. Jewish prayer, holidays, and texts have referenced the Land of Israel for millennia, and even during the many centuries when the majority of Jews lived scattered across the world in what is often called the Diaspora — from the Hebrew concept of galut, or exile — a Jewish presence in the land never fully disappeared, and pilgrimages to it continued. This layered history is one reason many Jews, across very different levels of religious observance, describe a personal or cultural connection to Israel distinct from any specific government or political party.

What Is Zionism?

Zionism is the movement supporting the establishment and continuation of a Jewish national home in the Land of Israel. As an organized political movement, it is generally traced to Theodor Herzl, who convened the First Zionist Congress in 1897, though earlier efforts — such as the Hovevei Zion (“Lovers of Zion”) movement, which helped establish roughly twenty Jewish settlements in Palestine between 1870 and 1897 — laid important groundwork. Historians and scholars have described Zionism as, in part, a secularization of a much older religious aspiration for Jewish peoplehood and return, arising in response to centuries of persecution across Europe and a search for Jewish self-determination and safety. “Aliyah,” meaning “going up,” refers to the act of immigrating to Israel and remains one of the movement’s core concepts.

A Wide Range of Views Today

It’s important to state plainly: Jews do not hold a single, uniform view of Israel, its government, or its policies — and this has always been true. Surveys of American Jews, including ongoing research from the Pew Research Center, consistently find “widely differing views” across the community. Attachment to Israel as a people, a culture, and a place coexists alongside real disagreement about specific Israeli governments and policies. Views often correlate with religious denomination, political affiliation, and age — for example, research has found Orthodox Jewish Americans, who lean heavily Republican, tend to rate Israeli leadership more favorably than younger or more religiously liberal American Jews, who as a group are more likely to voice concerns about specific government policies. Views on the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, and the broader conflict likewise vary considerably along similar lines, with no single position representing “the Jewish view.”

This range is not new or unusual — it mirrors the diversity found in every community profiled in this series, from secular Israeli-Americans to Russian-speaking Jews to Canadian Jewish communities with their own distinct histories. Some Jews are deeply Zionist and see support for Israel as central to their Jewish identity; others hold non-Zionist or anti-Zionist positions rooted in religious, political, or ethical reasoning; and many fall somewhere in between — caring about Israel’s people and future while disagreeing, sometimes strongly, with particular policies or leaders. HeimishMart does not take a position on these debates; our goal here is simply to describe them accurately.

Is Caring About Israel Required to Be Jewish?

No single requirement defines Jewish identity when it comes to Israel. Judaism includes deeply committed Zionists, Jews who feel a cultural or spiritual connection without engaging politically, and Jews who hold critical or non-Zionist views for religious or ethical reasons of their own. What unites this diversity, as explored elsewhere in this series, is the broader idea of Klal Yisrael — a shared peoplehood that holds room for real disagreement.

Connecting with the Conversation Locally

For those who want to learn more, discuss these topics respectfully, or simply connect with others in the community, local synagogues, educational programs, and cultural events are often a good starting point — many of which are listed on HeimishMart’s Jewish events page. Newcomers looking to understand a local Jewish community’s character, including its range of perspectives on Israel, can explore neighborhoods through the Community Explorer, and those relocating can browse real estate or rental listings near community institutions that match their interests. Organizations offering educational programming on this topic, or seeking staff, can use the jobs board or choose to add a listing, and community members supporting one another through difficult conversations can turn to chessed resources.

Understanding the full picture — historical, religious, cultural, and political — is the first step toward respectful, informed conversation about a subject that matters deeply to many, in many different ways.

By the HeimishMart Community Desk — HeimishMart is the community marketplace for Jewish homes, jobs, and local life across North America.