Gush Emunim
Gush Emunim (,
Block [of the] faithful) was an
Israeli political movement. The movement sprang out of the conquests of the
Six-Day War in
1967, though it was not formally established as an organization until
1974, in the wake of the
Yom Kippur War. It encouraged
Jewish
settlement of land they believe God has allotted for Jews.
Gush Emunim was closely associated with, and highly influential in, the
Mafdal -
National Religious Party (NRP), the party which is identified with
religious Zionism. These days they refer to themselves â€"and are referred to by the Israeli media asâ€"
Ne'emanei Eretz Yisrael × ××ž× ×™ ×רץ ישר×ל (Hebrew: "Those who are loyal/faithful to the land of Israel").
In
1968, a group of future Gush Emunim members led by
Rabbi Moshe Levinger founded the settlement
Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron.In
1974, following the shock of the
Yom Kippur War, the organization was founded more formally, by students of the younger Rabbi
Tzvi Yehuda Kook, who remained its leader until his death in 1981.In late
1976, an affiliated group named
Garin Elon Moreh, led by Rabbi
Menachem Felix and
Benjamin (Beni) Katzover, attempted to establish a settlement on the ruins of the
Sebastia train station dating from the Ottoman period. The Israeli government did not approve and the group that was removed from the site would later found the settlement of
Elon Moreh adjacent to
Nablus/
Shechem.
Gush Emunim beliefs are based heavily on the teachings of Rabbi
Abraham Kook and his son, Rabbi
Tzvi Yehuda Kook. The two rabbis taught that secular Zionists, through their conquests of
Eretz Israel, had unwittingly brought about the beginning of the "messianic age", which would end in the coming of the Jewish
messiah. Gush Emunim supporters believe that the coming of the messiah can be hastened through Jewish settlement on land they believe God has allotted to the Jewish people as outlined in the
Hebrew Bible.
*
Israeli settlements*
Mafdal*
Moledet*
Orthodox Judaism*
Tzvi Yehuda Kook*
For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel by Ian Lustick, 1988.
