Rabbi Eliezer Shנוולד: Religious Zionism Is a National Movement, Not a Sectoral One
Rabbi Eliezer Shנוולד argued that the latest war proved Religious Zionism is not a narrow sector but a broad national movement rooted in Judaism, civic responsibility, and loyalty to the state. He wrote that in Israel’s early decades, Knesset parties represented ideological movements with institutions in settlement, education, youth movements, and social outposts in the periphery, and voters naturally supported the party that represented their way of life.
He said that over recent decades parties became personalized, built around a single leader and his circle, and many of them rose and disappeared after a few terms. By contrast, the Religious Zionist public remained an organized movement with institutions, though it became more diverse and divided. Repeated efforts to unify its political representation culminated in 2008 with the creation of The Jewish Home, he noted.
Shנוולד said other parties discovered the electoral potential of Religious Zionist voters and placed people from that camp on their lists to attract votes away from its traditional political home. He said those parties then falsely accused supporters of the movement’s own representative party of being sectarian, claiming they cared only about their own sector rather than the nation as a whole. He called that accusation dishonest and self-serving.
Turning to the war that began on October 7, 2023, he wrote that many Israelis rushed to save communities in the Gaza border area, and many paid with their lives. Among those especially prominent were Religious Zionist members and graduates of its schools, both in regular service and reserve duty, and, he said, in a very high share of the dead and wounded. He said the public recognizes their values of sacrifice and responsibility, and sees the movement as a bridge between Jewish tradition, innovation, science, settlement, and the periphery.
Despite this appreciation, he said the idea that the movement is sectarian has now been buried, even if critics continue to smear it as “messianic” and “death-eating.” He concluded that voting habits have not yet changed enough, because many people still choose by leader image, polls, power, or tactical promises rather than by whether politics should serve a personality or a broad public movement. He linked that question to Korach’s rebellion against Moses, quoting rabbinic sources that describe it as a dispute not for the sake of Heaven and warning, “Do not be like Korach and his assembly.” The author is Reserve Lt. Col. Rabbi Eliezer Shנוולד, head of the Meir Harel Hesder Yeshiva in Modi'in.
