If only the early Zionists had been social psychologists as well as idealists and self-emancipators. The early Zionists knew that Jews needed to return to their own homeland, they worked toward achieving that vision, and they took great steps in rebuilding the country once they got there. But time has proven that the Zionist dream needs to focus not only on statehood, but on the relationships of the people in that state, which is now a reality.

Today, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the modern Zionist movement, started by Theodor Herzl's convention of the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, it is apparent that the multitude of problems Israel faces really boil down to human relationships. Israelis and Diaspora Jews, Jews and Arabs, Jews and Palestinians, Jews and Jews: the conflicts between all of these groups have turned the Middle East into a region constantly on the brink of war, the Israeli holy sites into places of exclusivity, and the Israeli government into a political circus.

One can only wonder what the early Zionists would have thought of the current realization of their vision. Would the Zionists who conceived Jews working the land scoff at the McDonald's and other signs of American-style capitalism rampant in Israel's major cities? Would the religious Zionists ponder why the majority of Israelis do not uphold most Jewish religious values? Would those who wanted to create the "new Jew" turn their heads in disgust at the fact that the fiercest debate in Israel is now over who is a Jew at all?

As we celebrate 100 years of Zionism, it is obvious that the original Zionist vision needs redefinition. The original Zionist vision was for there to be a place for Jews where we would no longer question what it meant to be a Jew. In countries of exile in the later 19th century, this was a big question, as people attempted to come to terms with their double-national identities and their double loyalties. The early Zionists envisioned one national identity for all Jews. Yet the question of what it means to be a Jew has never been so important as it is today, even after fifty years of statehood.

Zionism 100 years later must not be solely about the founding of the State of Israel, but about the people Israel, am Yisrael. The authors of the following articles attempt to tackle several of the important issues facing Zionists today: whether being a Zionist must include making aliyah, the relationship of Zionism to nature, the way Diaspora Zionism is changing due to Orthodox religious control in Israel, and how American Jews can embrace Israel through cultural Zionism. These different understandings of Zionism demonstrate that there is no clear definition for Zionism at 100.

The early Zionists wanted to create a modern Jewish state because they were seen as the "other" in the European countries in which they lived, and therefore could never fully integrate into the societies that surrounded them. The Zionist vision will not be fulfilled, however, until Jews cease to consider Jews as the "other." A dream that once united Jews is now cause for division, as Jews in Israel and throughout the world wrangle over what constitutes legitimate Judaism. The contest for legitimacy not only redefines the original Zionist dream, it destroys it. The Zionist goal for the next century will be a different focus -- not to create a homeland, but to create a community within that homeland.

-- Rebecca Phillips