Bookstore Glossary Library Links News Publications Timeline Virtual Israel Experience
Anti-Semitism Biography History Holocaust Israel Israel Education Myths & Facts Politics Religion Travel US & Israel Vital Stats Women
donate subscribe Contact About Home

Zionism: Synthetic Zionism

“Synthetic Zionism” is a doctrine that coalesced at the eighth Zionist Congress (1907). Chaim Weizmann (who later became the first President of Israel) was its principal champion. A merger of Political and Practical Zionism, Synthetic Zionism advocated concurrent action on both tracks: political activity coupled with practical endeavor in Palestine. It also stressed Zionist activity in the Diaspora, such as modernized education, collecting money for the Jewish National Fund and active participation, on separate Jewish tickets, in national and local elections.

Synthetic Zionism, with its guidelines-political realism, flexibility and the quest for a common denominator among the partners in the Zionist idea, dominated the Zionist movement from the Tenth Congress (1911) onward.