Stephanie Luger
Religion 12
Final Research
Gush Emunim – Bloc of the Faithful
Gush Emunim, Bloc of the Faithful or The Believer’s Bloc is known as both a
messianic group as well as a Jewish religious militant group in Israel. Gush Emunim is part
of a larger religious Zionist movement. Zionism in its most general sense is a belief in a
sovereign national home for the Jewish people. Within Zionism there are two main
strands: secular and religious. Secular Zionism, also known as Herzlian Zionism calls
attention to the humanitarian plight of the Jews. Theodore Herzl, the father of Secular
Zionism argued for the need for a safe homeland for the most persecuted and unwanted
people on Earth, the Jews. Religious Zionism, on the other hand, bases the need for a Jewish
homeland on the Torah. The Torah teaches that G-d promised land to Abraham for his
descendents as his end of the Covenant. The population of Israel around the time of the
state’s formation mainly considered themselves Secular Zionists. Founding leaders of
Israel such as David Ben-Gurion were Secular Zionists.
Long before the founding of the State of Israel, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (18651935) argued for the cooperation of secular and religious Zionists by invoking the unity of
nationality and religion. Known as the “guiding light of Gush Emunim,” Rabbi Kook
established the grounds for one of the Gush’s main principles: cooperation and
participation by both religious and secular Zionists in the group. Although the official
founding of Gush Emunim took place in February of 1974, the underlying ideals of this
messianic group are rooted in the establishment of the state of Israel.
Hanan Porat and Rabbi Moshe Levinger founded The Gush, as it is referred to
colloquially, on February 5, 1974 in the wake of the Yom Kippur War. Originally, Gush
Emunim was associated with the National Religious Party, but the Gush quickly
disconnected itself from all official political parties. Hanan Porat, a native of Israel, was
educated at the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh and went on to Kerem Beyavneh and
Merkaz HaRav Talmudic Colleges where he received Rabbinical Ordination. Porat served
as a Corporal and Parachutist in the Israeli Defense Forces. He also took part in the
liberation of Jerusalem in the Six Day War and fought in the Suez Canal during the Yom
Kippur War. Although a soldier’s orders must be obeyed no matter their political ideology,
Porat’s accomplishments during war combine nicely with his patriotic spirit. Later in life,
Porat served five terms in the Knesset.
Rabbi Moshe Levinger came to the Religious Zionist movement from a different
direction than his colleague Hanan Porat. Rabbi Levinger, also a native of Israel, studied at
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook’s yeshiva in Jerusalem. From Rabbi Kook, Levinger learned early on
“that the Land of Israel must be in the hands of the Jewish people – not just by having
settlements, but that it’s under Jewish sovereignty.”
The State of Israel was born out of World War II and the experience of the
Holocaust. The horrors of the Nazi final solution and the Zionist dream for Jews to return
to the land of their biblical forefathers provided compelling reasons for the United Nations
to create this country. The Gush Emunim movement sprang from similar bases. After the
Israeli victory in the 1967 Six Day War, the country’s confidence grew and so did the
religious fervor. While there was always a religious aspect to Zionism, the victory of 1967
fed the belief of religious Zionists that their biblical rights were being restored by G-d.
Consequently, the religious right flexed its new muscle and openly defied the standard
Herzlian Zionism by taking to the land. With Jews already living in the Occupied territories
before the establishment of Gush Emunim, an article was written in the left-leaning Israeli
daily newspaper proclaiming, “a new bloc in the NRP has decided to act to ensure [the
existence of] the Greater Land of Israel and its settlements.” Jews from both sides of the
Green Line came to meet and discuss this new movement, including Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda
Kook, head of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva and son of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.
For some, the concept of returning to the Holy Land and ending the Diaspora of the
Jews is not simply a dream, but a commandment given by G-d to the chosen ones, the
Jewish people, to honor the Covenant G-d made with Abraham. Those who feel this way
can be found in Gush Emunim. It is their belief that the “Ingathering of the exiles” to Eretz
Yisrael (the land of Israel) is commanded by G-d. They believe that the return and
settlement of the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael, including Judea and Samaria (also known
as the Occupied West Bank) will usher in a messianic period.