You might say that I soaked up Zionism with my mother’s milk. My Uncle Shia (mother’s brother) left Poland for Palestine in 1937 to work on a kibbutz. This was long before there was an Israel, but he believed in a homeland for the Jews and was willing to work towards that goal. His enthusiasm was boundless.

In 1939, Uncle Shia returned to Poland in order to bring his wife and three children to Palestine. He never got to leave. World War II broke out and he perished, along with the rest of the family.

While Uncle Shia was away, my mother began to study Hebrew. All her friends did likewise, though none of them were religious. But they were Zionists! They used to buy fresh rolls and Polish ham, go off into the woods and sing Zionist songs.

So what exactly is Zionism? To put it simply, for me, it means you believe in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish homeland and you support it. You don’t have to live in Israel to be a Zionist. For that matter, you don’t even have to be Jewish to be a Zionist.

I have been an active member of Hadassah for 62 years. At one time, all the members of my family were involved. When my oldest daughter was in high school, she decided that she wanted to be part of a three-generation Hadassah family. So my daughter called her grandma and insisted that she become a life member. She told Grandma, “If you don’t become a life member, I will have to get pregnant.” The ultimatum worked like a charm!

And my son, to this day, proudly wears his Israel Defense Forces T-shirts.

During Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967, I was membership chair of my Hadassah chapter. I was so gung ho in my Zionism that I got 54 new members that year!

But, sadly, times have changed. The Zionist fervor of the past is not as widespread. And, in recent years, along with the rise in antisemitism, Zionism has become a dirty word in some circles and media.

To quote Journalist Aaron Herman’s Times of Israel blog, Reclaiming Zionism: Why ‘Zionist’ Must Never Become a Dirty Word, “Scroll through any social media feed today and you’ll see it: ‘Zio’ hurled as a slur, ‘Zionist’ weaponized as a slander and a growing generation of young Jews quietly afraid to use the word their grandparents wore as a badge of honor.”

American Jews and Israeli Jews are not always on the same page now. And those of us who remain fervent Zionists are sometimes criticized for being Zionists. One of my former neighbors told me that “I don’t live there, I live here.” As if I, as a Jew, and Israelis are of a different species. We are all Jews! We are all related. Politics should not be part of the equation! We are all Am Israel, the people of Israel.

Miriam is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested in writing? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.

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