Recent arguments opposing a Zionist requirement for rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) miss a fundamental distinction: Zionism is not merely one opinion among many within Judaism. It is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and an essential component of contemporary Jewish identity.

Some have compared requiring rabbinical students to embrace Zionism with HUC-JIR’s former policy requiring students to marry Jews. The comparison is flawed.

The question of whom one marries is a personal choice. Zionism, however, concerns whether one recognizes the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. One is a matter of individual practice. The other is a matter of collective Jewish peoplehood.

A rabbi is not simply a scholar. A rabbi is entrusted with preserving, teaching, and transmitting the Jewish story. That story is inseparable from the Land of Israel.

From Abraham’s journey to Canaan, to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to the prophetic vision of return, to the prayers recited daily for nearly two thousand years of exile, Judaism has always maintained a profound and enduring connection to Eretz Yisrael. The longing for Zion is woven into our liturgy, our holidays, our sacred texts, and our collective memory.

To deny Zionism is not merely to reject a modern political movement. It is to reject a central expression of Jewish historical consciousness.

The Reform Movement itself recognized this reality decades ago. While classical Reform Judaism once distanced itself from Jewish nationalism, the........

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