For those who have not yet connected:
Zionism - Zion - Eretz Zion - The Land of Zion
Zionism = The return of the Hebrew/Israelites/Judeans/Jewish - descendants to Zion, in the Land of Israel
Zion - Wikipedia
Zion (
Hebrew: צִיּוֹן
Tsiyyon), also
transliterated Sion,
Sayon,
Syon,
Tzion or
Tsion, is a
place name often used as a
synonym for
Jerusalem.
[2][3] The word is first found in
2 Samuel 5:7 which dates from c.630–540 BC according to modern scholarship. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (
Mount Zion), on which stood a
Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by
David and was named the
City of David. The term
Tzion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a
metonym for
Solomon's
Temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem and "
the World to Come", the Jewish understanding of the
hereafter.
In the Tanakh[edit]
Some examples from the book of
Psalms, which have been frequently recited and memorized by Jews for centuries, state:
- "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Tzion." (Psalm 137:1)
- "For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Tzion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof; O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us." (Psalms 137:3-8, italics for words not in the original Hebrew)
- "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcast of Israel. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Tzion." (Psalms 147:2,12)