Ten Secrets to Academic Success | Become an Identity Zionist — Whether or Not You’re Jewish

Others in the series:

#1: Remember Why You’re Going to College

#2: Give Yourself the College Orientation You Deserve

#3: Great Debates About Great Books Yield Deep Knowledge, Sharp Minds and Constructive Citizens

#4 Make for Yourself a Teacher – Acquire a Friend

#5 Turn It Off! Managing Social Media, Middle East Minefields, and Political Difference

#6 Fighting Educational Malpractice Personally: What Do I Do with a Politicized Prof – or Teacher

#7 Fighting Educational Malpractice Institutionally: A Consumer Rights Issue

#8 Distinguishing Fair Criticism of Israel from Anti-Zionist Antisemitism

#9 Celebrate Old-Fashioned, Academic Liberalism

In 2018, when I published “The Zionist Ideas,” I considered writing a graphic novel to accompany it. I had organized 150-years-worth of Zionist thinkers into six schools. Given that the Jewish star is six-pointed, a clever artist could draw a face in the middle. Each of the six triangles would represent one Zionist vision as the star – representing the Jewish people – would evolve, react, grow: for example, drooping during the Holocaust but blossoming in 1948 and 1967.

I wanted to bring alive two essential, often-underappreciated, ideas. First, that, despite our challenges, we’re living a miracle. And second, that liberalism and Zionism – and in Israel, liberal-democratic Zionism – created these human-made marvels.

It’s mind-boggling. The beaten, battered, scattered, wandering Jews today have a thriving home, while most Jews, worldwide, wake up in freedom and prosperity.  A Jewish “misery index,” calculating what percentage of Jews in 1800, 1900, 1940, endured antisemitism, authoritarianism and poverty, would have sky-high numbers. Even in 1990, 2 million Soviet Jews had few rights. Today, most Jews live well wherever they are.

Liberalism and Zionism fueled those successes. Most Jews today live in liberal democracies. Eighty-seven percent live in Israel or the United States. Zionism and Americanism are two of the most successful forms of liberal-democratic nationalism.

Among the world’s democracies, Israel and America form a more exclusive club. Living in their respective Promised Lands, Israelis and Americans enjoy their “Over the Rainbow Democracies.” These catalytic, idealistic societies tell their citizens that what Dorothy imagined in The Wizard of Oz is possible: “the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true” – individually and collectively.

The Zionist dream and the American dream rhyme much more than they clash. True, there are differences. Israelis effectively anchor themselves in a multi-generational story, and have a sense of “us,” meaning tradition, patriotism and collective responsibility. Americans are better at the “I,” from honing a strong commitment to civil liberties to unleashing individuals to soar.

Still, both Zionism and Americanism created successful societies, dynamic polities, creative cultures. That’s why haters burn Israeli and American flags together and why much anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism overlap. Both countries threaten the Jihadists and nihilists who want to build societies based on authoritarianism not freedom, on fanaticism not creativity or genuine diversity of expression.

Harvard’s happiness guru, Arthur C. Brooks, explains that progressing toward a desired goal generates joy, individually and collectively. His “Progress Principle” emphasizes the journey, not the arrival. “Over the Rainbow Democracies” are cursed by the Progress Paradox too — especially on campus. Living in idealistic, mission-driven countries makes many Americans and Israelis happy – which is most important. But chasing lofty ideals also intensifies citizens’ disappointment when their countries fall short — as totalitarian hypocrites blast even minor shortcomings yet excuse our enemies’ major, intentional, abuses. That’s how so many students and professors can glorify the genocidal rapists of Hamas while shouting death to their neighbors, meaning proud Americans, not “just” the Jews.

Still, living in these dynamic dream factories keeps both nations advancing rather than complacent. History has vindicated American and Israeli optimism. Unlocking the gates of hope with constructive actions avoids a paralyzing despair. And both Americanism and Zionism vindicated that often-targeted term today, nationalism.

Growing up in New York, being a proud American made me a good Zionist — because the democracy and dignity the American Revolution spawned shape Zionism too. Being a good Zionist made me a better American — because you must know who you are to know what you stand for. Being so rooted wasn’t about what critics call “blood and soil” nationalism; it was about common-sense citizenship. These healthy national identities made me a better world citizen. While totalitarians who love humanity cold-bloodedly sacrifice humans willy-nilly, liberal democrats believe more is more — more liberty, democracy, prosperity, equality, justice and quality of life, which keeps expanding exponentially.

My nationalism has a first and middle name – it’s Liberal-Democratic Nationalism. And my Zionism is liberal and democratic too. Although the Zionist idea comes from the Bible and runs 3,500 years back into our homeland, drilling into our essence as a people, the Zionist movement is modern. Since Theodor Herzl formally founded it at Basel in 1897, Zionism has been committed to creating a liberal-democratic Jewish state on the Jewish homeland, intertwining liberalism into our old-new DNA. Of course, the intellectual foundations of liberal democracy, acknowledging every individual’s inherent dignity, promising equality, liberty, justice, come from the Bible – centuries before the Greeks.

Still, today, I most emphasize Identity Zionism. Identity Zionism builds a big, welcoming tent on Judaism’s peoplehood platform, from left to right, for religious, traditional and secular. Countering the trends of loneliness and purposelessness today, Zionism offers Jews roots, a family and a compass. It positions Jews in history, belonging to this amazing story, these world-changing, life-changing adventures called Judaism, the Jewish people, the State of Israel. It connects Jews to one another, as they work, celebrate, interact, grow together intimately, and as they care about their brothers and sisters scattered worldwide. And Zionism helps give Jews a purpose, a vision, thinking what it means to be a free people in our homeland.

Identity Zionism builds a big, welcoming tent on Judaism’s peoplehood platform, from left to right, for religious, traditional, and secular. Countering the trends of loneliness and purposelessness today, Zionism offers Jews roots, a family, and a compass.

All that tradition, connectedness and meaning reflects counter-cultural certitudes that many hyper-individualist, super-fluid, cosmopolitan, nihilistic professors detest. When you add some good old-fashioned antisemitism and the romanticization of the Palestinian “oppressed,” you get some insight into the anti-Zionist mania overrunning so many campuses.

But this kind of identity building also offers a broader formula for happiness and for healing what afflicts many students – and much of America today. In a world where Joe Biden’s Surgeon General warned about the loneliness and mental health epidemics, facing the listlessness, alienation, cynicism, materialism and superficiality of pop culture, Zionism offers an alternative that both Jews and non-Jews yearn for – and could learn from.

True, in my graphic novel, my six-pointed star would have been diminished, bruised, bloodied, blackened, on Oct. 7, 2023. But, thanks to Zionism, today, we’re living a happy ending. My final image now would be the freed hostages dancing with a blooming, straight-backed, blue-and-white star – in victory and pride.

Gil Troy, a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian. Last year he published, “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream” and “The Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath.” His latest, “The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism and Jew-hatred” was just published and can be downloaded on the JPPI Website.