• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Not really surprising since Moses Hess was a socialist Jew who inspired both Karl Marx’s ideas on communism and Theodore Herzl’s ideas on Zionism. Hess did become religious later in life, but when he was at his peak, he was inspired by the Jewish philosopher Spinoza (who was very close to an atheist) and Renaissance humanists. I have read that Herzl was an atheist too, but I’ve never tried to confirm it. I do know that, as you said, his vision of Israel was of a secular state and his impetus was mostly “Jews need to get the fuck out of Europe before we’re all killed.” And he was pretty much right, unfortunately.