Religious Zionist language ideology: the question of English

Of the vast amount of research published on religious Zionism in recent years, few studies have been devoted to the issue of language ideology. However, ideological approaches to language are often inseparable from the underpinnings of group identity, and may shed light on the negotiation of symbolic boundaries and criteria for belonging. The current presentation discusses religious Zionist language ideology based on this premise.

In particular, my talk explores religious Zionist approaches to the English language, using it as a key for understanding the community’s changing relationship to the (English-language) diaspora. I focus on the last three decades, which have witnessed a notable boost in the English translation of works by religious Zionist thinkers, bringing the issue of language into sharp relief. Many of these translations were initiated by Israeli publishers and yeshivas, making them a distinct case of theological export targeting an English-speaking diaspora readership – particularly American Modern Orthodox students visiting in Israel for a year of yeshiva study between high school and college.

By examining the intellectual and institutional framing of these translations from the 1990s through the 2010s, I demonstrate how earlier publications portrayed the English language as a flawed religious medium, and translation as a deplorable if necessary endeavor, whose greatest achievement would be to bring the reader to the source Hebrew work. I then show how this approach has largely subsided in recent years, as translations of religious Zionist thought assume English, and translation into English, to be religiously legitimate and worthy in their own right. It will be further argued that this shift in language ideology coincides with a broader trend in religious Zionist approaches to the diaspora, which have transformed from derision to openness.