I cannot speak for all of us, but I certainly do not feel that I’m connected to that movement, and I suspect there are many others here who feel as I do. “
You are correct – you cannot speak for all of us. There are many here who are Zionistically oriented, just as there are many who might not be. I can listen to each side’s point of view, though I respectfully disagree with yours, if it is so adamantly against modern Zionism.
E”Y is made up of a most eclectic group of Jews (and some non-Jews). The secular Zionists broke their backs and were moser nefesh to fight against our enemies, rebuild E”Y and turn it into the oasis in the desert that it is. Hashem enabled them to do this, and it is because they did it successfully, that so many YESHIVOS now flourish in that oasis, where all our sons and daughters have been zochim to be able to learn.
Whether or not we agree with their secular lifestyle (and of course I do not), THEY step up to the plate every day, they serve in the army, they protect our Israeli brothers and sisters, and they were not afraid to get down in the dirt and plow the land to make it fruitful. It was on their backs that E”Y was reborn after WWII. Hashem ENABLED that to happen. And BTW, whether you are a fan of Herzl or not, he still deserves props for founding that Zionist Congress, even where he erred. It ultimately led to Israel’s emergence as the Jewish State. None of this happened in a vacuum and without Hashem. Ideally we would want to see a Torah-oriented country, a Theocracy. But first we needed the physical country. Now we need to work on the spiritual country.
Obviously this is all my own opinion, and you have every right to disagree with me. But I truly believe that if we are ever to see Moshiach in our lifetime, there are some minds that need to open up a little, to accept and value ALL Jews, even when they are secular, and recognize their contributions to Klal Yisroel.