The Zionist movement was founded on a paradox. Though it was largely led by secular Jews, they sought a sovereign state in the religious homeland of the Jews. The movement was thus deeply infused by tensions at the start, given its conformity with millennia of Jewish yearning among those who were ostensibly motivated primarily by practical goals (such as self-rule). In these sessions we will look at some of the most important Zionist writers and consider how they presented and justified their support for an initiative that was to change Jewish life.