The most enduring legacy of Zionism was not a new Jewish politics but a radically new Jewish culture. Putting God aside, Zionists staged a cultural revolution that created a new Jewish identity by reviving an ancient language and creating a new literature, a new festival calendar, new space and new architecture, a new Jewish body type, and new music and art traditions. My study suggests that it was the cultural revolution of Zionists rather than their political vision that constituted their greatest strength and the major reason behind the ascendancy of Israel and its primacy in the Jewish world today.
