The first letter of צִיּוֹן (read from right to left) is tsadik (צ)—which is, incidentally, a word (צַדִּיק) that means a righteous person (sort of the equivalent of a saint for Jews) which itself is found in the word tzedakah (צְדָקָה) which means charity. The צ, the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is, you might say, a righteous letter with good associations. You wouldn’t say the same about the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, zayin (ז) which sounds like our letter z in zebra. Google says it symbolizes concepts like weapon (sword), crown, and nourishment/sustenance, often depicted visually as a crowned ‘Vav’ or a sword, with a numerical value of seven. It signifies themes of defense, divine protection, and the balance between spiritual and physical existence, linking to ideas of justice and choice, according to various interpretations which is well and fine, but if you delve a little further, you’ll find that ז (zayin) became a common slang term for the penis in modern Hebrew due to its phallic shape and symbolic interpretations in Kabbalah, representing the male organ and divine covenant, evolving into a vulgar but widely understood term in contemporary speech.

It’s not surprising to find a connection between the male organ and weaponry. The idea of plunging a stout stick into prey or a foe—and for all the ballistic missiles invented since the earliest, crudest spears—probably have a similar inspiration. In any case, there’s a gulf between the rather shady letter ז (just looking at it makes you blush, doesn’t it?) and the wholesome and upright letter צ. If you’re wondering why the word צִיּוֹן is transcribed as Zion, as if it were written with ז instead of צ, it’s probably because in German the letter z is pronounced ts (as in the word Nazi).

There’s a rather nasty idiom in modern Hebrew, לתת זין that means literally to give zayin or to give penis, which we might translate more colloquially and a little less graphically as to screw, both in the sexual sense and figuratively (to screw over). So, a Zayinist is, literally, a prick-ster, someone who screws/screws over others. When Israelis who speak only Hebrew hear themselves referred to as Zionists for the first time, it must sound like an antisemitic slur. Is it something people in Israel laugh about? I have no idea, but I have an uneasy feeling that Netanyahu is secretly smiling every time he says the word Zionist, thinking “I’m giving everyone the zayin and saying it openly.”

The accidental association of the words Zionist and prick may provide a bit of low humor, but the issue of Zionism is no laughing matter. The word and the movement originated in Europe at the end of the 19th century with Jews dreaming of a refuge from pogroms and antisemitism, and fearing that assimilation would lead to their extinction. The horrors of the Holocaust helped make those dreams a reality when, in 1948 Israel was declared an independent nation. It’s curious that Zionism persists long after its goal of securing a homeland for Jews was achieved. What does it even mean these days? The word should be obsolete, but Zionists and anti-Zionists are at each other’s throats, and strange to relate, many of the former are not Jewish while many of the latter are.

From the start and long before the rise of Hitler there were different visions of what a homeland for Jews might look like. It wasn’t clear if it would be located in South America, or Africa, or the Middle East, if it would be governed by religious rules or socialist ideals. It was a Utopia, a Shangri-La, a Never-Land, that existed only in the imagination, an idyllic haven free from suffering and strife, waiting to be willed into existence. The new promised land was a beautiful dream, and the word צִיּוֹן was a fitting symbol for the yearning of the dispossessed. If only it stayed that way and they didn’t stick their ז into it and weaponize it. But thanks to Nazi atrocities, the dream became reality and a nightmare.

A Jewish homeland didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time. “I have come gradually to see that, in a dangerous and largely hostile world, it is essential to Jews to have some country which is theirs, some region where they are not suspected aliens, some state which embodies what is distinctive in their culture,” wrote Bertrand Russell, and for similar reasons, Albert Einstein, who was offered and declined the presidency of Israel, supported a leftist, bi-national version of Zionism. Noam Chomsky was also an active supporter of a Zionist movement, albeit one that didn’t support a Jewish state but envisioned a cooperative community of Jews and Arabs. Pete Seeger, an admirer of the communal kibbutz ethos, made Tzena, Tzena, Tzena the first Hebrew hit song in America in 1950. Once upon a time, idealists backed the Zionist project, but not for long.

Russell’s views on Israel changed dramatically, and days before his death in 1970, he denounced Israel’s aggression, saying it “must be condemned vigorously throughout the world.” Einstein was wary from the start, saying, “I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state,” and before Israel became a state he inveighed against Menachem Begin (who later became prime minister) and his Herut party (which became the Likud party currently in power), equating them with the Nazis. Chomsky, distinguishing between the “old brand of Zionism” and what has taken its place, became an outspoken critic of Israel policy, warning that the occupation was turning Israelis into Judeo-Nazis. Seeger refused to perform in Israel after the Six-Day War, and became a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights and BDS.

How the צִיּוֹן of aspiration and idealism became a form of Zionism characterized by carnage and inhumanity is the old story of a good idea (or at least an idea with good intentions) having disastrous consequences when made a reality—like the internet, nuclear fission, and America. How is it that people decent in other respects continue to support Israel’s murderous policies? I think they are blind, maybe willfully so, to the reality before them and see only the dream they once believed in, like parents unable to accept that their child has committed a heinous crime, because all they can see is the wonderful, innocent child he once was. (The same applies to the otherwise decent people who continue to support MAGA.) It’s heartbreaking when someone you loved and believed in does something reprehensible, and equally heartbreaking when you can no longer communicate with people you were once close to because they refuse to acknowledge reality.

The Springsteen song below isn’t connected to this post, but I thought it worth sharing with anyone who hasn’t heard it yet.

January, 2026