Torah Va-Avodah
TORAH VA-AVODAH
TORAH VA-AVODAH (Heb. "Torah and Labor"), description of the ideology of the Zionist religious pioneering movement, as well as the name of the world confederation of pioneer and youth groups of the *Mizrachi movement established in Vienna in 1925 at a conference of delegates from various countries (representing Mizrachi youth, religious *He-Ḥalutz groups, and *Ha-Po'el ha-Mizrachi). The ideology was based on the unity of the Torah, the people, and the land of Israel, as well as on the postulate that only a man who lives by his own labor can be certain that he does not exploit and abuse his neighbor. This concept, coupled with the demand for social justice, induced the movement into establishing cooperative collective pioneering settlements in Ereẓ Israel.
See also *Mizrachi, *Ha-Po'el ha-Mizrachi, *Bnei Akiva, *Ha-Kibbutz ha-Dati.
bibliography:
J. Walk, in: ylbi, 6 (1961), 236–56.