Editing Hebrews (section)

== Use as synonym for "Jews" ==
[[File:1940'S POSTER ENCOURAGING SAILING ON HEBREW SHIPS. כרזה משנות ה-40 הקוראת לשוט באוניות עבריות.D247-028.jpg|thumb|left|200px|1940s poster:<br/>''Sail on Hebrew ships!'']]
By the Roman period, "Hebrews" could be used to designate the Jews, who use the Hebrew language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hebrews |title=Hebrews|access-date=March 3, 2019|via=The Free Dictionary}}</ref> The [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], one of the books of the New Testament, was probably directed at [[Jewish Christian]]s.{{cn|date=February 2022}}
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote= A friend of mine in [[Warsaw]] told me about a [[Poland|Polish]] journalist who visited [[Israel]] for the first time. On his return he reported with great excitement:<br/>“You know what I’ve discovered? In Israel, too, there are Jews!”<br/>For this Pole, Jews are people who wear a long black kaftan and a big black hat. [...]<br/> This distinction between [[Israelis]] and Jews would not have surprised any of us 50 years ago. Before the foundation of the State of Israel, none of us spoke about a “Jewish state”. In our demonstrations we chanted: “Free Immigration! Hebrew State!”<br/>In almost all{{efn|Hebrew-language}} media quotations from those days, there appear the two words “Hebrew state”, almost never “Jewish state”.|3= [[Uri Avnery]], born in 1923.<ref name="uri">{{cite web |last1=Avnery |first1=Uri |title=The Original Sin |url=http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1290871909 |publisher=[[Gush Shalom]] |access-date=26 January 2023 |date=27 November 2010}}</ref>}}
In some modern languages, including [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], and many [[Slavic languages]], the name ''Hebrews'' (with linguistic variations) is the standard [[ethnonym]] for Jews; but in many other languages in which both terms exist, it is currently considered derogatory to call Jews "Hebrews".<ref>Yitzhaq Feder, in an online-article (c. 2013), "[https://www.thetorah.com/article/dont-call-me-hebrew-the-mysterious-origins-of-the-first-anti-semitic-slur Don't Call Me Hebrew! The Mysterious Origins of the First Anti-Semitic Slur]" suggests the term's present-day derogatory quality goes back to the origins of writing about the Jewish people.</ref><ref>E. G. Kraeling, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/529014 The Origin of the Name ''Hebrews'']", ''American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'' 58/3 (July 1941): 237-253.</ref>

Among certain left-wing or liberal circles of Judaic cultural lineage, the word "Hebrew" is used as an alternatively [[Secularism in Israel|secular]] description of the Jewish people (e.g., [[Bernard Avishai]]'s ''The Hebrew Republic'' or left-wing wishes for a [[one-state solution|"Hebrew-Arab" joint cultural republican state]]). It is also used in some circles as a secular description of people of Judaic cultural lineage who practice other religions or none, including [[Hebrew Catholics]].

=== Use in Zionism ===
{{See also|Negation of the Diaspora}}

Beginning in the late 19th century, the term "Hebrew" became popular among secular Zionists.  In this context, the word alluded to the transformation of the Jews into a strong, independent, self-confident secular national group ("the New Jew") sought by classical Zionism. This use died out after the establishment of the state of Israel, when "Hebrew" was replaced with "Jew" or "Israeli".<ref name="shavitxiv">{{cite book|last=Shavit|first=Yaacov|title=The New Hebrew Nation|publisher=Routledge|year=1987|pages=xiv|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ziok8FgWCpQC&q=merlin%20kook%20hebrew&pg=PR14|isbn=0-7146-3302-X}}</ref>

[[David Ben-Gurion]], the first Prime Minister of Israel, believed that the Hebrews were the indigenous inhabitants of Canaan that joined Abraham's religion, after he settled in the region. He also believed that not all Hebrews joined Jacob's family when they migrated to Egypt and later, birthed the generation of Hebrews that endured the [[The Exodus|Exodus]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wazana |first=Nili |date=April 15, 2018 |title=Israel's Declaration of Independence and the Biblical Right to the Land |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/israels-declaration-of-independence-and-the-biblical-right-to-the-land |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207091222/https://www.thetorah.com/article/israels-declaration-of-independence-and-the-biblical-right-to-the-land |archive-date=February 7, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>