Theodor Herzl

Tzionut Hero: Theodor Herzl

Im tirzu ain zo agadah. “If you will it, it is no dream.”

This is Theodor

Herzl’s most famous statement from his novel Old

New Land. In it he imagined the Jews living in Palestine as a free people with their own government. Within fifty years the State of Israel was born.

Early Life

Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) and his family spoke Hungarian and German, dressed like non-Jews and considered themselves Hungarians. As a teenager Herzl moved with his family to Vienna. In his twenties Herzl became a writer and a journalist. In 1891 he covered the Dreyfus affair, a scandal involving a Jewish captain in the French army falsely accused of spying for Germany. Seeing great anti-Semitism, Herzl realized that no matter how deeply Jews felt French or German there would always be people who rejected them. He suggested that Jews needed a homeland of their own.

Pol itical Zion ism

Herzl wrote a booklet in 1896 called "The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution to the Jewish Question". Herzl argued that the Jews should settle together in a country he called “the Promised Land” and create their own government. It would be “a state of Jews where no one has to be ashamed that he is a Jew.” In August 1897 Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. One hundred ninety-seven Jews from fifteen countries attended. They represented different kinds of Jews from all over the world. What they had in common was the shared vision.

Ugan da

In 1902 Herzl published a novel about the future. It was called Altneuland (Old New Land) and it took place in Israel twenty years into the future. In it Herzl imagined turning Palestine into a Jewish State, the State of Israel. This fantasy gave Zionists hope that the hard work they were doing would lead to a positive future. In 1903, the Government of Britain, offered Jews a chance to settle in Uganda, Africa. This caused a big fight in the Zionist movement. Some Jews felt that any Jewish State was better than no Jewish State. Others felt that Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, was the only possible Jewish State. A third group argued, that Uganda was a good solution for now and Israel could happen later. At the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1903, the Uganda Question was debated and rejected. The majority opinion felt that Israel was the only place for a Jewish homeland. After this huge debate Herzl was exhausted.

Isra el

A year later, in 1904, Herzl died of pneumonia. He was buried in Vienna. Zionism went on. More and more Jews moved to Palestine (Eretz Yisrael) and settled there. In 1948, with a vote of the United Nations, Israel was declared a State. The long Zionist dream became a reality and Herzl was considered its father. In 1949 Herzl body was moved to Israel and buried on a high hill in Jerusalem. That hill was renamed Mount Herzl. In Israel, many things are named for Herzl, he was the one who started the effort that turned a long awaited Jewish dream into a reality.

Tzionut Text: Excerpts from Herzl’s The Jewish State

Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, outlined his vision for a Jewish state in Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), published in February 1896. Here are some quotations from the pamphlet.

We Jews are a people—one people.

We have sincerely tried everywhere to merge with the national communities in which we live, seeking only to preserve the faith of our fathers. It is not permitted us… In our native lands where we have lived for centuries we are still treated as aliens, often by men whose ancestors had not yet arrived at the time when Jewish sighs had long been heard in the country.

Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland…The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there…will (be for) the good of all humankind.

Living Tzionut

1. What was Herzl’s argument as to why Jews needed a state of Israel? 2. D oes this argument hold up today?

3. Why is Herzl a Tzionut hero?

Some people say to be a Zionist one has to move to Israel. Others say that one has to support Israel. Still others say that one just has to love Israel.

What is your definition of a person who lives Tzionut?