"100 Years of Jewish History"

by Steve Israel

Herzl, the Congresses, the Zionist Movement
#1. Herzl

Questions in a Contemporary Context

1. Why were Western Jews so opposed to the idea of Zionism as proposed by Herzl?
2. What were the arguments on each side and how have they changed today?

From the Dreyfus case to "Der Judenstaat"

One sophisticated observer of the western Eureopean scene who was stunned at the hatred of Jews he saw emerging around himself, was Theodore Herzl. He had been convinced that the Jewish problem was disappearing - at least in the West - and that, if anything, the Jews should push the process along by assimilation.

Herzl was sent to Paris in 1891 as correspondent for a prominent European newspaper, where he found the Jews a lot less free than they should have been in the country which first emancipated them almost a century previously. When Captain Alfred Dreyfus went on trial for what many believed was a framed charge, increasing prominence was given to Dreyfus being Jewish; it was implied that this was not co-incidental, either.

The message was that the Jews were outsiders -- they were not to be trusted. Everything suddenly became clear for Herzl. Just as Pinsker and other Russian Jews had understood over a decade previously, Herzl realized that the Jews of Europe could never be free; never be considered equals -- they would remain the eternal outsiders: a nation alone. Unless they could prove they were indeed a nation like all other nations.

The efforts by Jews over the century to prove they were not a nation - and to cast off any signs marking them as such - had not worked. The Jews remained "foreign" in Europe, unintegrated, not assimilated. Even the many converts to Christianity remained under suspicion. It required a complete change of policy.

Instead of concealing nationhood or trying to escape the unescapable, Jews should proclaim it out loud. Only if the Jews were to be a nation like all others, with a land -- a state -- of their own, would they find an attentive ear, would they be accepted for themselves. Not all Jews would want to live in the new state; others elsewhere would also benefit from a new respect as members of a nation with a state -- more so than if they, the outsiders, pretended to belong to someone else's nation.

Herzl wrote his ideas down and published them in a small book, "Der Judenstaat" - The Jewish State. The book was far from original it much of its content. Pinsker had said much the same. The difference was in Herzl's aims and his style of leadership. He had originally wanted to interest rich, influential Jewish figures - with poor results - and had decided to take his ideas instead to the people to prove to the Jewish establishment that this was not just one man's pipedream. Unlike the hesitant Pinsker, Herzl was a man of extraordinary drive, energy and public self-confidence. He also addressed the masses in his books and speeches, not just the select ideologists of the Hovevei Zion.

When his book, nevertheless, aroused only mild public interest and even some opposition in Jewish circles, he decided to found a newspaper to recruit support and to organize a Congress of those interested in the idea. Thus he changed history.

Herzl viewed this as a potential Jewish parliament and wished to organize this meeting in Munich for summer 1897. But many Jews did nto want their problems aired openly - least of all the idea of nationhood. They viewed it as counter-productive to emancipation; as provocation to the anti-semites.

C. Short Assignments

Each sub-group may work on a different assignment.

1. Write a newspaper brief for Theodore Herzl about the proposed Congress in Munich. Include an archive photo of Herzl and his fellow Zionists.
2. Write a page in the private diary of a leader of the Munich Jewish community, revealing the real fears and questions about Herzl's idea for a Congress.
3. Write Herzl's official letter of request to the Munich community on behalf of the Zionist groups who wish to hold the Congress in Munich. Mention your achievements so far, support of the Rothschilds etc., use any arguments you feel will be effective... Have it countersigned by any other famous Jewish and Zionist figures who supported Herzl.
4. Write the Munich Jewish community's official refusal to hold the First Zionist Congress in their city, making the letter firm, but using discreet wording.
5. Host a "Face to Face" talk show between "Herzl" and the "head" of the Munich Jewish community. The audience should be composed of Herzlian Zionists and a number of prominent community figures, so that there is interaction with the floor.

Editors: Michael Toben, Dr. Dov Goldflam, 1992
Internet Version: The Pedagogic Center, 1996
Editor: Gila Ansell Brauner

in conjunction with:
The Department for Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora
Center for Creativity
Director: Chaim Weinreb

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