- Hey guys,
I'm Jacob,
and today we're going to talk about
the man with the plan,
the founder of political Zionism,
Theodor Herzl.
We'll trace his incredible story,
from his idea that the Jews should mass convert
to Christianity,
yeah,
you heard me right,
to the infamous Dreyfus Affair,
through the birth of political Zionism.
We'll try to understand what drove him
to pursue his Zionist dream,
to the degree that he was willing
to be seen by his contemporaries as literally insane.
They actually thought he was crazy.
Now of all the -isms of the 19th and 20th century,
Zionism is one of the most controversial.
But, what is Zionism,
and why is it so controversial?
And what's the connection between Zionism and antisemitism?
Before we get into what Zionism is,
let's talk about Herzl himself.
He happens to be one of my favorite personalities
in Israeli history,
because he was a charismatic, tireless,
Winston Churchill kind of guy,
who wouldn't give up on his dream
until he basically dropped dead of exhaustion
eight years later.
Talk about dedication to the cause, alright?
Now, if you had to pick someone to lead the movement
that would eventually bring the Jews back to Israel,
which was then a backwater region in the Ottoman Empire,
called Palestine,
it's a safe bet that you wouldn't pick Herzl,
who looks more like an OG hipster
than a political revolutionary.
Born in 1860 in Hungary,
Herzl was a totally secular Jewish playwright
and journalist.
He spoke no Hebrew, no Yiddish,
and had no Jewish education.
Really, the one thing he knew about Jews
was that everyone seemed to hate them.
He became obsessed with a way to overcome antisemitism,
or what the rest of the world termed the "Jewish Problem."
His first solution might be surprising,
you guys want to be sitting for this one.
The future father of Zionism
envisioned a mass conversion of Jews to Christianity
as being the only answer to antisemitism.
But he soon realized that in addition to the fact
that the Jews weren't so down to convert,
he also understood that the rampant antisemitism of the time
was not only about religion.
Antisemitism was about Jews as a people.
He was strongly influenced by statements he heard
from professional antisemites,
like German philosopher, Karl Dühring,
and Hungarian politician, Gyözö Istóczy.
Dühring wrote that the Jewish Problem was, quote,
"A problem of race, morals and culture."
Gyözö believed that there was only one solution,
he wanted the Jews out,
and they even beat Herzl to his own idea
with the antisemitic slogan,
"Jew, go to Palestine."
And that wasn't in like a loving,
self-determination kind of way.
The final nail in the coffin,
was the Dreyfus Affair.
It may sound like a James Patterson novel,
but it was way less fun.
Alfred Dreyfus was an assimilated Jewish officer,
in the French Army,
who was framed for espionage,
which is French for spying.
And, it actually is French.
Now, the true culprit was this guy.
Now, to be fair,
they both had the same mustache,
so it could have been an innocent mistake,
but kind of doubt it.
Despite evidence pointing to his innocence,
Dreyfus was court-martialed, convicted,
and sent to Devil's Island.
But, what does this have to do with Herzl?
Well, at the time of the trial,
Herzl was working as a journalist in France,
covering the case.
Witnessing the crowd outside the trial shouting,
"Death to the Jew!"
convinced him once and for all,
that if a Jew could go so far in society as Dreyfus,
reaching the high rank of Lieutenant Colonel,
and still be a victim of such antisemitism,
then assimilation would never solve the Jewish Problem.
He was convinced that the Jews needed a better option.
And that option would be Zionism.
That the outcasts of the world would return en masse
to a land from which they had been exiled
2000 years earlier,
that the ruling powers in the European and Arab world
would be okay with that,
and that this would eradicate antisemitism around the world.
By establishing a modern political Jewish state,
Herzl actually hoped and expected
that antisemitism would vanish from the world entirely.
The very point of Israel's existence
would mirror all other nations,
and if the Jews could just be like everyone else,
then there would be no need to be hated
because the Jews would cease being the "Other."
But other Zionist thinkers, like Herzl's disciple,
Ze'ev Jabotinsky,
saw the need for a state a bit differently,
arguing that antisemitism would always exist,
and that the belief that the world would be cured of it,
was pollyannish in the extreme.
Instead, he saw Zionism as more of a self defense
against antisemitism,
rather than a cure for it.
At the time, most people thought that Herzl's ideas
were crazy messianic fantasies,
delusions even.
Many Jewish leaders were openly hostile to him,
afraid that Zionism would create an impression
of dual loyalty,
because how could they be loyal French citizens,
if they also longed for a state of their own?
You didn't need to be a cynic to ask
how practical was it really to take a Jewish people,
scattered throughout the world,
with no governing body or leader,
back to the land they were kicked out of
nearly 2000 years ago?
And all of this without iPhones, Facebook or Uber?
I mean, it was a logistical nightmare.
But, to others, Herzl seemed like a modern-day Moses.
He traveled Europe and the Middle East,
feverishly trying to gain support for his cause
from Jewish communities,
getting face time with world leaders
like the German Kaiser,
the Ottoman Sultan,
and even the Pope.
But he met little success in his lifetime.
The truth is, if he had stuck around another 44 years,
he would have lived to see the fulfillment
of his Zionist dreams, with the creation of a Jewish state.
So, back to the question of what is Zionism?
Now, most people don't know this,
but even though Herzl literally wrote the book
on the Jewish state,
the movement that would later be called Zionism
had already existed for decades.
Since the 1860s, thousands of Jews had been immigrating
and building communities
in what was then Ottoman-controlled Palestine,
and reviving the Hebrew language.
Now, most of it had to do
with escaping catastrophic antisemitism,
but a lot of it also had to do with Jews
wanting to return to the land
where they had maintained a historic
and religious connection for thousands of years.
Earlier Zionist activists,
like Leon Pinsker,
who founded the Lovers of Zion movement,
15 years before the rise of Herzl,
don't really get the credit they deserve.
So, what did Herzl bring to the table?
Well, Herzl managed to turn a grassroots,
informal Zionism,
into a modern political nationalist movement.
He gave Zionism legs.
He helped revive the idea that the Jews were a nation.
He wasn't the first to express that idea,
but he was the first to bring it to life in the modern era.
But wait,
back up,
isn't Judaism just a religion?
Like Christianity or Islam?
And if so, why did the Jews need their own state?
That's an awesome question.
And the short answer is, yes, it's a religion,
and it's also a nation.
See, the Jews had begun as a nation with a religion,
and had lived in their national homeland,
which was Israel/Judea,
from around 1000 BCE, until 70 CE,
when they were kicked out by the Romans.
Herzl thought it was a mistake
for Jews to lose sight of their national identity.
Herzl argued that a nation without a homeland
is an unwelcome stranger to other nations.
And to Herzl, this was the cause of antisemitism.
The Jews were the only people in history,
who persisted to exist after losing their homeland.
Because of this, they were eternally wandering strangers,
the ultimate "Other."
If they wanted to be accepted by everyone else,
then they had to be like everyone else,
and have their own country.
Finally, as a nation,
Herzl believed the Jews had the right to rule themselves
in their homeland.
These days, we all accept this idea of self-determination
as an accepted principle in international law.
And it's a principle that is also asserted
by the Palestinian Arabs,
who see Palestine as their national homeland.
But that's a conversation for a later time.
Sadly for Herzl,
he didn't succeed in creating the State in his lifetime,
but he did succeed in bringing the Zionist idea
onto the world stage,
by establishing the annual Zionist Congress
in Basel, Switzerland.
He later wrote in his diary,
"At Basel, I founded the Jewish State.
"If I said this out loud today,
"I would be answered by universal laughter.
"Perhaps in five years,
"certainly in fifty,
"everyone will know it."
And almost 50 years to the day
after the first Zionist Congress,
the State of Israel was founded.
This dude was like a psychic.
Soon, various approaches to Zionism would develop
in sync with Herzl's ideas,
embracing all sorts of different ideologies.
There would be Cultural Zionism,
Labor Zionism,
Socialist Zionism,
and Religious Zionism.
But in many ways, the core of all forms of modern Zionism
lies in Herzl's conception of peoplehood,
which brings us back to the question,
why is Zionism so controversial?
Well, if you deny the Jews their right to define themselves
as a people,
then the question of whether they have the right
to their own state in their ancestral land
becomes very thorny.
But, if the Jews are a nation and a people,
then isn't that what all nations do?
Or at least aspire to do?
And, of course, the elephant in the room,
how do you balance this
with the rights of self-determination
of another people, the Palestinians,
who lay claim to the same piece of real estate.
But that deserves a video of its own.
So, what do you think?
Has Zionism curbed antisemitism or increased it?
Drop your comments and questions below,
and don't forget to subscribe.
Oh, and let us know if there are any topics
you want us to tackle.
See you next time.