not at first insist on Palestine as the new Jewish home, nor did he
attach himself to religious sentiment. The expectation of a Messianic
restoration to the Holy Land has always been strong, if often latent, in
the Jewish consciousness. But Herzl approached the subject entirely on
its secular side, and his solution was economic and political rather
than sentimental. He was a strong advocate for the complete separation
of Church and State. The influence of Herzl's pamphlet, the progress of
the movement he initiated, the subsequent modifications of his plans,
are told at length in the article ZIONISM.
His proposals undoubtedly roused an extraordinary enthusiasm, and though
he almost completely failed to win to his cause the classes, he rallied
the masses with sensational success. He unexpectedly gained the
accession of many Jews by race who were indifferent to the religious
aspect of Judaism, but he quite failed to convince the leaders of Jewish
thought, who from first to last remained (with such conspicuous
exceptions as Nordau and Zangwill) deaf to his pleading. The orthodox
were at first cool because they had always dreamed of a nationalism
inspired by messianic ideals, while the liberals had long come to
dissociate those universalistic ideals from all national limitations.
Herzl, however, succeeded in assembling several congresses at Basel
(beginning in 1897), and at these congresses were enacted remarkable
scenes of enthusiasm for the cause and devotion to its leader. At all
these assemblies the same ideal was formulated: "the establishing for
the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine."
Herzl's personal charm was irresistible. Among his political opponents
he had some close personal friends. His sincerity, his eloquence, his
tact, his devotion, his power, were recognized on all hands. He spent
his whole strength in the furtherance of his ideas. Diplomatic
interviews, exhausting journeys, impressive mass meetings, brilliant
literary propaganda--all these methods were employed by him to the
utmost limit of self-denial. In 1901 he was received by the sultan; the
pope and many European statesmen gave him audiences. The British
government was ready to grant land for an autonomous settlement in East
Africa. This last scheme was fatal to Herzl's peace of mind. Even as a
temporary measure, the choice of an extra-Palestinian site for the
Jewish state was bitterly opposed by many Zionists; others (with whom
Herzl appears to have sympathized) thought that as Palestine was, at all
events momentarily, inaccessible, it was expedient to form a settlement
elsewhere. Herzl's health had been failing and he did not long survive
the initiation of the somewhat embittered "territorial" controversy. He
died in the summer of 1904, amid the consternation of supporters and the
deep grief of opponents of his Zionistic aims.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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