History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 1 (of 2)Sokolow, Nahum
History
History of Zionism, 1600-1918, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Sokolow, Nahum
Jews -- Restoration; Zionism -- History
♦ “statemanship” replaced with “statesmanship”
Every keen student of the literature of that epoch concerning
Zionism will readily notice that there were two different currents of
thought. We will refer only to one writer who was altogether averse
to conversionism, yet adopted the Zionist view――Thomas Witherby
(1760‒1820). He was a London solicitor of repute, who after his
retirement lived at Enfield and took up the study of political and
social problems. He wrote _An Attempt to Remove Prejudices Concerning
the Jewish Nation_ (Appendix xlv), and was opposed on some important
points to Mr. Bicheno’s prophecies (Appendix xlvi), but, essentially,
shared the latter’s opinions concerning the rights of the Jewish
nation. He was the first English author who dealt with the imaginary
incompatibility of Jewish citizenship with Jewish national claims to
Palestine. He confessed that prejudices against the Jews, though not
as vigorous then as they had been in times gone by, were still very
strong. He admitted “the sad conduct of Christians against Jews”;
he praised “the Jewish sincerity and their attachment _to their
nationality_ and religion,” and on those grounds he defended the claim
of the Jews’ citizenship. “Bad Jews would be bad citizens; good Jews
would be good citizens.” According to his view, the just demand for
equality of rights for the Jews does not conflict with the claim of
the Jewish nation to a land of its own, in which he decidedly believed.
We may let him speak for himself:
“Previous to the great and most conspicuous return of the Jews to
their own land there will be a partial restoration of many of them to
their land, which will probably be effected by the Protestant powers
who may renounce their prejudices against them, and see that the
non-acceptance of the Christian doctrines is not the bar to their
restoration to the favour of God.”
He recognized both the right of the Jews to decide for themselves in
matters affecting the preservation of the race, and the independent
validity of the considerations which lead to the recognition of Jewish
rights in all countries. It was his opinion that while humanity and
justice must refuse to recognize anything in the laws of any country
which was at variance with the principle of equality, they should be
the more ready to admit the higher claim of the Jewish nation to a
home of its own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account