Herzl, Theodor, 1860-1904; Zionism; Zionists -- Austria -- Biography
"Then suddenly the storm breaks upon him. The clouds open. The
thunder rolls. The lightning flashes about him. A thousand
impressions beat upon him at the same time--a gigantic vision.
He cannot think; he is unable to move; he can only write;
breathless, unreflecting, unable to control himself or to
exercise his critical faculties lest he dam the eruption, he
dashes down his thoughts on scraps of paper--walking, standing,
lying down, on the street, at the table, in the night--as if
under unceasing command. So furiously did the cataract of his
thoughts rush through him, that he thought he was going out of
his mind. He was not working out the idea. The idea was working
him out. It would have been an hallucination had it not been so
informed by reason from first to last."
Not only did the Magic Title evoke a widespread interest among the
intellectuals of the day, but it brought Jews out of the ghettos and
made them conscious of their origin and destiny. It made them feel
that there was a world that might be won for their cause, hitherto
never communicated to strangers. Through Herzl, Jews were taught not
to fear the consequences of an international movement to demand their
national freedom. Thereafter, with freedom, they were to speak of a
Zionist Congress, of national funds, of national schools, of a flag
and a national anthem, and the redemption of their land. Their spirits
were liberated and in thought they no longer lived in ghettos. Herzl
taught them not to hide in corners. At the First Congress he said, "We
have nothing to do with conspiracy, secret intervention or indirect
methods. We wish to put the question in the arena and under the
control of free public opinion." The Jews were to be active factors in
their emancipation and, if they wished it, what was described in "The
Jewish State" would not be a dream but a reality.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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