Nurit Greenger
Theodor Herzl, born Benjamin
Ze’ev and known as the Visionary of
the [Jewish] State, [Hozeh Ha'Medinah-חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה],
was a Austro-Hungarian-Jewish journalist and the father of the modern political
Zionism movement that gave birth to the state of Israel.
Last night I
attended the screening of the documentary movie It Is No Dream, about the
creation of the idea to restore the Jewish nation in its ancient homeland,
Israel.
Website: http://www.itisnodream.com/
Trailer: It Is No Dream: The Life of Theodor Herzl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8CdfCZa2XOI
It Is No Dream takes the viewer through
the life of Theodor Herzl. The
documentary examines the life and times of Herzl, who
was, almost single handed, responsible for the creation of the political
movement Zionism that led, in 1948 to the founding of the Jewish state, Israel.
A Moriah Films production, narrated by Ben
Kingsley and Christoph Waltz as the voice of Theodor Herzl, It Is No Dream
tells the story of how the life of Theodor Herzl--an assimilating Jew, a
successful playwright and author, who was born into a traditional but mostly
non-religious family in Budapest in 1860--was changed by the trial of Captain
Alfred Dreyfus in Paris, which he covered as a journalist in 1895.
Herzl realized then that there is a
"Jewish problem" in Europe that needs to be solved. There must be a solution
to the growing anti-Semitism of Europe. After witnessing the court proceedings
where Dreyfus was falsely convicted of treason and seeing the anti-Jewish-anti-Semitic
demonstrations of the French public, Herzl became convinced that the only
answer to the anti-Semitism that was spreading across Europe was the
establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, the Biblical homeland of the
Jewish people.
He wrote a political treatise entitled
“Der Judenstaat” or “The Jewish State” that became an international bestseller,
laying out his ideas for creating a new Jewish state.
Herzl’s literary circle in Vienna
ridicules him; many Jewish leaders in Europe and the US rejected and condemn
his ideas; his friends and family were convinced that he had lost his grip on
reality or had a nervous breakdown. But Herzl kept on, relentlessly, "peddling"
his vision.
But there were a number of intellectuals,
such as Max Nordau and religious leaders such as the Chief Rabbis of Paris and
Basel, who voiced their support for Herzl’s plan to restore the third Jewish commonwealth
in its original location, Palestine.
In a short period of time, a grassroots
movement of oppressed Jews in Russia, Poland and much of Eastern Europe joined
Herzl’s World Zionist Organization, which held its first international congress
in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. In short order, the formerly assimilated Jew,
whose ambition was to be a successful dramatist, was overseeing an organization
with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of members-supporters. In
his endeavor to get international approval to his vision, Herzl held audiences
with the German Kaiser, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, high ranking British
cabinet ministers and politicians, the Pope, the King of Italy and other
personalities. He began receiving financial backing from the English branch of
the Rothschild family, which originally rejected him and his plan. Yet, despite
these successes, his mission was burdened with obstacles and frustration.
After the infamous Kishinev, Russia pogrom on
April 6-7, 1903, Herzl became
desperate. He was convinced that Jews have only a short time before a humongous atrocity
will hit them. While in Great Britain, as
an alternative to Palestine, Herzl was offered a territory in Uganda, East
Africa for a Jewish state. However, he was faced with angry opposition from the
ranks of his Russian Jewish Zionists supporters and that idea never metalized.
On a personal level, Herzl’s life was
rather complex and even difficult. His marriage was an unhappy one almost from
the beginning; he faced many financial challenges and problems that arose from
personally underwriting much of the work of the Zionist movement, including its
newspaper “Die Welt” (“The World”). Neglecting his health, his family and his
career, Herzl inspired a movement, but he died young in 1904 at the age of 44.
Herzl had a prophetic vision. Had he
lived, he would have seen his greatest fear come to life with the Holocaust.
Some 52 years after Herzl completed “Der
Judenstaat”, the modern state of Israel was established, an act that never
would have occurred without the vision and the tenacity of this Hungarian Jew
who, until his late twenties, wanted nothing more than to be a successful
playwright.
The rest is history as we see the state of
Israel growing from strength to strength, through wars, much peril and even
more determination.
It is a duty of every Jew to know and
then explain to all others – Jews and non-Jews - why the existence and survival
of the State of Israel is the lifeline of Jewish survival. It
Is No Dream will do the explanation.
Go see the movie and then tell others to
do the same; spread the word.
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