The Story of Herzl

Theodor Herzl was born in Budapest, Hungary in the year 1860. As a child he received little Jewish education and his family had little interest in Jewish affairs. When he was eighteen, he went to Vienna, then the lively capital of a large Empire, to study law.

Whilst still a university student, he started to think about all the troubles and suffering of the Jewish people. In those days, Jews in countries such as Russia, Poland and Rumania, had to live in special towns and could not leave them without permission. It was difficult to go to college and to practice a trade. Often, pogroms (anti-Jewish riots) endangered their lives.

Although he did become a lawyer, Herzl real wanted to be a writer of books, plays and articles for newspapers. He turned to literature and, slowly, started to climb the ladder of success. By the time he was thirty-five, he was a well-known writer for a very famous Viennese newspaper.

Herzl lived for a time as a reporter in Paris. There he covered the story of Captain Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, who was falsely accused of being a spy. Because he was a Jew, Dreyfus was found "guilty" and sent to prison on Devil’s Island. Herzl was shocked by the outcome and wondered whether there was any way he could help Dreyfus and all the Jews who suffered simply because they were Jews.

For weeks he could not think of anything else. Finally a solution came to him. He sat down and wrote out his ideas in the form of a small book which he called "THE JEWISH STATE." Herzl believed that the Jewish people should go back to their homeland, from which they had been driven out two thousand years before. In Palestine (as it was then called), they would form their own state and all other nations would begin to respect Jews everywhere as their equals and would no longer harm them.

Slowly, Jews throughout the world - in Russia, Poland, Germany, France, England and America - heard about Herzl’s idea. In 1897, when Herzl was 37 years old, several countries, met in Basle, Switzerland. They discussed how they would implement Herzl’s plan. This historic gathering, known as the First "Zionist Congress," established the World Zionist Organization.

At first, there were many people who laughed at the whole suggestion; but Herzl was not dismayed. He visited many  great people - the Sultan of Turkey, the Kaiser of Germany, the Pope - to try and persuade them to help. He also came to England and met the Foreign Secretary. He held a large meeting in London, where Jews flocked to see him. Wherever he went, Jews came out to cheer their new leader.

Herzl knew that it would not be enough just to have a Jewish country. The country must be highly developed both industrially and agriculturally. He welcomed the founding of the Jewish National Fund in 1901. The J.N.F. would purchase the land where Jews would settle, and would help to till the ground and prepare the soil.

Herzl worked hard. With so much to do, he felt short of time. All this strenuous endeavor made him tired and ill. When he was only forty-four years old he died. But the work he had done was successful. Just forty-four years after his death, the State of Israel was founded.
 
 

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