Herzl: Up Close and Personal
In Pursuit of the Zionist Vision
In 1896, Herzl published "Der Judenstaat" (The Jewish State), in which he argued that the Jewish question was not to be dealt with on a personal level but rather in the arena of international politics. In his Zionist novel "Altneuland" (Old New Land, 1902), Herzl envisioned a socialist Jewish utopian society constructed according to modern science and technology which would be "a light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6). Herzl proposed the establishment of a company owned by stockholders in order to collect funds from Jews around the world for this purpose.
Despite ridicule from Jewish leaders, who regarded this plan as too extreme, Herzl's ideas were greeted with enthusiasm by Jewish masses in Eastern Europe. Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland on August 29-31, 1897. The congress established the World Zionist Organization, electing Herzl as its first president.
Herzl was well aware of the profundity and immensity of the mission he so passionately embarked upon. Immediately following the first Zionist Congress, he wrote in his diary:
"In Basle I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this out loud today, people would laugh. But perhaps in another five years, certainly in another 50, everyone will recognize it."
In the last eight years of Herzl's life, he labored tirelessly for the sake of his dream of a Jewish state behalf of Zionism, meeting with world leaders to try to gather financial and political support. Herzl died on July 3, 1904.
Half a century later, true to his prophecy, the State of Israel indeed came into being.
In 1949, following the establishment of the State of Israel, Herzl's remains were transferred to a mountain in western Jerusalem now known as Mount Herzl, today a major military cemetery.
