Theodor Herzl founded the Zionist political movement. He was born in Budapest in 1860. In 1878 the Herzl’s moved to Vienna, where Theodor Herzl studied law in the University of Vienna, graduating in 1884. Instead of studying law, Herzl became a writer and a journalist acting as Paris correspondent for an influential liberal Vienna newspaper. Herzl probably first experienced anti-Semitism while studying at the University of Vienna. He thought of the Jewish problem as a social issue and wrote a play called The Ghetto in 1894, about of Vienna Jewry, in which he rejected assimilation and conversion as solutions. He hoped The Ghetto would lead to bring peace between Christians and Jews. In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in
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He did not achieve a charter for a Jewish national home in his life time. However, he had done something almost as impossible: he created, a movement that unified not only the splintered Zionist groups, but much of the Jewish people. He got the secular, socialist, capitalist, and religious Zionist to sit together in one hall and to bind themselves together into a single organization for a common purpose. This unity, is what made the Zionist project into a practical reality. Herzl became the symbol of Zionism. His picture dominates offices of the Israeli government and Zionist organizations. His name is commemorated in the names of towns, schools, and streets. Every fair sized town in Israel has a Herzl street. On the other hand, the picture of Herzl, is used by Arabs and other anti-Zionists, as the symbol of “Zionist Colonialism.” For ultra-orthodox Jews, he is the symbol of secularist evil. An ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist MK once declared in the Knesset saying “May Herzl turn over in his grave.” The Israel government has declared that his birthday is to be marked each year on 12th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, exactly one week following Israel Independence Day. Herzl’s work made possible what others had only dreamed about. He said “If you will, it is no legend.” He was the catalyst of the age-old impossible dream of the Jews, to be a free people once again in their own
He did not achieve a charter for a Jewish national home in his life time. However, he had done something almost as impossible: he created, a movement that unified not only the splintered Zionist groups, but much of the Jewish people. He got the secular, socialist, capitalist, and religious Zionist to sit together in one hall and to bind themselves together into a single organization for a common purpose. This unity, is what made the Zionist project into a practical reality. Herzl became the symbol of Zionism. His picture dominates offices of the Israeli government and Zionist organizations. His name is commemorated in the names of towns, schools, and streets. Every fair sized town in Israel has a Herzl street. On the other hand, the picture of Herzl, is used by Arabs and other anti-Zionists, as the symbol of “Zionist Colonialism.” For ultra-orthodox Jews, he is the symbol of secularist evil. An ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist MK once declared in the Knesset saying “May Herzl turn over in his grave.” The Israel government has declared that his birthday is to be marked each year on 12th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, exactly one week following Israel Independence Day. Herzl’s work made possible what others had only dreamed about. He said “If you will, it is no legend.” He was the catalyst of the age-old impossible dream of the Jews, to be a free people once again in their own