Judaism's Great Debates: Timeless Controversies from Abraham to Herzl

10. Herzl and Wise: The Debate over Zionism

87 10 Herzl and Wise A Jewish State? The Debate over Zionism The Promised Land . . . where at last we can live as free men on our own soil and die in peace in our own homeland. Theodor Herzl We are perfectly satisfied with our political and social position. It makes no difference to us . . . what particular spot of the earth’s surface we occupy. Rabbi Isaac M. Wise Competing Visions Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) was a young, assimilated Jewish journalist and writer in Vienna when in 1895 he witnessed the trial of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus in France. Dreyfus was accused of treason, and his conviction (eventually overturned) unleashed a torrent of anti-Semitism that included cries of “death to the Jews” at the ceremony where he was stripped of his rank. The event cemented Herzl’s conviction that hatred against the Jews would never cease in Europe and that the only hope for the Jewish people was to rebuild their own country in their ancestral homeland. From then on, Herzl worked tirelessly to organize a political movement, Zionism. That same year he completed a book, Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), laying out his vision. He met with kings, queens, sultans, dukes, rabbis, and Jewish philanthropists in an effort to raise awareness, funds, and political support. Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in 1897 in Basel, which laid the groundwork for a modern Jewish homeland. Though he died of a heart ailment at only forty-four, Herzl is considered the founding father of political Zionism and a national hero in Israel, where he is buried. 88 Rabbi Isaac M. Wise (1819–1900), having grown up in Bohemia, Prague, and Vienna, was quite aware of European anti-Semitism. He immigrated to the United States in 1846, first serving pulpits in Albany and Cincinnati. Wise tirelessly devoted himself to building a progressive Reform movement in his adopted country. He established the Hebrew Union College in 1875 to train American rabbis, and soon thereafter founded the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (eventually to be called the Union for Reform Judaism, or urj). Wise saw an exceedingly bright future for the Jewish community in the United States, and for all his efforts is considered the founding father of American Reform Judaism. The goal of Zionism was to ultimately separate the Jewish people from their surroundings and return them to a Jewish state. The goal of Reform Judaism was to integrate into the society around them while preserving Jewish identity. It is no wonder that Herzl and Wise clashed about whether returning to a Jewish state was the right direction for the Jewish people. Modern Judaism 89 The Great Debate Here is the debate between Herzl and Wise in the form of an imagined conversation. While there is no evidence that these two men met, they were aware of each other’s activities, and Wise mentions Herzl by name. This debate is composed from Herzl’s diary and speeches, along with Wise’s address to the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1897. Herzl: The Jewish question still exists. It would be foolish to deny it. We have honestly striven everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities, and to preserve only the faith of our fathers. It has not been permitted to us. Wise: The persecution of the Jews in Russia and Rumania and the anti-Semitic hatred against the Jewish race and religion, as it still exists in Germany, Austria, and partly in France roused among the persecuted and outraged persons the hapless feeling of being hated strangers among hostile Gentiles. [But here] we are perfectly satisfied with our political and social position. Herzl: We are one people—One People! [We need] the Promised Land, where it is all right for us to have hooked noses, black or red beards, and bow legs without being despised for these things alone. Where at last we can live as free men on our own soil and die in peace in our homeland. Wise: It can make no difference to us . . . what particular spot on earth’s surface we occupy. We want freedom, equality, justice and equity to reign and govern the community in which we live. All this agitation on the other side of the ocean concerns us very little. Herzl: We are one people—our enemies have made us one without our consent, as repeatedly happens in history. Distress binds...