Jewish Women in Fin de Siècle Vienna

4. Women and the Zionist Movement

109 4 » Women and the Zionist Movement In an address before the Women’s Zionist Association in Vienna in 1901 (Wiener Zionistische Frauenverein) Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), the founder of political Zionism, declared that women had not contributed significantly to the Zionist cause.1 He began the speech (which he described in his diary as “a rather absent-minded lecture”)2 by suggesting that while women had contributed practically nothing to Zionism , they could potentially, through the use of successful propaganda, become everything. Poor women, he asserted, would make good Zionists , except that they lacked the means and free time to devote to the cause. Traditional observant women, while praiseworthy for their devotion to home and family, lived sheltered from the realities of Jewish misery and suffering. “That is the type of woman for whom I have the greatest respect, because in her all the fine qualities, all the great and eternal things that were particularly precious in dark days have been preserved in their purest and most beautiful form.” He referred to a third group as a “new breed of Jewish woman.” Unlike traditional Jewish women, they did not observe the Sabbath or devote themselves to family, but still, they had no contact with the real world. Herzl proposed using poetry and art in order to attract women to Zionism. Once attracted to Zionism, women would spread the Zionist idea in their social circles. He also claimed that Zionism would make women into better mothers. As they became more educated, he explained, they would understand the importance of Zionism for children, the citizens of the future. Herzl’s assessment and typology of Jewish women reflected fin de siècle middle-class values and understanding of the proper feminine sphere. This notion of “femininity” equated the essence of woman with maternal feelings. Therefore women could be expected to focus on caring for the home, children, and family. “Feminine” careers such as teaching, nursing, and child-care were tolerated.3 Jewish communal leaders adopted this view as their own and accepted it as the Jewish view of femininity, as did Viennese Zionists for the most part. This notion of “femininity” also infiltrated the consciousness of fin de siècle Viennese Jewish women. To a certain extent, however, the emergence of feminism—that is, the political movement for women’s 110 » Jewish Women in Fin de Siècle Vienna rights in the nineteenth century—challenged the self-definition of Jewish women. Feminism and femininity stood in a complex relationship to one another, different but not entirely antithetical. Jewish women attempted to incorporate these two ideologies in their negotiations of modern female identities. In this chapter, I will address these issues by examining Jewish women’s participation in the Zionist movement as a way to negotiate their identities, and images of Jewish women in Viennese Zionist works. The search for Jewish identity in a climate of intensifying antiSemitism further complicated things for Viennese Jewish women. I will argue that the quest for a national or ethnic identity in the face of assimilation and growing anti-Jewish sentiment, alongside the need to reconcile femininity and feminism, led some Jewish women to Zionism. The Zionist movement afforded Jewish women the opportunity for solidarity with fellow Jews. It provided a framework for negotiating female identity and Jewish identity, and for confronting gender stereotypes. Viennese Jewish women dealt with the conflicting values and attitudes of their world. While some Jewish women turned to study, politics , professions, or philanthropy in their efforts to confront gender stereotypes, the women discussed in this chapter used Zionism as a framework for the negotiation of those tensions. Jews became Zionists for a variety of reasons, including the desire for a Jewish national identity in the Diaspora.4 Likewise, Zionism offered Jewish women ways to negotiate their identities as women. Some found feminine ways to be Zionist, while others sought political roles or believed that gender troubles could be rectified through the settlement of Palestine. Zionist Women and Girls Over a dozen Zionist organizations of girls and women operated in fin de siècle Vienna, attesting to the active role of women in Viennese Zionism.5 Simply by becoming Zionists, Jewish women consciously identified as Jews. They stressed the importance of a national identity regardless of different approaches, concentrating their efforts on getting more women involved. They spoke harsh words about Jewish women who did not participate in the Zionist movement. In their position toward the question of feminism and femininity, three approaches...