Theodore Herzl
1860 - 1904

Adapted by Dr.Nurit Reshef
from material created and published
by Dr. Yigal Donyets Z"L and Eta Yudin for the
Joint Authority for Jewish Zionist Education in Canada

When Theodor Herzl was young he was avery happy child and a good student. He lovedlistening to tales and stories. Here is a short story about Herzl:

His grandmother once told him about a boy who saw Elijah the prophet. That night Herzl lay in his bed and whispered "come Elijah come" but Elijah did not come. And then suddenly there was a great light in the room. He saw an old man standing beside his bed. "Are you Elijah the prophet?" Herzl asked. "Yes I am" answered the old man. "I want to ask you a question" he said "when will the Jews return to the land of Israel?" Elijah took the hand of little Herzl and flew up with him. Suddenly, a great voice was heard: "This boy shall be a great man among the people of Israel." Herzl opened his eyes and saw his grandmother smiling beside him.

Herzl really did become a great man in the history of Israel.

When Herzl was a little boy he knew how to pray, and knew all about the Jewish holidays, but he was not an observant Jew. When he grew up he became a writer, a playwrite and a journalist. In the year 1894, his newspaper sent him to France. At that time there was a trial in Paris for a Jewish French army officer named Alfred Dryfus. In the trial he was accused of being a traitor. "I am innocent" cried Dryfus. "Death to the traitor, death to the Jews" people yelled, in the court and in the streets. The truth was that Dryfus did not betray anyone, but they said he was a traitor because he was Jewish. Herzl was shocked by the hatred against the Jewish people, and by the intense anti-Semitism.

Herzl wrote: "A Jewish state" - this is the only solution to anti-Semitism. Herzl decided to work hard so that the Jews could have a state of their own. He hardly saw or spent any time with his family. His friends thought he was crazy. They did not believe it was possible to establish a state for the Jewish people. Orthodox Jews argued that it is forbidden to establish a Jewish state, because only Hashem will return the Jews to the land of Israel. The Jews were scared that if they began to desire their own state - this would lead to even more hatred. But Herzl did not give up.

In 1897 Herzl invited representatives of the Jewish communities from all over the world to the first Zionist congress in Bazel in Switzerland. The representatives at the congress decided that they wanted to establish a home land (state) for the Jewish people.

Herzl met with important people, leaders and ministers of influentiel European countries: Germany, England, Turkey and Russia. He wanted them to help the Jews get a legal right (charter) to establish a state of their own. But they did not help.

At the same time the situation of the Jews in Russia was dire. Herzl wanted very much to help them. When the British offered him Uganda, in Africa, for the Jewish people, he agreed. But the represenattives from Russia and Chaim Weizman, one of the great Jewish leaders at the time, did not agree. They wanted to establish the Jewish state in the land of Israel. Herzl died in 1904 and asked to be buried in Eretz Israel.

Assignments

1. You are Benjamin Zeev Herzl. Write three imaginary letters. Here are suggestions to who you can write:

a. to the officer Alfred Dryfus, who is sitting in prison.
b. to your wife and children.
c. to a representative of a Jewish community.
d. to Haim Witzman.

2. Write an imaginary book of your own called "the Jewish state."

3. Write Herzl a letter that will make him happy.

4. Write a song: Benjamin Zeev Herzl.

לצרה באז ןימינב

Continue to Eliezer Ben Yehuda

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