Theodor Herzl, born Benjamin Ze鈥檈v Herzl was a Jewish Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.
I feel like I'm not worthy of writing a review for a book that has impacted my own life in such a way. There's something very inspirational about this idea, that this guy could look around, realize there's a problem, write down a very practical solution and then a few years later, it more or less happens.
There's this claim that without the Holocaust, Israel wouldn't have happened. Reading this book, I see how that could be seen as true. Hertzl spends a while trying to realize how could he make people immigrate when, after the Holocaust, that was less of a question. My own grandparents were desperately waiting for a few years to leave their home country after the Holocaust.
And it's honestly insane to me that this book was written before the Holocaust because it seems to predict it. I had to check the dates at least twice because it feels like he just knew it would happen, that it wasn't a surprise at all.
I feel like this book should be read in Israeli high schools, I don't understand how I could have graduated without reading it, despite how much we studied about Zionism. Reading it makes it clear how he perceived this country, what he felt was important.
My favorite part of this book was seeing his predictions versus the reality now. Like how Herzl thought we need a professional army. I am quite pro the mandatory army so it was unfortunate for me to discover that that wasn't the original intention. The bit where he talks about Hebrew and says no one can order a railway ticket in Hebrew, that it's impossible for the country to speak Hebrew is just exciting to read. Herzl thought it is more viable that Israelis would speak all of their original languages than learn Hebrew. Just picturing that version of our country is remarkable, as well as the fact that we all speak Hebrew now. I just can't get over how impossible that seems. Also, I loved how sad he seemed about us not having a monarch.
My favorite thing to do when I meet national religious folks is to remind them that, no matter how much they wish to describe Israel as this ultra-religious miracle, the country was built by secular folks. It's nice that within this book, he mentions how important it is that the country be nonreligious and even talks about people from other religions living here.
I've never heard of the 7 hour work week, it's incredible how well thought this book is. Herzl didn't just go, "we need a country". He went so deep into figuring out, even to the point of irrelevancy.
I think it's important people read this book because it shows how Israel isn't a colonialist idea, that this idea for Israel in no way is land-grabbing. We can't be compared to the British Empire.
I think I'll wrap this up here but yeah, definitely recommend to everyone who cares the slightest bit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What I'm Taking with Me - Hertzl's family was such a mess, such a tragic story and it's nice that his heritage exists positively. - Hertzl points out that the antisemitism is one of the things that made Jews stick together. Had there not been antisemitism, Jews would have assimilated by now. - I can't stop thinking about how Hertzl literally solved the antisemitism problem. Like yeah, it would have been better if people stop being racist towards minorities but this idea that Jews deserve a place of their own is such a clean solution. Kind of.
As an anti-zionist myself, who believes Israel is a criminal state, I wanted to read the main zionist proposal for a state. In this book, Herzl talks about how anti-Semitism is the main driving force toward the creation of a jewish state y and lays all the theory and groundwork required to create a state by jews for Jews, however, in true european fashion, Herzl didn't think about the people living in the territory they stole, many of the ideas were utopical for his era and still are.
Herzl, who was not a political scientist or a jurisprudence knower mentions international law concepts that are wrong and tries to base the idea of the legality of the jewish state by grasping into concepts he didn't even understand.
I found it interesting that the first idea of the creation of a jewish state was legally buying land in Argentina in which people didn't have to be as heavily displace as palestine, however stubbornness led to the invasion of the former British protectorate.
The idea sounds good in paper but in execution is a mess that has led to a very deadly conflict for both parties but specially the indigenous people of palestine and cisjordan.
I rate it a 2.7/10
From the river to the see, Palestine will be free 馃嚨馃嚫
鈥淚ch beabsichtige nicht, eine ger眉hrte Stimmung f眉r uns hervorzurufen. Das ist alles faul, vergeblich und unw眉rdig. Ich begn眉ge mich, die Juden zu fragen: Ob es wahr ist, da脽 in den L盲ndern, wo wir in merklicher Anzahl wohnen, die Lage der j眉dischen Advokaten, 脛rzte, Techniker, Lehrer und Angestellten aller Art immer unertr盲glicher wird? Ob es wahr, da脽 unser ganzer j眉discher Mittelstand schwer bedroht ist? Ob es wahr, da脽 gegen unsere Reichen alle Leidenschaften des P枚bels gehetzt werden? Ob es wahr, da脽 unsere Armen viel h盲rter leiden als jedes andere Proletariat?鈥�
鈥淚 do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our behalf. That would be foolish, futile, and undignified proceeding. I shall content myself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not true that, in countries where we live in perceptible numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of all descriptions becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true, that the Jewish middle classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true, that the passions of the mob are incited against our wealthy people? Is it not true, that our poor endure greater sufferings than any other proletariat?鈥�
***
鈥淎ber vielleicht k枚nnten wir 眉berall in den uns umgebenden V枚lkern spurlos aufgehen, wenn man uns nur zwei Generationen hindurch in Ruhe lie脽e. Man wird uns nicht in Ruhe lassen. Nach kurzen Perioden der Duldsamkeit erwacht immer und immer wieder die Feindseligkeit gegen uns. Unser Wohlergehen scheint etwas Aufreizendes zu enthalten, weil die Welt seit vielen Jahrhunderten gewohnt war, in uns die Ver盲chtlichsten unter den Armen zu sehen.鈥�
鈥淲e might perhaps be able to merge ourselves entirely into surrounding races, if these were to leave us in peace for a period of two generations. But they will not leave us in peace. For a little period they manage to tolerate us, and then their hostility breaks out again and again. The world is provoked somehow by our prosperity, because it has for many centuries been accustomed to consider us as the most contemptible among the poverty-stricken.鈥�
***
鈥淜盲men wir beispielsweise in die Lage, ein Land von wilden Tieren zu s盲ubern, w眉rden wir es nicht in der Art der Europ盲er aus dem f眉nften Jahrhundert tun. Wir w眉rden nicht einzeln mit Speer und Lanze gegen B盲ren ausziehen, sondern eine gro脽e, fr枚hliche Jagd veranstalten, die Bestien zusammentreiben und eine Melinitbombe unter sie werfen.鈥�
鈥淪upposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a country of wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the fashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a large and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw a melinite bomb into their midst.鈥�
***
鈥淶wei Gebiete kommen in Betracht: Pal盲stina und Argentinien. Bemerkenswerte Kolonisierungsversuche haben auf diesen beiden Punkten stattgefunden. Allerdings nach dem falschen Prinzip der allm盲hlichen Infiltration von Juden. Die Infiltration mu脽 immer schlecht enden. Denn es kommt regelm盲脽ig der Augenblick, wo die Regierung auf Dr盲ngen der sich bedroht f眉hlenden Bev枚lkerung den weiteren Zuflu脽 von Juden absperrt. Die Auswanderung hat folglich nur dann einen Sinn, wenn ihre Grundlage unsere gesicherte Souver盲nit盲t ist.鈥�
鈥淗ere two territories come under consideration, Palestine and Argentine. In both countries important experiments in colonization have been made, though on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end badly. It continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself threatened, and forces the Government to stop a further influx of Jews. Immigration is consequently futile unless we have the sovereign right to continue such immigration.鈥�
***
鈥淔眉r Europa w眉rden wir dort ein St眉ck des Walles gegen Asien bilden, wir w眉rden den Vorpostendienst der Kultur gegen die Barbarei besorgen. Wir w眉rden als neutraler Staat im Zusammenhange bleiben mit ganz Europa, das unsere Existenz garantieren m眉脽te. F眉r die heiligen St盲tten der Christenheit lie脽e sich eine v枚lkerrechtliche Form der Exterritorialisierung finden.鈥�
鈥淲e should there form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism. We should as a neutral State remain in contact with all Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence. The sanctuaries of Christendom would be safeguarded by assigning to them an extra-territorial status such as is well-known to the law of nations.鈥�
***
鈥淒en Siebenstundentag aber brauchen wir als Weltsammelruf f眉r unsere Leute, die ja frei herankommen sollen. Es mu脽 wirklich das Gelobte Land sein . . .鈥�
鈥淭he seven-hour day will be the call to summon our people in every part of the world. All must come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the Promised Land....鈥�
***
鈥淜eineswegs darf sie aber die freien Unternehmungen mit ihrer 脺bermacht erdr眉cken. Wir sind nur dort Kollektivisten, wo es die ungeheueren Schwierigkeiten der Aufgabe erfordern. Im 眉brigen wollen wir das Individuum mit seinen Rechten hegen und pflegen. Das Privateigentum, als die wirtschaftliche Grundlage der Unabh盲ngigkeit, soll sich bei uns frei und geachtet entwickeln.鈥�
鈥淏ut individual enterprise must never be checked by the Company with its superior force. We shall only work collectively when the immense difficulties of the task demand common action; we shall, wherever possible, scrupulously respect the rights of the individual. Private property, which is the economic basis of independence, shall be developed freely and be respected by us.鈥�
***
鈥淗ingegen wollen wir die Alten nicht ins Siechenhaus stecken. Das Siechenhaus ist eine der grausamsten Wohltaten, die unsere alberne Gutm眉tigkeit erfunden hat. Im Siechenhaus sch盲mt und kr盲nkt sich der alte Mensch zu Tode. Er ist eigentlich schon begraben. Wir aber wollen selbst denen, die auf den untersten Stufen der Intelligenz stehen, bis ans Ende die tr枚stliche Illusion ihrer N眉tzlichkeit lassen. Die zu k枚rperlicher Arbeit Unf盲higen sollen leichte Dienste erhalten. Wir m眉ssen mit den atrophierten Armen einer jetzt schon hinwelkenden Generation rechnen.鈥�
鈥淥n the other hand, we shall not relegate the old to an almshouse. An almshouse is one of the cruelest charities which our stupid good nature ever invented. There our old people die out of pure shame and mortification. There they are already buried. But we will leave even to those who stand on the lowest grade of intelligence the consoling illusion of their utility in the world. We will provide easy tasks for those who are incapable of physical labor; for we must allow for diminished vitality in the poor of an already enfeebled generation.鈥�
***
鈥淲ir k枚nnen doch nicht Hebr盲isch miteinander reden. Wer von uns wei脽 genug Hebr盲isch, um in dieser Sprache ein Bahnbillett zu verlangen? Das gibt es nicht.鈥�
鈥淲e cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done.鈥�
***
鈥淲erden wir also am Ende eine Theokratie haben? Nein! Der Glaube h盲lt uns zusammen, die Wissenschaft macht uns frei. Wir werden daher theokratische Velleit盲ten unserer Geistlichen gar nicht aufkommen lassen. Wir werden sie in ihren Tempeln festzuhalten wissen, wie wir unser Berufsheer in den Kasernen festhalten werden. Heer und Klerus sollen so hoch geehrt werden, wie es ihre sch枚nen Funktionen erfordern und verdienen.鈥�
鈥淪hall we end by having a theocracy? No, indeed. Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests within the confines of their temples in the same way as we shall keep our professional army within the confines of their barracks. Army and priesthood shall receive honors high as their valuable functions deserve.鈥�
***
鈥淲ir haben die Toleranz in Europa gelernt. Ich sage das nicht einmal sp枚ttisch. Den jetzigen Antisemitismus kann man nur an vereinzelten Orten f眉r die alte religi枚se Intoleranz halten. Zumeist ist er bei den Kulturv枚lkern eine Bewegung, mit der sie ein Gespenst ihrer eigenen Vergangenheit abwehren m枚chten.鈥�
鈥淲e have learnt toleration in Europe. This is not sarcastically said; for the Anti-Semitism of today could only in a very few places be taken for old religious intolerance. It is for the most part a movement among civilized nations by which they try to chase away the spectres of their own past.鈥�
***
鈥淲ir haben keine Fahne. Wir brauchen eine. Wenn man viele Menschen f眉hren will, mu脽 man ein Symbol 眉ber ihre H盲upter erheben. Ich denke mir eine wei脽e Fahne mit sieben goldenen Sternen. Das wei脽e Feld bedeutet das neue, reine Leben; die Sterne sind die sieben goldenen Stunden unseres Arbeitstages. Denn im Zeichen der Arbeit gehen die Juden in das neue Land.鈥�
鈥淲e have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we must raise a symbol above their heads. I would suggest a white flag, with seven golden stars. The white field symbolizes our pure new life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our working-day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of honor.鈥�
Theodor Herzl Doktor der Rechte. Berlin und Wien 1896.
Herzl wrote an incredibly idealistic pamphlet, complete with comprehensive details of how he imagined the Jewish homeland would work and how the Jews of Europe would get there. It seemed impossible. But then it happened.
Loved it. I loved how detail oriented Herzl was when he wrote out this book, and how he clearly leaves a lot to be negotiated but gives a good starting place. Maybe it's because I read The Jewish State immediately after Sayyid Qutb's Milestones, but I thought The Jewish State was easy to follow, fairly rational (as opposed to idealist), and well-organized into distinct sections that provided the framework for Herzl's plan for creating a new homeland. He seemed to have more ideas floating around in his head than he put to pen. I was surprised by how thoroughly "Western" his book was, as seen by the authors cited and political policies that influence Herzl's plan (again, this observation is in comparison with Milestones). Herzl was not 100% accurate in his forecast for the future of Israel -- European nations did in fact revoke the rights of their Jewish citizens, which was unthinkable to Herzl, and some nations are still hostile against the Jewish nation and its citizens, which Herzl didn't foresee because he hadn't planned where the state would be created or where its current inhabitants would move. It's unfortunate Herzl couldn't have lived for an extra hundred years to facilitate a peaceful and amicable creation of a Jewish state, as he would have wanted.
A great insight into the racist and colonial mindset of Theodore Herzl - the father of Zionism as he is commonly referred to. I cannot imagine any person with the ability to critically think, can read this pamphlet and not think it is nothing but pure propaganda rooted in the idea of eliminating an indigenous population. Definitely an important work to read to further understand the settler colonial policies taking place today in colonised Palestine at the expense of the native Palestinians.
Theodor Hezl, pengasas ideologi Zionisma dan dinobatkan sebagai Bapa Negara Israel (walaupun beliau beliau mati 44 tahun sebelum penubuhan negara itu). Manifesto ini adalah hasil dari sentimen anti-Yahudi di Eropah pada abad ke-19. Theodor Herzl menegaskan betapa pentingnya kaum Yahudi mempunyai negara berdaulat mereka sendiri.
Antara yang menarik ialah Herzl berbelah bagi samada ingin pindah ke Argentina atau Falestin tetapi akhirnya memilih Falestin kerana kaitan sejarah kaum Yahudi dengan bumi bertuah itu. Bayangkan jika Argentina menjadi pilihan beliau! Herzl bercadang untuk mengadap Sultan Uthmaniyah (yang menguasai Timur Tengah ketika itu) dan memujuk baginda memberi peluang kepada kaum Yahudi menetap di Falestin. Sebagai penghargaan, Herzl berjanji kaum Yahudi akan menolong Empayar Uthmaniyah membayar hutang negara sekaligus mengukuhkan kembalik ekonomi Empayar baginda yang merudum ketika itu. Namun, pujukan Herzl tidak berjaya memikat hati Sultan.
Di dalam naskah nipis ini (hanya 99 muka surat), Herzl tidak sekali pun membincangkan persoalan apa yang patut dibuat dengan penduduk Falestin yang sedia ada. Beliau menulis seolah-olah Falestin itu tanah kosong, padang jarak padang terkukur, hanya menantikan Herzl dan kaum Yahudi dari seluruh pelosok dunia datang mendirikan hidup yang baru. Utopia inilah yang mereka idamkan dan huru hara yang berlaku di wilayah itu hingga adalah hasil dari manifesto Theodor Herzl ini. (ketika saya menulis ini, perang Israel - Gaza 2021 sedang hangat).
I have mixed feelings about this self-described pamphlet. On the one hand I view it as a practical how-to guide for an thoughtful and orderly migration of a long-suffering people to a much desired home of their own. On the other hand, I see it as a overstated justification for separation even isolation of the same in response to prejudice albeit with sometimes unimaginable consequences. From Herzl's vantage point it must have felt like the lesser of two untenable choices. Doing something was better than doing nothing. What I find admirable was that Jews took it upon themselves to find and implement their own solution. They didn't wait for others to do it for them! However, in planning for the implementation of that solution they failed to recognize and consider the implications for Palestinians already occupying the land.
edit Oct 2023: I would like to clarify any Zionist works you see on my shelves are merely to see the other side out of a sense of intellectual curiosity. But you don鈥檛 need to read Zionist theory to know that Zionism is a philosophy of racism, settler colonialism, violence, and genocide. it鈥檚 FREE PALESTINE all day every day 馃嚨馃嚫鉁婐煆�
I think this is one of the most underrated book of the 19th century. This book is more than a book for those that is interested in Israeli history; it is about possibly the boldest social experience in humans' history on state building, and its outcome in the Middle East.
The Jewish State provides more than an Utopian ideology; it has presented a blueprint of a practical community building, and its process. Zionist movement was not the only ethnic-nationalist Utopian movement in the 19th century. African American exiles once attempted to establish an African Homeland in Liberia, Germans once attempted to Neuva Germania in Paraguay, and many Australian socialists wanted to build their New Australia in the jungle of Paraguay as well. However, only Israel successfully built up a successful national state. Liberia became one of the poorest nations of the world, and the German, as well as Australian descents, ended up in their impoverished communities. Almost all Utopian movements failed except Israel.
How does Israel succeed? This book discusses following contents: -It discusses the social change of Europe in the 19th century through the change of the role of Jewish Europeans. -It provides a very practical social engineering and state building, including a very brilliant migration plan, community building, finance. -It discusses the role of government, military, and religion. -How to make the national-state work? Herzl had a smart view. -It indicated the real and secular cause of Israel/Palestine conflict. Herzl has stated the geographic "advantage" of Palestine. If you want to comment anything on Israel/Palestine conflict, this book is a must-read for both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian viewers.
Overall, the Jewish State will present the practical process, and its historical context behind a so-called "Utopian" ideology. It is a book that can inspire both the Israelis and gentiles.
In "Eichmann in Jerusalem", Arendt quotes time and again the pathetic pride of the accused take in his knowledge in of Jewish culture, indicating notably I believe, he had read, unlike any of his colleagues implementing the Final Solution, Theodor Hertzl. His attempts, he claimed, to produce alternatives to the extermination of European Jews, in relocating them in Madagascar or even in Palestine, were inspired by the very writing of the "god father" of Zionism. I had only recently come to see how much of a realized, modernist utopia, on a state-wide scale Israel was, more so than Chandigarh or Brasilia could pretend to be, more than permanent than Fiume and more real than Atlantropa. But I to dissociate from zionism, the modernist ideology that Herzl promoted, visionary and utopian whatever he might call it, from the current "realist" political policy defended by it's current government. This clearly came from my ignorance of Israeli history, very much limited to it's terrorist activity (cf. Michael Burleigh "Blood and Rage"). The Jewish State is clearly meant as an introduction: in that regard it was despite it's age, very suited to my lack of knowledge - it presents many characteristics of the modernist utopia, brushing every aspect of organization, from economic to political, social and even religious at times (to my surprise) - but leaving, in a particularly democratic fashion, the question of culture untouched. Tellingly for it's time (if somewhat early) the solution proposed by the author is largely corporatist in essence, prompting the formation of two bodies one Essentially though, unlike Utopians and Visionnaires, from which Herzl make a point of differentiating himself, A Jewish State describes less the final state, whose legal and political structure he kindly leaves in the hands of more competent than himself, than a method for state-building, a model for transition. This prompts one to ask what makes a utopia utopian? Is it it's situation, geographically undefined as in Moore's or historically distant as in Morris's? Or is it the denial of the historical process, of tradition, in the political, urbanistic or structural formation of the state, now redeemed into an "instant" Gesamtkunstwerk? Herzl was careful to leave no space for fiction to penetrate his project, and gave it no symbolical or allegorical meaning whatsoever. This was a manifesto rather than literature, but the hubris of piecing a nation together (although he does quote precedents) might be where the real fiction lies - a fiction not literary but religious in essence: a modernist religious fiction bent on giving to man's creative imagination the same prerogatives as those held by God or History in the centuries past. To get back to Hannah Arendt and Eichmann's claim that he was inspired in his duties by the work of Herzl, it is striking to note how anti-semitism features, all throughout the book, if as a curse for the the Jews all over the world, also as the necessary motor force that would motivate their settlement, their acquisition of a territory and the formation of a nation, the absence of which the author at times is close to acknowledge as being a hindrance not only for his people, but also for the nations who host it. Although acknowledging readily that "rational" and "sentimental" appeals to antisemites to cease their persecutions were then innapropriate, he still candidly imagine that those antisemites will be supportive of his project, if nothing else because it will remove the unwanted race from their environement. This was, as will later show, a crucial misunderstanding of the role of racial hatred in general and antisemitism in particular, that was less motivated by a (distorted) rational view of Jews as a threat to order or nature, but conceived of the persecutions as a symbolic performance.
I decided to read The Jewish State as I feel I wanted to get a better sense of the thoughts that Theodor Herzl had in mind for it. Overall the book reads easily however when I look at his thinking with the benefit of today's hindsight I realize that while he had the right idea and his heart was in the right place - the specifics of how it would be achieved were too optimistic. The idea of a Jewish Society that would raise the funds necessary to facilitate the move of Jews from Europe to their own state along with paying for all of its intended costs and helping with its funding was - in my opinion - a bit naive. Nevertheless - Herzl's vision is manifest in today's modern Israel - and in many respects he was right. We must have a state of our own. What I regret is that his vision that by separating the Jews from the other societies would lead to a decrease in Antisemitism was wrong. If anything Antisemitism has increased with the existence of Israel - not *BECAUSE* of the existence of Israel - but with its existence. Herzl's belief that if only Jews had their own state then Antisemitism would recede has not happened - nor will it ever. It is too deeply ingrained into the Christian, Muslim, European and Arab cultures for it to ever be untangled. It is part of their DNA - and no separate Jewish state will ever change that.
I really wanted to enjoy this more, but it's one of those books that are more important than they are enthralling to read. Herzl had many good ideas, as half-formed as some of them were, but I couldn't focus very easily on the middle section of the book. This made it an utter chore to get through, despite its short length.
I didn't expect to have to read all kinds of bland and repetitive details about how the Jewish state's financial institutions, land allotments, work schedules, etc. would operate. I probably should have, but I didn't. As such, the book to me is worth a read only for its historical value.
Interestingly, Herzl didn't once mention the people already living in Palestine at the time. He also didn't foresee the Jews of Europe being more persecuted, expelled, or killed as they would be under the Third Reich. I just thought that was worth sharing, as it shows how some of his predictions most certainly did not hit the mark.