When embarking on a Jewish travel through Budapest, you might see a huge black sign with gold lettering saying “Here was the house where Theodore Herzl was born”. Dubbed as the “Modern Moses”, Herzl’s gave birth to the modern Zionism movement, putting into motion a grand scheme that would later create the Jewish state.
Let’s know him better by exploring his life.
From a Playwright and a Journalist to a Zionist Leader
Theodor Herzl was born on May 2, 1980 at Budapest, Hungary. Coming from a well-off family, he first studied at a scientific secondary school but later transferred to escape from the antisemitic atmosphere of the area. He then took up law at University of Vienna and received his license to practice law in 1884. However, he devoted his career to literature and journalism and became the literary editor for a newspaper in Viennese, Neue Freie Presse.
Being able to experience antisemitic violence first hand, Herzl’s first solution was to make Jews mass convert to Christianity. He later found out that this is not effective for two reasons; one is that Jews are not down to convert, and secondly, he found that the problem involved more than religion, that the problem focuses on Jewish people as a whole.
The last straw that made Hertzl think that antisemitism couldn’t be defeated by conventional means was the Dreyfus affair, where an innocent Jewish man was falsely accused of stealing French military documents and giving it to the Germans. This gave birth to Zionism.
The Zionist Congress
Believing that antisemitism could only be eradicated by establishing a state for all Jewish people, Hertzl worked hard to make the first Zionist congress happen and wrote his book “DerJudenstaat” (The Jewish State). Despite the negative feedback and backlash he experienced from critics and even rabbis denouncing his ideals, the first congress eventually happened in August of 1897 in Basel, Switzerland.
After gaining the support of the Jewish masses and several higher-ups, internationally, he requested an audience and created diplomatic ties with the Turkish sultan. He disseminated his plans to receive a charter, which is the right for Jews to settle in Israel, and was later granted by the sultan.
During the first Zionist congress, Hertzl wrote on his journal, “at Basel, I established the Jewish estate. “If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in 50, everyone will realize it”. Half a century after his death, working greatly for his Zionist dream to come true, the independent state of Israel was founded.
Retracing the steps made by our ancestors and seeing the impact they’ve left may impose some difficulties. That is why a perfect plan for a future Kosher Vacation is cruising through the Danube river, where we travel from Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, up to the Wachau Valley.
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