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Theodor Herzl, the brilliant journalist, novelist, and political thinker wrote his famous treatise, Judenstaat (The Jewish State) in 1896.  He wrote this in a fever, in just a few days.  It was as if suddenly an insight had come to him and he had to get it down on paper.  That insight was that "We are a people.  One people."  Herzl was not the first person to make this point, but his brilliance was that he followed up the next year with a conference in Basel, Switzerland in which he set up an organizational structure.  We will discuss that in a future podcast.  But what was brilliant about this essay was that he said it was not just a fantasy.  It was a reality that could be achieved.  Herzl had a scientific mind.  He said that what he was describing was a scientific process to create a reality.  It was not a dream.  

This essay created a sensation within the Jewish community.  It created enormous enthusiasm and enormous resistance.  The argument that the Jews were a national people was very offensive, especially in Germany.  Herzl knew this and addressed it. 

Before we start, let me give you a term and a definition.  The term is Zionism.  It commonly means Jewish nationalism.  If you ask American Jews today if they consider themselves Zionists, a minority will say that they do.  Of those who say yes what they mean by the term, they are all over the place.   Israel should be safe; there should be a place where Jews can go if they cannot go anywhere else;  Jews should move to Israel; and so on. 

Let me give you a definition  that Herzl would probably consider consistent with his thinking.  This is what we might call political Zionism.  "The Jews are not merely an ethnic or a religious group but are a national people, living in temporary exile and awaiting a return to their homeland." 

I hope you will try to find this short essay and read it.  (I think it is 96 pages long).   This is my discussion of the essay and of the points that jump out as key elements of Herzl's thinking. 

Question:  I think Herzl was a scientific thinker, not an ideologue.  Do you agree?