Israel: The Jewish State

On Wednesday April 29th 2009 Israel celebrated 61 years since its establishment; nevertheless, amidst the festivities celebrating 61 years of independence were heard the questions of whether Israel should exist at all and if yes whether Israel has the right to be a Jewish state.

The Jewish State was extablished in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust, which claimed six and a half million Jewish lives. The Jewish people started trickling into their ancient homeland the late nineteen century after almost two thousand years of fleeing death and persecution in a hostile and anti-Semitic world. The state was to be, as envisioned by Theodor Herzl and Zionist leaders that succeeded him, a place of refuge for a victimised and battered people: security could only be achieved in a national homeland--a state for the Jewish people.

(see article on Theodor Herzl; April 2009)

In 1917 the Balfour Declaration drew up the British Mandate of Palestine which was intended to be the Jewish National Home.

In 1922, in response to Arab pressure, Britain violated the Mandate and cut off 77% of Palestine, and created the Hashemite knigdom of Transjordan forbidding Jewish settlement there. Over 70% of Jordanians are Palestinian Arabs.

The 1947 UN Resolution 181 recommended partitioning the remaining Palestine Mandate between Jew and Arabs. Jewish leaders accepted it even though their portion comprised only 13% of the original Mandate and 60% of it was the arid Negev desert. Arab leaders rejected the offer and instead went to war to seize the whole area and eliminate Israel.

"The war was declared by the Arabs, after their rejection of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine (UN General Assembly Resolution 181) that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab-Israeli_War

David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the state of Israel on May 14 1948 a day before the British Mandate over Palestine was to expire. Israel was immediately recognised by the United States three days later by the Soviet Union and later by Iran, the United Nations and many other countries.

On the day that followed the declaration of the state of Israel, Israel was attacked by Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan. They were aided by volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Lybia and Yemen.

If the Arabs had accepted the partition plan they would now be celebrating independence together with Israel. Instead, they have relentlessly attacked Israel and Israel has been forced to defend itself against the declared goal of total annihilation.

The question of whether Israel should exist and if the Jewish people are entitled to a state is, under natural circumstances, not even worthy of an answer; nevertheless, because it is Israel we are discussing, double standards and unfair, unwarranted criticism, judgment and anti-Semitism are the main characters thereby eliminating natural processes and responses and creating the need to justify and explain the existence of the state strictly for the purpose of educating those who are otherwise ignorant to the facts and influenced and swayed by erroneous public opinion and false propaganda supplied in abundance by the media.

It is pathetic that Muslims are offended by the representation of Israel on world maps and even more pathetic that any company of any nation would remove a country from a map for marketing purposes. What do they call the land between the Jordon and the Mediterranean? It cannot be called Palestine: such a state does not exist yet--although many a map does say Palestine. Is the land left nameless?

The state of Israel has existed since 1948, although there has been a continuous Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish presence in the land for 4000 years: Abraham led Hebrew tribes to the land and settled there 4000 years ago; Joshua and the Israelites entered and settled in the land 3,500 years ago and Jerusalem has been the centre of Judaism for the last 3000 years. I guess that is still not enough to get Israel on some maps.

The Muslim Countries are in Green.

Can you see Israel? It looks like two little red specks. It is under Turkey.

World Muslim Population: 1.2 Billion (1,200 Million)

The Jewish Population of Israel/World: 5.8 Million/15 Million

The Jewish people are entitled to a state after two thousand years of persecution and death as refugies in exile; the state has every right to be a Jewish state.

Let us examine for a moment the implications of this much discussed topic. What does it actually mean to have a Jewish State? Does is mean that it is a state only for Jews? Certainly not! There are 7,411,000 Israelis on the eve of Israel's 61st Independence Day, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday afternoon.

About 75.5 percent, or 5,593,000, of Israelis are Jews, 1,498,000 are Arabs (20.2%), while "Others" - immigrants and their offspring who are not registered as Jews by the Interior Ministry - number 320,000 (4.3%).

Jewish state simply means a democratic state with a Jewish majority that secures the Jewish character of the state by electing a government that guarantees the security of the Jewish people and protects the rights of its citizens to celebrate of the Jewish holidays, the observance of the Sabbath and the observance of Judaism. The argument that Zionism--the aspirations of the Jewish people for a national home--is racist should be perceived by each person in relation to his own national aspirations and loyalty.

In order for the state to preserve its Jewish character, it has to maintain a Jewish majority. Israel has a population of seven and a half million. 5.8 are Jewish and 1.5are Arab and there are about 300,000 who are neither Arabic nor Jewish. This means that approximately 25% of Israel's population is not Jewish. If there were to be a non-Jewish majority, as a democratic state, non-Jews could determine the future of a state that was founded as a national home for the Jewish people and Israel would lose its Jewish character.

Nations and states have a religious, cultural identity and character by default.

Consider that many countries have flags with a cross or a crescent moon, symbols which are clearly religious.

The European Union, with its long Catholic history, expresses its religious affiliation in its design of the European Union flag. The European Union has often been called a Christian club and has shown reluctance to accepting Turkey--a Muslim country of over 70 million--with fears that such a large influx of Muslims would jeopordise Europe's Christian character.

The circle of stars bears a striking similarity to the twelve star halo of the virgin Mary seen in Roman Catholic art. The flag's designer, Arsène Heitz, has acknowledged that the Book of Revelation (which is where the twelve-star halo of the Virgin Mary was first mentioned) helped to inspire him. Revelation 12:1 is cited to explain the symbolism: " A great sign appeared in the heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars". ( A crown of stars can be interpreted as a "Crown of Immortality"). It has been noted that the date the flag was adopted, 8 December 1955, coincided with the Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast decreed in 1854 by Pope Pius ix.

Contrary to what Islam and Roman Catholicism would have you believe, the Jewish people have never been out neither to proseletise nor to conquer.

In fact, the Rabbis make it considerably difficult for an individual to convert as a process of filtering out those who are in in for ulterior motives. You would think that considering the demographics problem that Israel has been facing that Israel would make conversion an easy process as a means of increasing the Jewish population; nevertheless, this is not the case: it is not easy to become Jewish.

Concerning land: the Jewish people have not had a state since the Roman expulsion in the second century A.D. and they haven't sought any other land to claim their own besides the land of Israel, their homeland and the land of their forefathers. The state of Israel has made concessions and land for peace agreements which have jeopordised its security for the sake of acheiving a peaceful existence.

History and a map of the world will show you that conquest and proselytising belongs to Roman Catholicism and to Islam.

A video I received on Muslim Demographics

The land mass under their possession and the sheer number of their adherence make it quite obvious that Islam and Catholicism have an agenda: convert and conquer or conquer and convert.

A video on the Issues being Discussed

I find it absolutely absurd that I have to put together an article to justify the existence of a nation; nevertheless, for reasons I have already mentioned and with the amount of negative publicity and misunderstanding surrounding the state of Israel, I consider it of utmost importance to provide the opportunity to see the issues presented from a different perspective.

The Jewish people are entitled to a state: the state has every right to be a Jewish state.

He Came To Die For Our Sins

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

The Lord Jesus prayed these words while on the cross completing and fulfilling the very reason for which he came to this earth.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:17,18)

As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
(John 10:15)

Jesus the Messiah was born into this world to teach and to heal, to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, to cast out evil spirits and to heal the crippled and rasie the dead.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:1)

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (Isaiah 42:7)

He performed miracles to show forth the mighty power of God and that people might believe in Him and when his time had come he offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

John the baptist introduced him as "The lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world."

There cannot be remission of sins without the shedding of blood.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22 )

Up until the destruction of the second temple in the year 70 A.D. , the priests of Israel offered up animal sacrifices to atone for their own sins and for the sins of the people. With the destruction of the temple, both the priesthood and animal sacrifices were rendered obsolete.

The Pharisees, who were the forebearers of rabbinic Judaism, naturally took asumed the role of rabbis and priests of the people of Israel. Animal sacrifices were no longer possible and when most of the Jewish people were exiled from their homeland by the Romans in 135 A.D. new laws and rituals were instituted to replace animal sacrifices with regards to atonement for sin.

Jesus, the Lamb of God and faithful high priest, sacrificed himself for the sins of the world fulfilling God's plan of salvation and rendering unnecessary both the priesthood and animal sacrifices.

For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
(Heb 7:26-27)

When Adam and Eve sinned they died spiritually and started dying naturally. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden and from the presence of God. The virus of sin was passed on to their children and to all of humanity. Immediately after that first sin, the Lord himself, acting as high priest, offered the first animal sacrifice covering Adam and Eve's nakedness and teaching us that without the shedding of blood their can be no remission of sins.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

(Leviticus 17:11 )

Cain's offering of the fruit of the ground was not acceptable to God. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and found favour in the eyes of the Lord.

Abraham was commanded to offer up his son of promise, Isaac. While they were travelling up to mount Moriah to the site of the sacrifice, Isaac asked his father, "father, we have the wood and the fire for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb?" Abraham answered, "God will provide for himself a lamb." The Lord prevented Abraham from harming Isaac. Abraham sacrificing His son was to be a picture of God's plan to sacrifice his own son Jesus, the lamb of God.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53:7-12)

To focus on Jesus' death and to throw blame on his accusers and harbour hatred and resentment towards those responsible for his crucifixion is to deny God's plan of salvation: Jesus the Lamb of God, came to die!

Jesus knew why he had come to earth. He knew that he was going to die. He knew that he would rise from the dead.

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (Matthew 16:21)

When revealing this to his disciples Peter responded in his defence:

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
(Matthew 16:22-23)

Peter was concerned with Jesus' death and failed to see the miracle of the resurrection: Jesus is alive!

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

(Psalm 16:10)

He came to offer himself a sacrifice for our sins; he was raised from the dead; he appeared to many; he was taken up into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father.

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Around 4000 B.C. Creation

Adam and Eve sin and are thrown out of the garden. The God of Israel—true high priest—makes an animal sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. There can be no remission of sins without the shedding of blood.

2000 B.C. - Abram is called

Ishmael is born.

Isaac is born and Abraham is commanded to sacrifice him to God as an offering. Abraham obeys and is prevented by the Lord who says that he will provide a lamb. This foreshadows the Lamb of God who is sacrificed for the sins of the world.

Jacob is born and after struggling with the angel of the Lord he is renamed Israel.

Israel has twelve sons who are to be the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel blessed all of his sons before his death and Judah was blessed with the kingdom. King David was from the tribe of Judah, hence the name Judaea and the Jews. after the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, all the people were reunited in Judaea.

Joseph is sold into captivity and after much suffering is instated to the highest position of authority in the land of Egypt after Pharaoh.

Jacob-Israel-and his eleven sons are brought to Egypt out of the famine in Canaan and they and their families settle in the land of Goshen. The people of Israel grow and multiply and are oppressed by the Pharaoh. This begins the four hundred and thirty years of slavery in Egypt.

Moses-a levite- is born at a time when Pharaoh is killing all the males of the people of Israel. Moses' mother places him in a basket and sends him floating down the nile to be found by Pharaoh's daughter and taken into Pharaoh's palace where he is raised as a son and prince of Egypt. When he is a man he discovers his past, kills and Egyptian to protect a fellow Israelite and flees to Midian where he marries and live until the Lord God of Israel reveals Himself to him and commands him to go to Egypt to set his people free.

Moses relunctatly goes to Egypt and God pours his wrath upon Egypt. The people of Israel are set free by the blood of the lamb on the door posts, led through the red sea and through the wilderness for forty years and into the land of Canaan which was promised to Abraham four hundred and thirty years earlier.

Moses dies and does not enter the land. Instead Joshua leads the people of Israel into the land. After Joshuas's death judges rule in the land.

My Testimony in Brief

I was born in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1973. In 1974, as a result of the Turkish invasion, my family and I moved to England until 1982 at which time we moved back to Cyprus and settled in a small coastal town called Larnaca.

After high school and the army I travelled to New York where I played music and went to University amongst other things.

In the beginning of 1998 whilst running a small home based computer business, my life long search for God culminated in me confessing my sins to the God of Israel, asking for forgiveness and being born again. I fell in love with Jesus and my life changed.

In the summer of 1998, after spending the last few months alone in elevated excitement reading the Bible and learning about Jesus, I decided to leave New York and travel back to Cyprus to lead a more quiet life.

In Cyprus I met many people from different walks of life who had had a similar experience to me: in fact what happened to them spiritually was identical to what had happened to me: they were born again.

I spent seven months in Cyprus living with my mother in Larnaca and spending a lot of time with my brothers and sisters in the Lord from a few different fellowships on the island.

In the beginning of 1999 I felt drawn to leave Cyprus and travelled to England where I spent the next five months working in a factory that made showerheads, selling ice-cream on an ice-cream van and enjoying wonderful fellowship with believers I had met in England. It is there where while reading the book of Revelation--it could have been any book of the Bible really--I began to fall in love with Israel and the people of Israel and set off on an amazing journey and a new life.

In August of 1999, I travelled back to New York and started studying History with a focus on Jewish history, Biblical criticism and Hebrew language.

In the spring of 2000 I started working at a French-American restaurant in the centre of Manhattan that I later discovered was owned and run by Israelis. My connection to the restaurant was the Greek general manager who left the following summer.

As my love for Jesus grew, so did my love for Israel. I was a member of the Hillel Jewish club at my university as well as the Intervarsity Christian fellowship. In the summer of 2002 I received a scholarship from my department--the Hebrew department--to take an intensive, advanced Hebrew grammar course at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, a seminary that trains conservative rabbis. I loved the course. Just before the course started, I met Dana, who was to become my wife. In September 2002, we left New York and after a brief stint in England and Cyprus landed in Israel.

We have three daughters, Emma, 16; Zoe, 12 and Sophia, 9.

We live in Rehovot, Israel.

Images of the Messiah: The Appointed Time

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob. Jacob is also called Israel. I suppose that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son not only because, as the text says, he was the son of his old age-for he had another son by Rachel, Benjamin- but also because he was the most good in heart and obedient to the good will of his father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. Genesis 37:3

His brothers also despised Joseph because of the love that the father had for him.

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. Genesis 37:4

God reveals something to Joseph that will come to pass years down the road: He gives him two dreams which are alike in that Joseph becomes the saviour of his own family. When he repeats the dreams to his father and to his brothers, his brothers hate him even more; but his father keeps these things in his heart.

And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. Genesis 37:8

Years later, another son of Israel, Moses, is faced with a similar rebuke by one of his own brothers: When Moses saw two Hebrews fighting, he said to the offender:

"Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" Exodus 2:13,14

It appears that God had revealed to Moses that the time would come when he would deliver the people of Israel out of the house of bondage by his hand; however, his own people who were in dire need of salvation and liberation were not yet ready to receive him.

Joseph is sold by his brothers into slavery and finds himself in the Kingdom of Egypt where God-- after much trial and temptation--raised him to a position of great authority in the land of Egypt: Joseph was second only to Pharaoh.

Meanwhile back in Canaan, Jacob is grieving for his son Joseph. Joseph's brothers know in their hearts that they have committed a great injustice. There is a famine in the land and Joseph's brothers are sent by their father to Egypt where there is much grain because of Joseph's wise and Godly stewardship.

Thence the dreams which Joseph had prophetically dreamt years before are in this very moment fulfilled: His brothers who had rejected him, and hated him because of the goodness of his heart and because of the hardness of their heart, have now come to bow down before Joseph, who has been raised by God, to a position of power and majesty: he is their saviour and deliverer.

We notice a pattern forming throughout the Bible: Those who are highly esteemed by men are not necessarily esteemed highly by God.

But the Lord said to Samuel: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7b

Joseph is first rejected by his own family, but is chosen by God to do a marvelous work of salvation. At the appointed time, the Lord opens their hearts and their eyes and they accept Joseph.

Moses is rebuked for his efforts to reconcile two of his brothers who are fighting and in effect is rejected as a leader, only to be accepted and followed at God's appointed time.

David--before becoming king of Israel-- had an almost identical experience after Samuel had anointed him. He went to the camp where Goliath was provoking the Israelites and he inquired about what was happening, with the intention of fighting the giant himself. He was ridiculed by his brother Eliab and rejected by the rest of his brothers.

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 1 Samuel 17:18

In Psalm 118 David says, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our sight.”

The Bible speaks of another king that arises, and is rejected by His brothers only to be accepted at the fulfillment of the age when God opens their eyes and their hearts. This one is the Messiah, the King of Israel.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. Mark 6:4.

Read Posts in the Correct Order

Dear Readers,

Please make sure that all posts are read in the correct order.

They have been labelled: Part i, Part ii and so on and so forth.

As of yet, Blogger hasn't a way to re-order posts; I hope that future versions will include such a feature.


Happy reading,

Dionysis

Theodor Herzl: The Jewish State Part iii

Part iii

Herzl believed that the establishment of a Jewish State would see the end of anti-Semitism and therefore the end to the Jewish problem.

“If we only begin to carry out the plans, Anti-Senitism would stop at once and for ever. For it is the conclusion of peace.” 23

He failed to see how much the world would shrink due to technology, the mass media, and communications.

“In order to assess the status of Israel in the international community, it may be useful to look at the Middle East’s only democracy as ‘the Jew among the nations.’” 24

The nation of Israel is in the land; but it is surrounded by hostile nations.

“… No other civilized nation in the history of the world-including totalitarian and authoritarian regimes-has ever been as repeatedly, unfairly and hypocritically condemned and criticized by the international community as Israel has been over the years.” 25

Herzl saw that the Jews could not achieve national actualization while they were living as foreigners in foreign lands where they were not welcome, and where they were fiercely persecuted and denied the rights to live as citizens of the state. He recognized that the Jews were a nation without a home, and that they needed a home in which they may grow and conduct there own affairs in the way that they saw fit. Herzl did not see that eventually, the same international community in which they were suffering for almost two thousand years would bereave them of their freedom to conduct their political affairs in the way that they see fit.

Israel: The Jew among the nations is right!

For I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem for war: The city shall be captured, the houses plundered, and the women violated; and a part of the city shall go into exile. But the rest of the population shall not be uprooted form the city. Then the LORD will come forth and make war on a day of battle. On that day, He will set His feet on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall split across from east to west, and one part of the Mount shall shift to the north and the other to the south, a huge gorge. And the Valley in the Hills shall be stopped up as it was stopped up as a result of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah.-And the LORD my God, with all the holy beings, will come to you. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be one LORD with one name. 26

Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God, the LORD is One. 27

Theodor Herzl died in 1906, forty-two years before the declaration of the Jewish State by David Ben-Gurion on May 14th 1948. His work and his vision were truly prophetic and miraculous; and his leadership was of epic proportion. His words ring in our ears today:

“Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will arise once again. Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish will have their State.” 28

References

1 Lloyd P. Gartner, History of the Jews in Modern Times (Oxford, 2001), 251

2 Carl E. Schorski, The Journal Of Modern History (1967), 373

3 Essays and Addresses by Theodor Herzl, translated from the German by Harry Zohn, Zionist Writings, Volume One: January, 1896-June, 1898, (Herzl Press, New York, 1973), 16-17

4 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 162

5 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 19

6 Ibid., 92

7 Ibid., 94

8 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 15

9 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 17

10 Ibid., 18

11 Ibid., 76

12 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 140

13 Ibid., 87

14 Ibid., 122

15 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 27

16 Essays and Addresses by Theodor Herzl, translated from the German by Harry Zohn, Zionist Writings, Volume One: January, 1896-June, 1898, (Herzl Press, New York, 1973), 13

17 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 322

18 Stephen M. Wylen, Settings of Silver (New York, 2000), 390

19 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 172-173

20 Ibid., 161-162

21 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 63

22 Edited by Gideon Shimoni and Robert S. Wistrich, Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999), 304

23 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 110

24 Alan M. Dershowitz, Israel: The Jew among the Nations (2002). Nativ is a publication of the Ariel Center for Policy Research (ACPR). ‘The doors of Nativ are open to diverse subjects and authors, on the understanding that all texts published will serve as stimuli for high-level debate on issues of vital interest to Israel.’

25 Ibid.

26 Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society) Zechariah 14:1-5;9

27 The Holy Bible (King James Version) Deuteronomy 6:4

28 Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943), 111

Bibliography

Theodor Herzl; Foreword by Chaim Weizman, The Jewish State (New York, 1943)

Zionist Writings, Volume One: January, 1896-June, 1898, (Herzl Press, New York, 1973)

Theodor Herzl: Visionary of the Jewish State (Jerusalem, 1999) Lloyd P. Gartner, History of the

Jews in Modern Times (Oxford, 2001) Stephen M. Wylen, Settings of Silver (New York, 2000)

The Holy Bible (King James Version) Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society)

Theodor Herzl: The Jewish State Part 1

This is the first part of a paper on Theodor Herzl that I wrote at University in 2001

Theodor Herzl: The Jewish State (Part i)

Theodor Herzl was born in Budapest on May 2nd 1860 into a wealthy assimilated Jewish family. His parents did not teach him Jewish ways or customs; so he knew little about Jewish thought and Jewish writings. Herzl’s mother was educated in a secular institution; and his father had given up religious life, although Herzl’s grandfather was a religious Jew who knew some of the earlier pioneers of Zionism.

A native of Budapest whose prosperous family was German in its culture, with a grandfather who had known early proto-Zionist leaders, Herzl grew up in a conventionally liberal Jewish atmosphere with little Judaic knowledge. 1

Herzl’s mother encouraged him to study German literature, and Herzl became an avid reader. When he was just a young boy, he formed a small literary group with his classmates called ‘We’, in which they would study, and further their understanding of German culture. Even though he experienced anti-Semitism whilst growing up in Budapest, he never, until his conversion to the Zionist cause, ceased to be an ardent assimilationist.

“Even as experience consumed his hopes, his central concern still remained to save gentile society, in which case the Jewish problem would take care of itself.” 2

In 1878 after the death of his sister, the Herzl family moved to Vienna. In Vienna, Theodor Herzl studied law, and was a member of a fraternity until the day when the fraternity decided that it would no longer accept Jews as members. Those who were already members were permitted to remain; but Herzl decided that he would move on. He graduated in 1884 as Doctor of Laws. He found work in Salzburg; and faced again with the limited prospects of promotion in that city, he began to travel and write plays.

“I would have liked to remain in that beautiful city, but as a Jew I would never have been promoted to a judgeship. For that reason I said farewell both to Salzburg and to legal learning.” 3

In the interim, he got married and had three children; and in 1891, he was offered a post in Paris as the foreign correspondent for the Neue Freie Presse, a Vienna newspaper, although up until that moment he had no interest in politics. It is evident that these four years as a political journalist, equipped him with the knowledge, and instilled in him the compulsion to write his own thoughts on the solution to the Jewish question. Two months before he left Paris, in 1895, he wrote his monumental work, Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State. It was truly a prophetic work, and an objective solution to the Jewish problem, penetrating the Jewish Community from the outside, and stirring up emotions and hopes that had not been felt since Simon Bar Kochba led his military rebellion against the Roman Empire in 132-135 C.E.

It is interesting to note how his little prior involvement with the Jewish people, became to him a valuable asset in promoting political Zionism. He was not proposing a Jewish solution to the Jewish problem. He was not envisioning a Jewish state, but a state for the Jews.

'A nation has the right to a state’ was defined by Herzl not in terms of culture, language, folklore and history, but in terms of universal rights. 4

Herzl understood that the Jews could not live a liberated life in Europe, or anywhere in the world, because where the Jews go the Jews are persecuted.

The Jewish question exists wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does not exist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We naturally move to those places where we are not persecuted, and there our presence produces persecution. 5

Herzl is interested in the Jews having the opportunity to conduct their own political affairs, in a land that is their own, in a land in which they may raise their children in freedom, without discrimination or persecution; where they may reach the highest heights of their heart’s desire, because their state offers them the unhindered opportunity to do so.

“The Jewish people are at present prevented by the Diaspora from conducting their political affairs themselves. Besides, they are in a condition of more or less severe disability in many parts of the world.” 6

Herzl’s disassociation from the Jewish people--which until that point were a religious group with no substantial independent political voice--and his involvement and understanding of gentile politics, gave him a platform from which to preach a political message to the Jews: it was a gentile solution for a Jewish problem.

“This pamphlet is intended to open a general discussion on the Jewish Question. Friends and foes will take part in it; but it will no longer, I hope, take the form of violent abuse of sentimental vindication, but of a debate, practical, large, earnest and political.” 7

Herzl is calling for change. He himself experienced a change; and he is calling on his people to change.

“In 1895, Theodor Herz underwent a dramatic conversion from Austo-German assimilationist to Zionist.” 8

Herzl had his own conception of Jewishness; and it seems that he thought very little of the current Jewish capacity for successful political action. He criticizes the Jews for crying:

“We depend for sustenance on the nations who are our hosts, and if we had no hosts to support us we would die of starvation.” 9

After speaking of the lack of resourcefulness of the Jews, he says:

“But I do not want to take up the cudgels for the Jews in this pamphlet.” 10

Herzl wishes to arouse the people to a new and progressive way of thinking: A way of thinking that will provide the impetus for action that will open up for them a door out of the ghetto, and into their own place.

The ghetto subsists still, though its walls are broken down. 11

Herzl had never concerned himself directly with the Jewish problem until his conversion to Political Zionism, because he truly believed that the enlightened gentile society, of which he was a part, would gradually fully accept the Jews. Full emancipation, to Jews in Austria, was granted in 1887; but emancipation did not mean acceptance and assimilation.

References and Bibliography in the final part of this paper.

Theodor Herzl: The Jewish State Part ii

Part ii

The Dreyfus trial in 1894 served as a catalyst that would drive home the now undeniable realities and results of anti-Semitism in Europe, and the possibility of such outcomes due to anti-Semitism in any land where the Jews were merely guests.

In Austria, with the failure of Liberalism, and the ascendance to power of anti-Semite delegates in the municipal assembly-such as Karl Lueger of the Christian Social Party who was elected to mayor of Vienna in 1895-anti-Semitism acquired a political representation. This was a clear indication that the very existence of the Jews in Austria was at risk.

For Herzl this was a clear sign of the collapse of political stability in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in general and the undermining of the status of the Jews in particular. 12

Lichtenstein-co-founder with Karl Lueger of the Austrian Christian Social Party-declared that anti-Semitism was an integral part of his ideology and politics. He cited the antagonism towards the Jews, created by their domination of the Austrian credit business, as the main reason for the success of his party. 13

In France, in 1884, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted in a court martial of selling French military secrets to the Germans. Although the evidence pointed to his innocence, false witnesses fabricated evidence that led to his conviction. When a new trial was held in 1898, and the accuser who was found to be with false testimony committed suicide, huge support arose from the masses to support his widow, and to cry out against the Jews. Herzl maintained that Dreyfus could not have been guilty of the crime of which he had been accused, because when a Jew reaches the desirable and honorable position of power and authority in gentile society-when one is accepted and thus assimilated-he will not risk losing this much-valued acquired status. The anti-Semitism that was stirred up in the masses during the Dreyfus Affair led Herzl to seriously consider a solution to the Jewish Question. All these elements combined necessitated the founding of a Jewish state.

In September 1899 in an article he wrote called “Zionism”, he wrote:

“You see, what made me a Zionist was the Dreyfus trial.” 14

"No human being is wealthy or powerful enough to transplant a nation from one habitation to another. An idea alone can compass that: and this idea of a state may have the requisite power to do so. The Jews have dreamt this kingly dream all through the long nights of their history. ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ is our old phrase. It is now a question of showing that the dream can be converted into a living reality." 15

Herzl is acknowledging that throughout all the centuries in the galut, the Jews have always had a desire in their hearts to return to the land of their forefathers. There has always been a connection between the Jewish nation, and the land of Israel. He says though, that the Jews have been dreaming about it throughout the centuries, without any action towards the realization of that dream.

He is the one who is putting forward the idea; and he is the one who is laying the groundwork, the foundation, for its materialization. He is the sublime figure that encapsulates this idea: he is the personification of this idea that has the requisite power to rise up a nation oppressed, to the military victories we see just forty two years after his death.

He made a journal entry in 1896, which suggests that he was aware of the magnetism that he held over the people:

"As I sat on the platform of the workmen’s stage on Sunday I experienced strange sensations. I saw and heard my legend being born. The people are sentimental; the masses do not see clearly. I believe that even now they no longer have a clear image of me. A light fog is beginning to rise around me and it may perhaps become the cloud in which I shall walk." 16

The first Zionist Congress took place in Basle, Switzerland, on August 29th 1897. The man responsible for organizing the congress and the central figure of the congress was Theodor Herzl. It was attended by nationalist Jewish leaders from all over the world. The aim of Zionism is to create a national home for the Jewish people. It is to bring the Jewish people from the Four Corners of the earth, to an internationally recognized and secure border in the land of Palestine. Herzl wrote in his diary on September 3rd 1897:

"If I were to sum up the Congress in a word-which I shall take care not to publish-it would be this: At Basle I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today I would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it." 17

Just over fifty years after this diary entry, this prediction is fulfilled.

Theodor Herzl was not the first to consider the foundation of a Jewish state as a valid solution to the Jewish problem; but he is the first to propose a tangible plan of action for the realization of such a cause. His objectivity due to his ignorance with regards to Jewish matters may have been his greatest asset.

Herzl decided that the only solution was for the Jews to have a state of their own. He was so unlearned in Jewish affairs that he did not know that many other Jews had proposed such a solution before him. Working only from his own thoughts, Herzl went home and wrote a book, The Jewish State, in which he outlined his proposal. 18

Herzl even claimed at a later time, that:

“Had I known Pinsker’s writings, I would not have written 'The Jewish State'.” 19

Innovative leadership is usually a function of the leaders’ freedom of maneuver. When he began, Herzl was free of any cultural conditioning. Unaffected by tradition, national images and historical precedents, he burst boldly into a flight of imagination. 20

The writings of Leon Pinsker and of Moses Hess and of Nathan Binbaum scan back almost three decades before Herzl ever considered political Zionism. Hovevi Zion, and other Zionist groups, existed and proposed the slow migration to, and settlement of the Jews in Palestine. Herzl viewed this method as a slow one; and as one that was not politically sound, because it did not involve or have the open support of the political powers of the time. Herzl wanted Zionism to be supported by at least one world power: he wanted the establishment of the Jewish State to be the product of the combined efforts of the Jewish people and the gentile powers. He wants to recruit gentiles to his camp, who will help with the fulfillment of his plan.

“I have already mentioned that honest anti-Semites, whilst preserving their independence, will combine with our officials in controlling the transfer of our estates.” 21

Although there are differences and disagreements between Herzl, and the already existing Zionist groups, Herzl’s shrewd diplomacy, dispels any clouds that obscure the clarity of his vision. He thus consolidates the efforts and the support of practically all groups, and gets the ball of Political Zionism rolling.

In his opening address at the First Zionist Congress, Herzl declared that ‘Zionism constitutes a return to Judaism even before a return to the land of the Jews.’ This sentence has been subjected to considerable interpretation; there were even some Orthodox who saw it as an expression of Herzl’s return to traditional Judaism. Yet there can be no doubt that this was not the meaning intended by Herzl. It was nothing more than a romantic call for return to the ‘ancient home; to the Jewish past and the sense of national togetherness, before the physical return to the land. 22

How I Fell In Love With Israel

My love for Israel started in 1999 less than a year after I had fallen in love with Jesus.

I had been living in New York since 1994. In early 1997 I was running a small, home-based business selling computers. I was working round the clock and was very tired and not very happy with what I was doing. I also had problems receiving funding to expand the business due to my student status and things were starting to get tight as large companies released computers at super competitive prices.

I had always felt drawn to the supernatural and had started reading the Bible at the age of six. I bought my first Bible at my school jumble sale in England for 2p.

Since then I have been fascinated with the supernatural and remember having received--at my request--a few children's Bibles over a few Christmases as gifts. I loved the stories and longed to learn more about this God who created everything and who had such an intimate relationship with His creation. I always knew in my heart that God was the God of Israel and that the true God was the God of the Bible who is the God of Israel.

As I grew into my teenage years I grew distant from my reading of the Bible, although I always felt a connection and a love for the God of the Bible. I started to be interested in the occult and started reading and learning about different religions and beliefs which included transcendental meditation and reincarnation.

As my teenage years drudged on and problems in the family began to torment me and have an affect on my mood, my character and my behaviour, I began to find ways to escape whilst desperately attempting to improve myself. In retrospect I think that it is the conviction of sin that set me on the desperate search to rid myself of this sin and recreate myself a new person.
Needless to say, my attempts amounted to nothing until one uneventful day in April of 1998. I was tired of running the computer business and by this time had had a burning desire in my heart to find what it was that I really wanted to do with my life but most of all to know God.

Around the middle of 1997 I had concluded that my research into the occult and religion had not strengthened my faith and that all the self-help and self-improvement books that I had read had had no apparent or implicit effect on me whatsoever: in fact I was more convinced than ever that the true God was the God of the Bible: the God of Israel. I bought myself a Bible and I started at the beginning: Genesis. I started reading the New Testament simultaneously just so that I could cover more ground, save time and bring about a change more quickly.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

The conviction of sin. Why did I want to bring about a change? Because of the conviction of sin. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. I didn't want to change and to get rid of sin in my life because I had done something terrible. Looking back I understand that. I was convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit so that I would confess my sins, ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into my life.

Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:3

That's what happened on that uneventful day in April of 1998. All my reading of the Bible from front to back and from back to front and side to side didn't bring me the peace I was looking for; rather, it made me feel an even greater sinner. What, with all this talk of devotion to God, godliness and love, forgiveness and loving your enemies and going the extra mile and turning the other cheek. I was frustrated and could not possible live up to those expectations. In my frustration I turned to God. I asked Him to forgive me for not understanding and for my sins, I asked to be given eyes to understand, ears to hear and a new heart that would love and serve Him eternally. I was aware of the change on the very night that this had happened. I was born again and I didn't know what this meant.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

I didn't read and understand the above verse until November--five months later--when it suddenly hit me that I was in fact a new creature in Jesus and that all old things had in fact passed away. Hallelujah.

In fact the book I read immediately after asking the Lord to help me understand and to be the Lord of my life, was Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities all is vanity if you don't know God: this is exactly what I had wanted to hear.

. . . . to be continued