Customer Reviews

The Jewish State

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In response to the poor situation in which most European Jews lived, Herzl formulated his ideas on modern political Zionism. "The Jewish State" serves as a basis for the reunion of the Hebrew people as Herzl invisioned it. All Zionists and Jewish scholars/historians should become familiar with the principles of Zionism as outlined here by Herzl. "The Jewish State" played a highly significant role in begining the pioneer emegration which later led to the establishment of Israel. It is also quite interesting to compare Herzl's orignal thoughts and ideas with Israeli society, the fruition of his work.

In this review I refer to this edition,from Filiquarian Publishing,only. Without question this document has extreme historical and philosophical importance. Everyone who has an interest in the history of Zionism, Israel, Jewish migration and development, or even just a general interest in sociology or economics should have a copy in their library. But not this edition! It is so rife with typographical errors, misspellings, dropped words and such that it is often unreadable. An hour or two's work by a copy editor would have made a world of difference.

This book is just fundamental for anyone who considers itself a zionist or is interested in zionism. Herzl, considered the "father" of Zionism, exposes his thoughts over the importance of creating a Jewish State.And he goes further, by explaning how this would be done.It's also interesting to know the ideas of a man that, with his politycal zionism, not only created theories but also became an activist of his own idea, leading the way to efective action for establishing the State of Israel.Maybe he was wrong in some ideas, like the "linguistic federation", but this doesn't take his credits.In this book you will understand why people talk so much about him.

Herzl's writings and activity got the push for a Jewish State going. This pamplet is an overly optimistic approach to starting a new Jewish state circa just pre-1900. Very little of Herzl's ideas actually ever came about to fruition from what I understand about history, and its a good thing too, otherwise Israel would probably be communist today.

The further I read, the more sad I became as I considered how only something as horrible as the Holocaust could bring the Jewish population of the world back into their traditional land. However, Herzl's purpose was exactly to prevent persecution of the Jews. The only prophetic thing in this book was his speculation that some Jews would need to go through a little more suffering before they came around to the idea of a Jewish state. No one could contemplate the "Final Solution" however.

Herzl's Utopian-like ideas were interesting solutions to many problems the future nation of Israel would actually face.

You will learn something from this book if you are either a student of History or the Bible, but don't expect a short read.

**UPDATE**
I've upped the book an additional star after I've let it soak into me for a while. The pure historical importance of this document makes it a must read in today's troubled world. I've also thought about how Herzl just let his mind work through all the hoops of creating a new society from scratch, and admire him for putting it to paper.

"The Jewish State," was the means by which author, Theodor Herzl, rallied world Jewry to the cause of establishing a national homeland for his people. Published in 1896, this little pamphlet ignited age-old passions among Jews the world over and began the drive for the establishment of the first Jewish State in 2000 years. By doing so, Herzl set in motion events that monopolize the world's attention today.

In "The Jewish State," Herzl outlines the plan for establishing his state. In a logical, step-by-step process he defines how the land would be colonized, financed, and administered. Palestine and Argentina are suggested as possible sites. However, Palestine emerges clearly as the desired locale for spiritual and emotional reasons. Anyone trying to establish a state could use this pamphlet as a guide. Yasser Arafat should be given a copy!

Emerson said that American colonists fired, "the shot heard 'round the world," at Lexington and Concord. Herzl fired a similar shot by publishing "The Jewish State." He, no less than the colonists, started a revolution by his actions. Both ultimately achieved their goals of establishing a state for their peoples. However, America did not have to endure a Holocaust to facilitate an exodus to our shores; unfortunately, Israel did.

Today, the Jewish State exists in the form of modern Israel. Born out of controversy, this state exists as a prosperous, democratic entity, in the midst of numerically superior and extremely hostile Arab states. Jews have their home, but they have to fight daily to keep them. Is this what Herzl envisioned? Did he do the world a favor by establishing his state? The verdict is still out. One thing is clear. The roots of the current controversy that has American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan can be traced back to Israel, and Israel's roots can be traced to Herzl's pamphlet. Reading, "The Jewish State," is therefore essential to understanding current events. I strongly recommend it to any serious student of Middle Eastern affairs.

Herzl's book is a must-read for anyone who wants to get a sense of the Zionist movement and the passion of its most famous leader. It's a short book, easy to read, but provocative-- situating the reader in a period when Jews had both become emancipated from the ghetto and begun to attain some social and economic power. No surprise that anti-Semitism was an almost immediate result. I recommend it for Jews and non-Jews alike.

Many books are written. Few really change the world. This one did. It called for the creation of a Jewish state as a way of responding to the persecution the Jews suffered in Europe. Herzl was especially influenced by the Dryefuss trial and reasoned that if the Jews could not be accepted in what was then one of the most enlightened and progressive nations of the world then they would never ever really be accepted. Only a Jewish state in their ancient homeland, would enable them to live in dignity again.
Herzl's vision was as he prophesied realized just fifty years after the book's publication in 1897 when in November 1947 the UN called for partition of Mandatory Palestine into two states , one Jewish and one Arab. The Arabs refused to accept this, opened a war and the Jewish State was not founded in the way Herzl hoped by peaceful means , but rather on the battlefield.
Herzl saw the great need of the Jewish people in his time. He did not necessarily see the shape the state would take. Nor did he understand how difficult the path would be for Israel in the Middle East. The great pain and sadness of it all is that even if the state came as he had predicted in fifty years it did not come soon enough to save the Jews of Europe. Herzl saw the discrimination in Western Europe, and the poverty and oppression Jews faced in Eastern Europe. But his vision did not come soon enough to save the Jews from the horror of the Nazis. Israel has as Herzl hoped ingathered Jews not only from Europe but from close to one hundred nations. It is the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East.
This book will be especially instructive for those who wish to compare the ' dream of the Jewish state' with its reality today.

The establishment of the state of Israel ranks among the most momentous political developments of the twentieth century. Reemergence of the independent Jewish state after millennia of occupation and exile of the Jewish people is a remarkable development by any measure. It was a fulfillment of an ancient dream, and yet its political and logistical groundwork was only laid down within a century or so prior to its completion. This was the program of the Zionist movement, and the most noteworthy of its nineteenth century proponents was Theodor Herzl.

"The Jewish State" served as the de facto manifesto and Zionism. It is a relatively short pamphlet (less than hundred pages in its printed form), and yet within it are contained some of the most eloquent and inspiring words that tried to justify and promote the cause of Jewish statehood. Some of the Herzl's words have proven to be prescient in their foresight, and some of his other ambitions today feel a bit naïve and dated. As a starting point for his analysis of the "Jewish Question" (as he himself refers to it) Herzl takes as the indisputable fact the existence of European anti-Semitism. The history of the persecution of the Jews in Europe is long and checkered, but Herzl is careful to distinguish its ultimate sources from its proximate causes. It is the latter that are of the most importance to him, and Herzl attributes social, political, and economic upheavals as the primary driving forces of the contemporary anti-Semitism. Herzl is also very skeptical of the long-term prospect of assimilation of Jews into Western countries. He is convinced that Jews are an intrinsically different people from all of their host countries, and that only within their own state they can properly thrive.

One of the primary goals of this pamphlet is the establishment of the fact that Jewish State is not a utopian delusion but a necessary and practically achievable project. Herzl treats head-on some of the practical and logistical issues with its creation. He is not very concerned with the geographical location of such a state, and thinly populated regions of Africa and South America are perfectly acceptable to him. He devotes many pages to the explanation of how the cities, agriculture, and trade could be feasibly developed in not too long span of time. With the help of hindsight some of these schemes seem naïve, but from the point of view of Herzl's audience they would have sounded perfectly reasonable.

This is a very interesting book that ought to be read by anyone fascinated with history. The writing is immensely clear, accessible, and even forceful. Many of its concerns are relevant even today.

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) was an Austro-Hungarian journalist, who became the father of modern political Zionism.

Here are some quotations from the book (which was first published in 1896):

"I am absolutely convinced that I am right, though I doubt whether I shall live to see myself proved to be so." (Pg. 70)
"I think the Jewish question is no more a social than a religious one... It is a national question... We are a people---one people. (Pg. 75-76)
"The nations in whose midst Jews live are all either covertly or openly Anti-Semitic." (Pg. 86)
"Shall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what is given us, and what is selected by Jewish public opinion." (Pg. 95)
"The Ghetto continues though its walls are broken down." (Pg. 124)
"We shall let every man find salvation 'over there' in his own particular way. Above and before all we shall make room for the immortal band of our Frethinkers." (Pg. 133)
"But the Jews, once settled in their own State, would probably have no more enemies." (Pg. 153)

A document of historical interest and significance, Herzl's Jewish State argues that Jews will never be fully accepted as a minority in any country, and that therefore they must form a separate state. He proceeds to outline in bold, imaginative terms, just how that might be possible. His assumptions are that there will be a great deal more cooperation and solidarity with the Jewish State than was actually the case. Though he calls on religious themes of the "Promised Land", he assures that there will be a secular state. If you are interested in the genesis of Zionism, then you must read this at some point. This particular copy was laden with sloppy typos, and had just the bare bones text; no introduction or context is provided. You may wish to find a better publisher, though this text itself is workable at least.