2008 Woodie Awards
Has Herzl's Dream Been Replaced by Hoenlein's Nightmare?
Eitan Kastner
Issue date: 5/16/05 Section: Opinion
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Following the First Zionist Congress in 1898, Theodore Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, wrote in his personal journal, "Today I founded the Jewish state. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. If not in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will know it." And his prediction was right on the money; in May of 1948, David Ben-Gurion famously declared Israel's independence with a picture of Herzl behind him. Herzl sparked what would evolve into the Jewish state. Inspired and energized by Herzl's "if you will, it is not a dream," the first Jewish pioneers left Europe to build Herzl's dream. They drained the malarial swamps of the Galilee, developed the desolate coastal plain, and built the first Jewish city - Tel-Aviv - in nearly two millennia.
Unfortunately, "the land without a people for a people without a land" which Herzl described was already moderately populated and the slowly growing Jewish settlement of Palestine fueled the rage of the land's inhabitants and neighbors. When the United Nations passed a resolution at the end of 1947 in favor of creating the Jewish State, the imminent war between the Jews and Arabs had begun. The young nation of Israel fought gallantly, assisted by a United Nations sanctioned ceasefire in the middle of the fighting, and resisted the five major Arab armies that attacked her. The war had its share of sacrifices though; one percent of the nation fell in the fighting.
Precisely because of these events the days of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut were instituted. But these days have far greater importance. The creation of the Jewish State has affected Jews throughout the world, giving Jews the self-pride to walk around wearing a kippah and those living in hostile environments to know there is always a safe haven for them. That is why Jews that live in Israel and the Diaspora celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut: Israeli Jews for living the dream, and Diaspora Jews out of appreciation of a renewed national identity and center, both cultural and intellectual.
Unfortunately, "the land without a people for a people without a land" which Herzl described was already moderately populated and the slowly growing Jewish settlement of Palestine fueled the rage of the land's inhabitants and neighbors. When the United Nations passed a resolution at the end of 1947 in favor of creating the Jewish State, the imminent war between the Jews and Arabs had begun. The young nation of Israel fought gallantly, assisted by a United Nations sanctioned ceasefire in the middle of the fighting, and resisted the five major Arab armies that attacked her. The war had its share of sacrifices though; one percent of the nation fell in the fighting.
Precisely because of these events the days of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut were instituted. But these days have far greater importance. The creation of the Jewish State has affected Jews throughout the world, giving Jews the self-pride to walk around wearing a kippah and those living in hostile environments to know there is always a safe haven for them. That is why Jews that live in Israel and the Diaspora celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut: Israeli Jews for living the dream, and Diaspora Jews out of appreciation of a renewed national identity and center, both cultural and intellectual.