In France the Zionist idea found a supporter in one of the most prominent French Jews of the last century, Joseph Salvador (1796–1873). He was the first French Jew after the emancipation of the Jews in France to express the great ideas of ancient Judaism. From 1789 to 1822, when the first edition of his Essay on Mosaism made its appearance, a period of thirty-three years had elapsed—approximately the span of a generation, and generally the time it takes for a new epoch to develop. Salvador, as the intellectual leader of his epoch, was inspired by those fine moral instincts and that devotion to humanity which are fostered by the influence of the Bible.
When in 1840 the Eastern question presented itself in all its disquieting developments, Salvador seemed already to anticipate the stress and strife that were destined to break forth in those regions where the cradle of the Jewish nation had stood; and these anticipations were strengthened when fifteen years later the Christian nations of the Western world came to wage a sanguinary war for the Holy Places. According to Salvador, Palestine was destined to become the economic centre of Jewry, just as much as it was the centre of Jewish national aspirations. “A new life will be infused into the mountains of Judah, into that platform of the Moriah which to-day is in the hands of the Turks, and of which it was figuratively said of old that, sooner or later, it would rise above all hills, all mountains. The Oriental question, for a while put off or veiled by other public affairs, will exhaust all the present generation. It will extend into the next century. To-day, in 1853, its character is above all a political one: it is a question of Constantinople and the Dardanelles. To-morrow, perhaps, the discussion will be a commercial one in regard to Egypt, the Red Sea, Suez. The unity of Europe, so much desired, so much praised, and never obtained, is already a question of secondary importance. The centre of the affairs of the world is changed. The Jew of the new era must rise upon the very soil where the Jew of the old era was built.”
Joseph Salvador Benjamin Disraeli, M.P.
Samuel David Luzzatto Bernard Lazare
“Asia Minor has but two elements of life, two races capable of civilization and progress, the Greeks and the Jews. Notwithstanding the deep degradation of the Jews of the East, on the day when new life (which, by the way, is drawn from the Occident) shall have reanimated this population, the Jew, by the force of his name, by the promises of his future, will again become a centre of irresistible attraction to all the Jewish forces of the Orient, and even of a part of Europe. A new State will be formed upon the coasts of Galilee and in old Canaan, where the Jewish claim will dominate under the combined pressure of historic remembrances, of persecution in some countries, and of the Puritan sympathy of Biblical England.” These words of Salvador sounded like the cry of a forgotten generation. It must be borne in mind that they were written at a time when French Jews cherished only one hope and one ideal: absorption and assimilation by their surroundings. It is indeed remarkable that this venerable man, who was a staunch Jew as well as a French patriot, and is one of the most eminent figures in Franco-Jewish literature, defended the Jewish national idea and the restoration of the Jews to Palestine with such clearness and force.[¹]
[¹] J. Salvador, sa vie, ses œuvres et ses critiques, par le Colonel Gabriel Salvador [1812–1889]. Paris ... 1881 ... (1 l. + 539 pp.) p. 231.
Joseph Salvador, par James Darmesteter [1849–1894], Versailles, 1882.
To state that he wrote this passage just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, which seemed a suitable moment for considering the possibilities in the East more thoroughly than had previously been done, suffices to indicate the immediate cause. But the mere opportunity could not by itself awaken such thoughts without the strong foundation and support of deeper convictions. As he justly says, “the Jew of the new era must rise upon the very soil where the Jew of the old era was established.” It is clear that he did not think of the half-united Jews who do not feel the existence of their spiritual nationality, and wish to eradicate every trace of it. He was eager to insist that “the Jewish forces of the Orient and even of a part of Europe” should create this new Jew.
Joseph Salvador was, like all progressive thinkers of his age, inspired by the great Revolution, the emancipation of the Jews, and the brotherhood of all nations. The main thesis of his books about the Laws of Moses was the “universal mission of Judaism.” No Jewish thinker of the Assimilation school has defended this theory more consistently and more powerfully, in language more eloquent and magnificent. He was therefore generally regarded as the father of modern progressive Judaism in France. But he did not see any contradiction between his idea of a spiritual achievement and the idea of a terrestrial centre, which was suggested by the political thinking of his day. This fact, in our judgment, proves that the first idea of a Jewish mission, as conceived by the great Jews of the last century, was far from negating the desirability of a Jewish national future.