“Third. In a closer and wider study of Hebrew literature and history: and, finally, in a truer recognition of the large principles of religion, liberty and law upon which Judaism is founded, and which should draw into harmonious unity Jews of every shade of opinion.”
Her verses rang out as they had never sounded before, like clarion notes, calling a people to heroic action and unity, to the consciousness and realization of a great destiny.
What the annals of the “Lovers of Zion” in America tell us concerning the rise and progress of the Zionist idea shows that the seed sown by Emma Lazarus took deep root in the hearts of the Jews, and brought forth abundant fruit. She created a high sense of Jewish self-consciousness, and spread a holy love and devotion to a great ideal in the hearts of those who had not hitherto reflected on their national duty and its importance.
In the American Jewess[¹] an article appeared on the “Dream of Nationality,” by Mrs. Rose Sonnenshein, the editress, one of the few Jewesses who had as yet written a word on this question. She wrote: “To our mind there is no loftier ideal worth realization than Israel’s dream of Nationality.... What Jew has not dreamed of Israel again as a nation? It can be confidently asserted that among the sons and daughters of the Covenant it is an exceptional one who has not at some time dwelt upon such a possibility. Who has not given the loose rein to fancy and indulged in visions of Judah re-born, free, great and glorious, one of the Sister States in a modern federation of nations? ... has not had visions of ourselves as patriotic Jews, proudly pointing to the Eagle of Judah, the emblem of a free and happy people? To the wandering son of Israel the knowledge that a recognized government stood behind him to protect him in his rights when he demands reparations of insult or injury and sustain him as the equal of citizens of other nations would endow him with a dignity of which centuries of oppression have robbed him, and which not even the widest modern freedom has fully restored.”
[¹] April, 1897.
The question of the attitude of the Jews, particularly of “the leading and wealthy Jews,” towards Zionism arose at different times in the English Press. Amid much friendly criticism called forth by the publication of Emma Lazarus’ writings, two plausible objections were raised. The first was that before an appeal to the world, an appeal should be made to the Jews themselves, in order to elicit some evidence as to their feelings on the question. The second was that, even were the Jews to be restored, a difficulty would immediately arise as to the means of subsistence or the kind of employment to be found for them.
It was not an easy task to gain the sympathy and the support of many “leading and wealthy Jews” for the national idea in Western Europe and America. Many who were ready to admit the truth of the Zionist conclusion were troubled by their ideas about humanity. It must be borne in mind that only in the nineteenth century did the idea of nationality reappear in its ancient form, and that as late as the end of the eighteenth century it was considered a sign of advanced culture to have triumphed over national narrow-mindedness and to desire emancipation for the whole of humanity. The Middle Ages knew nothing of nationality in our sense, and therefore a sense of nationality could not be expected of the Jews. But in the nineteenth century first hatred and then science began to recognize the nationality of the Jews. On the one hand antagonists zealously put forth new arguments to prove that the Jews were a distinct people, who had never yet been absorbed by their environment; on the other hand scientific research brought forward undeniable proofs of the physical, intellectual and moral peculiarities of the Jewish race. And just because separatism was emphasized and made use of by their enemies, some Jews considered that for the purpose of self-defence it was best to deny it: or at any rate their unjustifiable timidity and unreasonable sensitiveness prevented them from admitting it. They forgot that for centuries the furious storms of invective and calumny had been raging around their people, and that there were no malignant suspicions, no treacherous insinuations, no absurd accusations, that had not been levelled at them, whether they admitted the fact of their distinctiveness or not. Anti-Semitism raged most against those Jews who showed particularly assimilative tendencies, and aroused against them every kind of hatred and rancour, regardless of the question whether they were faithful to their past and to their ideals, or otherwise.
Some Jews imagined erroneously that the question at issue was one of their rights in different countries. They forgot that they must demand equality of rights as Jews, and not as a prize for giving up what they could not give up—their history, their distinctiveness. Others, again, confounded Jewish national self-consciousness with what the gentiles regard as nationalism—aspirations generally of an aggressive and reactionary character. Some wealthy Jews were unfortunately lulled into a pernicious feeling of security or fatal indifference. What did they give to the masses? A cheque for charity, whenever it was wanted, of course; but that was all. Insurance money or conscience money, whichever it may be called, they gave; but of personal devotion, of serious anxiety or steady resolve to ameliorate the lot of Israel—nothing. They asked, how can a national ideal help poor people? They did not understand that it can help them more than money: that it eases their sufferings, renders their sorrows and disappointments less distressing, teaches them to search their own hearts, to consider their own ways.
It is clear that the “Lovers of Zion” in England and America had a hard fight. They knew that if they attempted to satisfy all sections of Jews they could not remain faithful to the nation, whose greatest interest and immediate concern it is to pave the way for a final solution of its problem. The truth had dawned upon them that for thousands of years there had always been a restless desire on the part of the Jews to get back to Palestine, and that this wish arose from deep religious, traditional and national principles and hopes. It is a feeling inherited by the Jew and fostered in him from the cradle. The ancient home of the ancient nation is Palestine: to that land their eyes, their hopes and their hearts are always turned. This attachment does not interfere with their sincere patriotism and loyalty to the countries wherein they live. Those who live in other countries, and are satisfied, may remain there. The Jewish masses will go to Palestine as soon as they have the possibility of doing so. Palestine must become the home of the nation, not merely of individuals. It did not matter to the “Lovers of Zion” that some wealthy Jews did not wish for the national re-birth; they simply emulated careful and prudent physicians, who, when they visit their patients, do not ask them what they like best, and then prescribe what is most pleasing to their palates, though perhaps most hurtful, but, having carefully studied the ailments of their patients, order them to take what they deem most necessary for them, even though it be not pleasing or acceptable.
In 1897 Mr. Herbert Bentwich, LL.B., organized in London the “Maccabean” tour to Palestine, in which twenty-one persons took part. Under his guidance this party of Jewish travellers proceeded to Palestine, and got into close touch with the Jewish population of the country, especially with the colonists. On Sabbath Hachodesh (3 April, 5657), the late Chief Rabbi, the Very Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler (1839–1911), delivered an eloquent sermon[¹] at the Hampstead synagogue, in which he said:—