As regards the Jews of France, we have already shown how real were the Zionist sympathies of the leaders of the “Alliance” in the sixties. Their successors did not fall below them in this respect. Thus Michel Erlanger (1828–1892), an active member of the Central Committee of the “Alliance” and Vice-President of the “Consistoire” de Paris, promoted most energetically the colonization of Palestine. It was to a great extent through his invitation that Baron Edmond de Rothschild came to assist the colonies. The success of the Baron’s undertakings was largely due to Erlanger’s knowledge of the localities and their conditions, to his practical understanding and to the energy which he brought to bear upon the work, inspired by a love for the sacred cause which triumphed over difficulties. His practical mind saw that the Holy Land was far better suited than any other country to be a real home for the Jew. We have already mentioned the Grand Rabbin of France, M. Zadoc Kahn, in connection with the first Zionist Congress. No man played a more important part in the early colonization of Palestine than this admirable spiritual leader, with his great strength of character, personal influence and immense popularity. A man of great dignity and wisdom, a fine personality in the noblest sense of the term, he helped all undertakings in favour of Palestine. All the Palestinian deputations, and those from other countries with schemes for the benefit of Palestine, addressed themselves to him; all their cares and troubles fell upon his shoulders. He was engaged in this herculean task for some years, and rendered invaluable service to the work of colonization. And there was always at Paris a group of influential supporters of the Palestinian idea. Besides Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the great benefactor of Palestine, there were the famous scholar, Professor Joseph Halévy (1827–1918), who was already half a century ago one of the pioneers of a Hebrew Revival in the East; Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Wolff Haffkine, C.I.E., member of the Institut Pasteur, who afterwards made a great name for himself by his important medical work in India; and Dr. Emil Meyersohn (at present one of the directors of the Jewish Colonization Association), an eminent scholar who, thanks to his exceptional experience, was able to reorganize the old system of colonization in Palestine.
Thus French Jewry has never been the impregnable citadel of assimilation which it is sometimes represented as being. Herzl’s movement evoked a response in quarters which hitherto had been strangers to the Palestinian idea; and though a fusion between the old and the new Zionists was not effected for some time, yet essentially the two sections stood for one and the same thing. The new Zionist organization gained its footing in France through the formation, soon after the first Congress, of the “Fédération Sioniste,” the chief pillar of which was, of course, Max Nordau.
Dr. Alexander Marmorek, a well-known physician, and one of the most prominent Zionists since the very beginning of the movement, was for several years President of the Federation. Alexander and his two brothers Oscar and Isidore were the principal advocates of the national idea in academic circles. The youthful career of Isidore was unhappily cut short by death. Oscar (1863–1910) worked for a number of years with Herzl, but an untimely death robbed the movement of him also. The most gifted and most enthusiastic of the three brothers is still active in the movement. These leaders of French Zionism were assisted by the late M. Berr, Mdlle. Marie Schach, Dr. Jacobsohn, Dr. Nahum Slousch, and others.
Special notice is due to one of the first followers of Herzl—Bernard Lazare (1856–1904).[¹]
[¹] His name was Lazare Bernard.
Born at Nîmes, Bernard Lazare left his native place at an early age and came to Paris. He studied paleography and history at the Sorbonne, and was engaged for a time on archæological work, but soon entered upon a literary and journalistic career. He contributed to the Figaro, the Echo de Paris and other dailies, founded L’Action Sociale, issued a pamphlet about the Panama affair and was the author of a few novels. The publication of his L’Antisémitisme, son histoire et ses causes led to a duel with Edouard Drumout.
Lazare was the pioneer of the agitation which led to the release of Captain Alfred Dreyfus; his pamphlets on the affaire were undoubtedly the primary causes of the revision. Another subject in which he was deeply interested was the condition of the Jews in Roumania. He repeatedly raised his voice on their behalf in the leading reviews, in that clear, incisive style which was his own. He was also an enthusiastic adherent of Herzl and an ardent Zionist. He came back to national Judaism after all his achievements for humanity in the Socialist movement and in the literature and politics of his great country, and became an eloquent champion of the new Jew. A clear thinker and a gifted writer, he contributed brilliant Zionist articles to the Flambeau and the Echo Sioniste. It was surprising how this real French patriot and intellectual came to lay bare his Jewish soul and Jewish individuality, and with what power of conviction he defended the immutable rights of this individuality.
“Le Sionisme,” he wrote in 1900, “c’est l’affirmation de notre personalité. Nous avons confiance en nous mêmes, en notre génie, en notre destin pour être dignes de notre passé.... Nous ne serions pas dignes de notre passé, si notre histoire ne nous inspirait des pensées pour l’avenir et si nous ne comprendrions pas qu’il faut que nous ayons un foyer, un centre pour former notre univers, si grand ou petit qu’il soit, à l’image de notre idéal, de notre civilization, de notre pensée et de notre sensibilité. C’est la véritable solution du problème. Nous ne voulons pas l’absorption et l’anéantissement, la disparition, la paix du cimetière, la mort sans phrase. Pour hurter avec les loups—est-ce-que c’est notre mission? Non. Nous réclamons notre titre à nous d’être un ouvrier utile dans le grand atelier de l’humanité. Notre rôle déjà grand, grandira encore. Ce sera la triomphe du droit sur la force brutale, du droit de l’individuelle personne humaine et des collectives personnes qui sont les nations. On a beau dire que puisqu’il y a certaines groups des israélites denationalisés, la nation n’existe plus. Mais ces petits groupes ne comptent pour rien. Il y a un peuple juif qui compte, c’est la grande majorité, ceux qui ont un passé et des traditions dont ils sont fiers et dont ils ont la garde.”[¹]
[¹] Le National Juif, Paris, 1898.
M. Lazare displayed a warm interest in the various questions of Zionism, and always took a national and democratic view. Though shortly before his death he retired from Zionist activity on account of a difference of opinion between himself and Herzl on a point of tactics with regard to Turkey (Lazare proposed an alliance with the Young Turks), he remained a convinced Zionist. He will live in Jewish memory much more as a Zionist than as a “Dreyfusard.” His death in 1904 was an irreparable loss to Zionism in France.