There is no more towering figure in the pantheon of Zionism than Theodore Herzl. In Israel he is known as the “visionary of the state,” the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson of Israel. He single-handedly spearheaded the concept of a Jewish state. He succeeded in transforming Zionism from a dream to an international organization that created a country. Herzl was a legend in his own lifetime—charismatic, with his stately demeanor and distinguished beard. Who was the real man behind the public eye.
The current exhibit at the Bernard Museum of Judaica at Temple Emanu-El (the largest synagogue in America, itself a museum) is one of its kind. At the entrance is a life-size statue of Herzl with a sign reading, “Herzl goes to New York.” Herzl never made it to America. Now Herzl’s spirit reaches New York.
The exhibit is partly provided by the World Zionist Organization. Most of the collection is the work of one man, David Matlow, an attorney from Toronto who owns the largest private collection (over 2,500 pieces) of Herzl-related items in the world. The exhibit commemorates the 120th yahrzeit of Herzl. Today when Israel is attacked and delegitimized, the exhibit defends the justice of political Zionism, going back to its founding. According to Matlow, “Herzl’s vision was one where Jews could actualize self-determination without harming another group.”
The exhibit, occupying two rooms, is a cornucopia of original materials in various media: portraits, photos, postcards, journals, letters, down to an Arabic translation of “Old New Land.” It is not clear what the scheme of the exhibit is, as it isn’t arranged chronologically or in any other apparent order.
As you enter the exhibit, on the wall to the right there is a gallery of depictions of Herzl through the ages (some during his lifetime). Along with portraits and photos, there are spin-offs such as a portrait of Herzl in copper, in micrograph (tiny computer generated letters), lithographs, and a cartoonish depiction in florid multicolor. Many of the depictions are not the archetypal profile portrait of Herzl at the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897. Nearly every depiction of Herzl is that of the middle-aged man sporting the signature beard. The exhibit contains but one photo of Herzl as a young man, around 18, doe-eyed and unrecognizable.
Displayed as well are some kitschy Herzl household items, including a vase and wooden box with his image, even a rug. He was a celebrity.
The exhibit transports you behind the scenes to the turn-of-the-century Vienna that shaped him and left its stamp on his writings. His lifestyle typified a cultured, affluent Jew in central Europe, attending the opera and concerts, frequenting elegant cafes. He was well educated with a doctorate in law, and he spoke many languages including German, French, some English, and his native Hungarian.
Herzl didn’t know Hebrew or Yiddish or have a traditional Jewish education. He felt estranged from the ghetto culture of Eastern European Jews, which many Western Jews looked down on.
In his utopian novel “AltneuLand” (“Old New Land”) he imagines a Jewish city in Israel (written before Tel Aviv or any Jewish city existed in Israel) as a transplant of Vienna, with café-lined boulevards and opulent theaters. The languages would be German, Yiddish, and other European tongues. Herzl was Eurocentric, as nearly all the Zionist founders were at a time when 90% of world Jewry lived in Europe.
In his almost 2,000-page diaries, less than one page deals with American Jewry. He gives scant mention of Sephardic Jewry who eventually would become the majority of Israel, though his paternal grandfather was a Sephardic rabbi in Yugoslavia. He barely acknowledges Eastern European Jewry, the heart of world Jewry, who would provide the majority of Yishuv’s population and leaders such as David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Chaim Weitzmann. He doesn’t meet with Hasidic rebbes or leaders of Eastern European Jewry.
In the 120 years since Herzl’s passing he has become a Jewish folk hero. A hagiographic narrative has taken form that sometimes contradicts the historical Herzl. Where is Alfred Dreyfus (a Jewish officer in the French army falsely accused of treason) in the exhibit? Nowhere! The popular narrative is that Herzl was a completely assimilated Jew who was “converted” into a Zionist when he experienced, firsthand, crowds shouting, “Death to the Jews” at the trial of Dreyfus. There is a Yiddish saying, “Even a misfortune can be useful.”
While he was not very educated Jewishly, he always identified Jewishly. He attended a Jewish school as a child (his second grade report card is displayed) attending synagogue on holidays. When he would visit a Jewish community he would first visit the local synagogue. Herzl’s secular political Zionism was clothed in the messianic yearning for Zion. Yet Herzl (at least in the beginning) was not fixed on Israel as the site of the Jewish state; he yielded to pragmatism. He at first proposed Patagonia, in Argentina, then was a main proponent of Uganda. Displayed is the tally sheet for the vote against Uganda and Herzl’s vote for it.
There is a captivating depiction of Herzl wearing what looks like an Arab Keffiyeh and a striped shawl resembling a tallit. He wrestles with an angel, as Jacob did. His whole life was a struggle. He went from the Ottoman sultan to the German emperor to the pope with his ideas, just to have the door slammed in his face. Worst of all, he was rejected by nearly the entire Jewish establishment across the spectrum. He wouldn’t give up. He could have rested on his laurels and lived the life of a Viennese gentleman. Instead, he toiled day and night for his people without earning a cent for his travails. Some claim that he died young as a result of exhaustion.
Herzl tirelessly worked against all odds. He held no official office, was not bankrolled by any organization. He met with world leaders with nothing to offer, just a dream. His great contribution to the Zionist cause was, beyond his ideology, his skill in organizing, despite his having no experience or training in that area. Perhaps he is best known for creating the Zionist Congress, prominently displayed at the exhibit. Starting from nothing, he turned Zionism into a national movement with over 100,000 members on six continents.
The exhibit ends with Herzl’s well-attended funeral in Vienna in 1904, with a horse-drawn hearse. At the end of his short life he was vindicated. Former opponents paid their respects.
Herzl was a statesman without a state. He laid the ideological foundation but did not do the building. At his death there was not one Jewish city in Palestine—Tel Aviv was founded in 1909—nor one kibbutz or university. A lot of work still needed to be done but Herzl established the ideological foundation. Israel is Herzl’s brain child, though very different from his utopian vision in “Old New Land.” It is no Middle-Eastern Vienna. Herzl’s image is all over Israel, on the national currency, the name of streets, parks and schools. Herzlia, a major city by the sea, bears his name. Israel’s military and political heroes (including Herzl himself) are buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel’s equivalent of Arlington Cemetery. People from all religious, political and social camps cite Herzl’s writings to bolster their positions. Herzl was nonpartisan, not sullied by party squabbles and scandals, “kosher” to all.
Herzl left no living descendants. His son and two daughters died tragic deaths, one through an overdose, one by suicide, one murdered in the Holocaust. What is the enduring message of Theodore Herzl? That courage and determination will overcome all obstacles. Herzl’s motto, “If you will it, it is no legend,” has become the motto of Israel.
The free exhibit is at Temple Emanu-El (Fifth Avenue and 65th Street) and is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and closes January 24. The exhibit is comprehensive but not overwhelming and can be seen in a half hour or so. Catch it if you can! I give it five stars.
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