The Maccabaean

(Born May 2, 1860—Died July 3, 1904)

It is now only five years since Theodor Herzl died; his grave is still fresh; his name still is a living word in Jewry; there are many among us who have seen him, spoken to him, admired the personality of the man; his spirit still rests upon our movement with its old-time power; and yet, young as he is in the history of our people, he is even now numbered with the great men in Israel, who have made possible in our day a revival of energy in the cause of Jewish nationalism.

Those who preceded him spoke good words, true words, about the Jewish future. They did much for the individual Jews, who were being persecuted because they were Jews. They built the fences around Jewry, in order that the enemy should not triumph. They safeguarded and protected the future of the Jewish nation by strengthening the spiritual and economic position of the Jewish people. They sought to enlarge the horizon of Jewish life, which the enemy sought to make narrow and to limit.

But Herzl was the first statesman of the Jewish people. A poet by divine endowment, he acted as if he had a mandate from the Jewish nation, which he was seeking to bring to life. He took possession, so to speak, of the portfolio of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and constantly worked as if he had been appointed by his government to that position. All his thoughts were of the nation. He saw his people scattered to the ends of the world; he saw them groping in the darkness; he received little response from them when he called upon them for help; but he continued in his work, enthusiastic, God-driven, until his great heart burst.

Herzl's great strength was his ability

to work as if he indeed had a nation behind him, although in reality, his supporters numbered but a few thousands. He assumed that the Jewish people lived, had a will, and that if properly appealed to, it would respond and help itself to independence. He saw the abnormality of Jewish life; but he ignored that abnormality; he went ahead as if it did not exist.

To him, the Jewish problem was: How to make the Jewish nation will to live; and then, how that will could be made to express itself. He went to work to outline the line of march. The Jewish nation had no national capital, therefore a National Fund must be created. The Jewish nation had no instrument through which it could act in a public manner; he established the Jewish Colonial Trust. The Jewish nation had no Parliament, no legislative house; he called into being the International Congress. The National Fund was to provide the staying strength of the Zionist movement; it was to ensure the perpetuity of the Jewish nation. The stronger the National Fund became, the more certain the Jewish people would be that some day, if not now, in the distant future, the Jewish people would be united with the Jewish land; as long as that fund existed no hindrances, no difficulties, no setbacks, could destroy Zionism; Zionism would have to continue until it realized its end.

The Jewish Colonial Trust was to enter, as a living agent, into the Land ofour Fathers, and there it should seek outthe hidden resources of the land; it shouldlend a helping hand to those who wouldbe inspired to go there; it should act forthe Jewish nation in providing that capi-