The Maccabaean

THE term “Zionism” is wider than the modern Zionist movement, and the aims of Zionism have been formulated differently at different times. For some the ideal has been primarily economic, for others primarily political, for others again primarily religious, and for yet others primarily “cultural.” But we are concerned more especially with the movement now currently known as Zionism— Theodor Herzl’s movement—and we may take as our definition of its aims the first article of the Basle Programme, which still remains the official credo of the movement. That article reads as follows: “Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public legal guarantees.” It may be noticed that the word “home” does not adequately render “Heimstätte,” since the Jews in England (for instance) might be said to have their “home” there, though England is not a “Heimstätte” for the Jews. But the Basle Programme does not make any claim to an independent Jewish state, and in connection with the recent revolution in Turkey it has been explicitly stated by the leaders of the Zionist movement that there is nothing in Zionist aims incompatible with the solidarity of the Ottoman Empire, of which Palestine forms a part.

Again, the first article of the Basle Programme says nothing about the ulterior aims of the Jewish settlement in Palestine. It postulates simply the creation of a home for the Jews, where they will be able to live a life which is really their own, and will not be aliens in a strange house, as they are at present in every country under the sun. What this Jewish settlement may become in the fulness of time, along what lines it may develop, what sort of influence it may have—all that is left undefined. Only the immediate aim—that of establishing a "Heimstätte" for the Jewish people in Palestine—is specified.

What, then, is the justification of this immediate aim?

The answer to this question is to be found in the position occupied by the Jews in the modern world, and especially in modern Europe, where the bulk of the Jewish people lives. Their position is determined, broadly speaking, by the two attitudes adopted by modern nations towards them—attitudes which may be described as anti-semitism and toleration. We may examine briefly the results of these two attitudes from the point of view of the Jews.

Anti-semitism shows itself sometimes in restrictive legislation designed to prevent the Jews from entering fully into the life of the country in which they live, together with occasional outbreaks of violence aided or sanctioned by the Government; sometimes in a social ostracism which is no less effective than legislation in closing certain careers or activities to the Jews, though it may be less wide in scope and less keenly felt.

In the first case—that of active restriction by legislative and other means—the effect of anti-Semitism is necessarily to crush the heart out of the Jew. He finds himself compelled to wage an unequal struggle against overwhelming odds, with the fear of rapine and massacre constantly hanging over his head. All his energies are consumed in the mere effort to maintain his position,

such as it is; he lacks that elementary security which has become a matter of course for the ordinary member of a civilised community. And the effect on Judaism is even more deplorable than the effect on the individual Jew. Judaism, divorced from free and healthy conditions of life, has no chance of real development. Thrown back on itself, it tends to become petrified, to become inconsistent with, and antagonistic to modern culture. Hence the Jew who lives under anti-semitic conditions not only finds a strong temptation to cast off his Judaism in the hope of gaining thereby the possibility of becoming a useful or successful member of society ; Judaism is rendered distasteful to him so soon as he succeeds in escaping from the “spiritual ghetto,” and acquires something of a culture with which Judaism as he knows it is not on speaking terms. FEconomically and spiritually, directly and indirectly, anti-semitism of the more violent kind is a menace to the continuance of Judaism and to the maintenance of the Jewish race.

On the other hand, we must not overlook the advantage which Judaism has derived, at enormous cost, from anti-semitism. "The enforced concentration of Jewish life has strengthened the solidarity of the Jews and intensified their consciousness of unity. So long as the walls of the “spiritual ghetto” remained unbroken, Judaism was safe behind them, though it was cut off from a life-giving contact with modern thought ; and the results of generations of this artificial preservation of Judaism are not to be wiped out in a moment. Hence it may be said that the anti-semitism of the past has enabled the Jews to some extent to withstand the results of the anti-semitism of the present day, when modern culture has begun to penetrate the ghetto, and when the stress of economic compulsion is so much stronger than in the vast.

In the other case—that of the milder social anti-semitism—the temptation offered to the Jew to discard Judaism is scarcely less strong, because, while his life as a Jew is less intolerable than under the more violent form of anti-semitism, he still finds himself cut off from many of the highest prizes which the world has to offer. But it is impossible to consider the effects of social anti-semitism alone, for in the nature of things it exists side by side with a certain measure of toleration. Anti-semitism thus modified is, in fact, a grudging and imperfect form of toleration; and from the point of view of its effect on Judaism the attitude of Germany to the Jew does not differ materially from that of England or Italy. We shall not go far wrong, then, if we extend the scope of the term “toleration” so as to make it cover the attitude of all those nations which do not actively persecute the Jews, drawing a broad distinction between the maintenance of Ghetto conditions and their removal; and we may proceed to glance at the effect on Judaism of the policy pursued by those nations which have given the Jews any considerable measure—be it somewhat greater or somewhat less—of civil and religious freedom.

The Jew who is allowed to emerge from the Ghetto, and to enter fully into the life of a modern nation, finds